Category: Science

Trying To Reason With The Hurricane Season 2023–Prologue

I realize that this means little to anyone that does not live in the path of a hurricane….but believe me, a person that has ridden out every storm since 1972…..they are scary and watching them is a necessity.

I usually post on the day the annual hurricane season begins….but I read some information that is disturbing….especially for anyone that lives in a hurricane zone….anyone that has rode out a hurricane will understand why I post on this yearly event.

The report states that the likelihood of back to back storms isn’t good…..

What used to be a rare one-two punch of consecutive hurricanes hitting the same area in the United States weeks apart seems to be happening more often, and a new study says climate change will make back-to-back storms increasingly frequent and nastier. Using computer simulations, Princeton University scientists calculate that the deadly storm duet that used to happen once every few decades could happen every two or three years as the world warms, according to a study in Monday’s Nature Climate Change. Louisiana and Florida residents have already felt it, reports the AP.

In 2021, Hurricane Ida blasted Louisiana with 150mph winds. Just 15 days later a weakening Nicholas came nearby, close enough for its wind, rain, and storm surge to add to the problems, said study co-author Ning Lin, a climate scientist at Princeton. The Ida-Nicholas combo came after Louisiana was hit in 2020 by five hurricanes or tropical storms: Cristobal, Marco, Laura, Delta, and Zeta. Laura was the biggest of those, with 150mph winds. After Laura, relief workers had set up a giant recovery center in a parking lot of a damaged roofless church when Delta approached, so all the supplies had to be jammed against the building and battened down, said United Way President Denise Durel. “You think it can’t be happening to us again,” Durel recalled 2 1/2 years later from an area that is still recovering.

Florida in 2004 had four hurricanes in six weeks, prompting NOAA to take note of a new nickname for the Sunshine State—”The Plywood State,” from all the boarded-up homes. “We found a trend,” Lin said. “Those things are happening. They’re happening more often now than before.” There’s a caveat to that trend. There haven’t been enough hurricanes and tropical storms since about 1950—when good recordkeeping started—for a statistically significant trend, Lin said. So her team added computer simulations to see if they could see such a pattern and they did. Lin’s team looked at nine US storm-prone areas and found an increase in storm hazards for seven of them since 1949. Only Charleston, South Carolina, and Pensacola, Florida, didn’t see hazards increase.

Something for us to look forward to in the near future…..I am always prepared but this year I will be extra prepared in case this prediction is accurate.

Be Well….Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

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Closing thought–27Jan23

Yep more climate information for us to consider…..

Last year shattered all kinds of climatic records, and not in a good way. In parts of western Europe, the Middle East, central Asia, China, and northwest Africa, it was the warmest year on record. Per Axios, that’s a sampling from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which found 2022 to be the fifth warmest year overall; furthermore, taken together, the past eight years were the eight warmest on record. Copernicus researchers called 2022 “a year of climate extremes” and warned that the world is perilously close to reaching temperatures 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, a key limit flagged in the 2015 Paris Agreement, per CNN, and a threshold beyond which many climate scientists warn of dire and irreversible consequences.

n its report, Copernicus notes a rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane concentrations, which are now at the highest levels in the satellite record, not to mention the highest in 2 million years for CO2 and 800,000 years for methane. The list goes on: both polar regions saw record high temps, and Antarctic ice conditions hit record lows; Pakistan and northern India endured an extreme heatwave followed by a highly destructive, deadly monsoon; likewise, much of China saw extreme heat and drought. It seems La Nina was one saving grace that might have kept surface temps down a little, but that phenomenon appears to be waning, and El Nino may soon return, bringing the opposite effect.

North and South America are not mentioned in the Copernicus report, but as Time reports, climate-related disasters cost the US $165 billion last year once one adds up the wildfires, floods, mudslides, droughts, and Hurricane Ian, the third costliest storm in US history. The trend may continue in 2023, as Jan. 1 was the single warmest January day since 1940. The New York Times reports what Ukraine and its allies certainly see as one silver lining in the fact that a warm winter may dull one of Vladimir Putin’s most potent weapons: access to Russia’s natural gas supply.

As always it is nothing to worry about…just ignore the info and just shrug it off and be stupid.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

2022 Scientific Breakthrough

The ‘Holy Grail’ for scientist has been the search for ‘fusion’ reactor and the 2022 big news is that finally a breakthrough by some brainiacs in California….

But is it all that and a bag of chips?

There was great hoopla—largely unquestioned by media—with the announcement this week by the U.S. Department of Energy of a “major scientific breakthrough” in the development of fusion energy.

“This is a landmark achievement,” declared Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. Her department’s press release said the experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California “produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it” and will “provide invaluable insights into the prospects of clean fusion energy.”

“Nuclear fusion technology has been around since the creation of the hydrogen bomb,” noted a CBS News article covering the announcement. “Nuclear fusion has been considered the holy grail of energy creation.” And “now fusion’s moment appears to be finally here,” said the CBS piece.

But, as Dr. Daniel Jassby, for 25 years principal research physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab working on fusion energy research and development, concluded in a 2017 article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, fusion power “is something to be shunned.”

Fusion. Really?

Some are saying do not believe the hype.

In a dramatic scientific and engineering breakthrough, researchers at the Bay Area’s Lawrence Livermore National Lab recently achieved the long-sought goal of generating a nuclear fusion reaction that produced more energy than was directly injected into a tiny reactor vessel. By the very next day, pundits well across the political spectrum were touting that breakthrough as a harbinger of a new era in energy production, suggesting that a future of limitless, low-impact fusion energy was perhaps a few decades away. In reality, however, commercially viable nuclear fusion is only infinitesimally closer than it was back in the 1980s when a contained fusion reaction – i.e. not occurring in the sun or from a bomb – was first achieved.

While most honest writers have at least acknowledged the obstacles to commercially-scaled fusion, they typically still underestimate them – as much so today as back in the 1980s. We are told that a fusion reaction would have to occur “many times a second” to produce usable amounts of energy. But the blast of energy from the LLNL fusion reactor actually only lasted one tenth of a nanosecond – that’s a ten-billionth of a second. Apparently other fusion reactions (with a net energy loss) have operated for a few nanoseconds, but reproducing this reaction over a billion times every second is far beyond what researchers are even contemplating.

Nuclear Fusion:  Don’t Believe the Hype!

So my question is….was this the ‘big’ story that it was hyped up to be?

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Who Owns The Moon?

The US has walked on the Moon and all the predictions are that we shall return to doing so in the very near future…..

But apparently word has been issued by China that the US would not be allowed to walk on the Moon….yes you read that right….”not allowed”….

There is a new space race happening more than five decades after the United States beat Russia to become the first nation to ever put on a human on the moon. This time, the contenders are the U.S. and China. And if China wins, it could cause serious trouble for the rest of the world, according to NASA chief Bill Nelon.

During an interview with Politico, Nelson and several other experts expressed concern over China’s attempt to land on the moon before NASA’s expected 2025 touchdown. They believe that the country could stake a claim on areas that are rich in minerals and other resources and block other countries from making a lunar journey.

“There is potentially mischief China can do on the moon,” warned Terry Virts, the former commander of the International Space Station. “If they set up infrastructure there they could potentially deny communications, for example. Having them there doesn’t make things easier. There is real concern about Chinese meddling.”

The chief and the others from NASA worry that China is attempting to reach the moon “under the guise of scientific research.” But nations should worry that their work is actually a power tactic.

https://outsider.com/news/nasa-chief-issues-warning-about-china-banning-us-astronauts-from-landing-moon/

My question is when did China take ownership of the Moon?

But is China that advanced that they now control the Moon?

“It is a fact: We’re in a space race,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told Politico in a recent interview. And it’s not just about politics and bragging rights—there are both national security and practical implications, according to many US officials. “We better watch out that [the Chinese] don’t get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research,” Nelson added. “It is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, ‘Keep out, we’re here, this is our territory.'” Meanwhile, America’s space agency got almost all the money it wanted from Congress, including full funding for key components of the Artemis program, which seeks to put a permanent human presence on the moon by 2025. Much depends on whether SpaceX delivers on its promises.

Artemis may be ambitious, but it’s the Chinese program that has developed in “stunningly fast” fashion and with “enormous success and advances,” particularly in the past decade. As Fortunereported last month, construction of the Tiangong (“heavenly palace”) space station is complete, and the first three-person team of “taikonauts” are in orbit conducting science experiments. Unlike the collaborative International Space Station, Tiangong is entirely managed by one nation, highlighting China’s “self-reliance” as it works toward its “larger space ambitions.” As for moon exploration, China has already expressed its “pioneering ability” by collecting samples and establishing communications from the far side of the moon, per Politico.

American scientists and military officials have expressed a fair amount of concern about Chinese ambitions, based in part on how China has asserted itself in the Pacific around the disputed Spratly Islands. China vehemently rejects suggestions that it intends to lay claim to any celestial real estate, and some experts say existing treaties—together with more friendly, collaborative engagement—should be sufficient to keep the peace. Still, there are practical matters at stake, including competition for a limited number of good moon-landing sites with access to water and other resources.

This Moon thing will be interesting to watch…..But first I guess we have to get beyond the South China Sea thing…..

Watch and Learn!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

For All Those Canine Owners.

Sunday is always a good day for my canine best friend for we go to a local nature walk and she gets to visit with nature and chase something cool.

If you have a bestie then you have wondered just what do he/she think of me…..

Well science (so they claim) has an answer for you…..

Without that pesky language barrier, we’d talk with our dogs constantly. Or…would we? It’s possible that part of what makes our relationships with dogs so special is that despite our incredible differences, we’re highly compatible. Dog owners increasingly see their pups as family members, not pets. In fact, the phrase “dog owner” feels uncomfortable to some. We’re more like guardians, friends, parents. If they could speak, dogs would probably call us pack members. They’d tell us how predictable our habits are and, according to zoologist Jules Howard, how much they love us. Howard, a wildlife expert and science writer, discusses the dog brain in his new book, Wonderdog: The Science of Dogs and Their Unique Friendship with Humans. Based on Howard’s in-depth research, we’ve made some educated guesses as to what your dog actually thinks about you. 

(Read and see if you agree)

https://www.purewow.com/family/what-your-dog-thinks-about-you

This is a story about another ‘hero’ canine public servant…..

Police K-9 Finds Missing 80-Year-Old Hunter

A police K-9 unit in Michigan rescued a missing 80-year-old hunter on a frigid day. State troopers in Lovells Township followed Loki as the dog tracked the hunter’s scent and located him by the Au Sable River less than a mile from his home, reports the Detroit News. The lost hunter told troopers he had fallen into the river three times on a day when the average temperature was 26 degrees, per WILX.

A trooper gave the man his jacket, gloves, and fatigue shirt to keep him warm, and he was transported out of the woods by canoe. “We usually have one or two (missing hunters) every season in the Seventh District,” says a State Police spokesperson. “And age isn’t necessarily a factor in them.” In this case, the hunter’s wife heard him fire a volley of shots into the air, his signal that he was lost, and she summoned help. The hunter was later discharged from a hospital in good condition.

I have read many posts by bloggers who have lost a canine companion…..and they are usually heart tugging….

I recent read an article that tries to help people with their loss….I post it here with the hope that it can give some comfort for that loss….

It’s been three weeks since my partner and I lost our beloved 14.5-year-old dog, Kivi Tarro. It’s impossible to describe what Kivi meant to us, or put words to how his death has affected us.

As I am still working through what life without Kivi means, there’s perhaps no better time to examine how grief impacts those who have lost an animal. This is also what a new review of scientific literature, published today, explores.

The review aims to give counsellors perspective into how to help people grieving the death of a pet. The authors highlight that the bond between humans and animals can be extremely similar to that between two humans, and so the loss can be just as profound.

There is a tendency, however, for society to invalidate that grief. This can leave people isolated and feeling ashamed or unable to express their grief, which can increase the intensity of grief and inhibit resolution.

https://theconversation.com/profound-grief-for-a-pet-is-normal-how-to-help-yourself-or-a-friend-weather-the-loss-of-a-beloved-family-member-195099

My offerings for this Sunday…..

Have a great day and try not to eat too many leftovers….you have to start making room for all that Christmas food that is to come.

Be well….Be safe….

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–19Oct22

The lack of rain has the rivers around this country running dry…..my river, the Mississippi, is so low that barges are grounding as they try to move around the heart of the nation. There is also some ideas to suck the water out of the Mississippi and send it West…..I informed my readers to this problem…..

Water….Is Not Everywhere

The low level of the Mississippi is revealing some lost history…..

A shipwreck has emerged along the banks of the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as water levels threaten to reach record lows in some areas. The ship, which archaeologists believe to be a ferry that sunk in the late 1800s to early 1900s, was spotted by a Baton Rouge resident walking along the shore earlier this month, per the AP. The discovery is the latest to surface from ebbing waters caused by drought. During the summer, receding waters in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada and Arizona revealed several skeletal remains, countless desiccated fish, a graveyard of forgotten boats, and even a sunken World War II-era craft that once surveyed the lake.

“Eventually the river will come back up and (the ship) will go back underwater,” said Chip McGimsey, the Louisiana state archeologist, who has been surveying the wreck during the past two weeks. “That’s part of the reason for making the big effort to document it this time—because she may not be there the next time.” McGimsey believes the ship may be the Brookhill Ferry, which likely carried people and horse-drawn wagons from one side of the river to the other before major bridges spanned the mighty Mississippi. Newspaper archives indicate that the ship sank in 1915 during a major storm. Roughly a third of the 95-foot vessel is visible on the muddy shoreline near downtown Baton Rouge.

 

McGimsey expects more discoveries as water levels continue to fall, having already received calls about two more possible shipwrecks. But the unusually low water level in the lower Mississippi River, where there has been below-normal rainfall since late August, has also led to chaos—causing barges to get stuck in mud and sand, leading to waterway restrictions from the Coast Guard, and disrupting river travel for shippers, recreational boaters, and passengers on a cruise line. In Baton Rouge, the river depth is about 5 feet, its lowest level since 2012, according to the National Weather Service. Water levels are projected to drop even more in the weeks ahead, dampening the region’s economic activity and potentially threatening jobs.

But not to worry….the GOP will protect us from all evils when they are in charge.  (sarcasm)

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Do You Drink Diet Sodas?

I know we all are concerned about our health and the first place many start is the cutting out of sugar from their diets….but is that a wise decision?

First question to ask is….are these sodas healthier?

Diet sodas are popular beverages all over the world, especially among people who want to reduce their sugar or calorie intake.

Instead of sugar, artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, cyclamates, saccharin, acesulfame-k, or sucralose, are used to sweeten them.

Almost every popular sugar-sweetened beverage on the market has a “light” or a “diet” version — Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Pepsi Max, Sprite Zero, etc.

Diet sodas were first introduced in the 1950s for people with diabetes, though they were later marketed to people trying to control their weight or reduce their sugar intake.

Despite being free of sugar and calories, the health effects of diet drinks and artificial sweeteners are controversial.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/diet-soda-good-or-bad

This is what happens to your body with the consumption of diet drinks…..

Every food or drink you include in your diet can affect your health. From orange juice consumption being linked to immune support to a cup of tea being linked to reduced inflammation, your dietary choices can profoundly impact your overall health.

And while you might lean on diet soda for that distinct sweet effervescence without worrying about loading up with sugar, doing so may have other effects on your health that you may not realize. Here are six other effects (positive and negative) that can happen when you sip diet sodas on the regular.

https://www.eatingwell.com/article/7964257/this-is-what-happens-to-your-body-when-you-drink-diet-soda/

You can break your Diet drink addiction…..

There are plenty of simple steps you can take to decrease your intake of diet soda.

Start by slowly swapping it for other drinks in your diet. Here are a few alternative drinks to consider:

Look for versions of these drinks that either are unsweetened or have a lower sugar content. Try adding a splash of juice to water or seltzer.

You can make flavored water by adding cucumber slices, fresh or frozen fruit, herbs like basil and mint, or citrus fruits like lime or lemon to plain or sparkling water for a hint of flavor without added sugar.

Tye best way to handle this is talk with your medical professional….for I am in no way qualified to give medical advice…..

This post is just FYI and a place to start if you have an addiction to these drinks….

Always put your health first.

Have a great weekend…..Be well and Be Safe…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That Anti-Science Movement

I am sure you know someone who explains everything away as ‘false science’…..if not then you are very fortunate for they are everywhere and rattling on about everything.

How do these ‘people’ come by their misguided belief that all science is ‘false’ of ‘fake’?

Anti-science beliefs are built on four foundations, or bases, the authors said. These foundations are: thinking scientific sources lack credibility; identifying with groups that have anti-science attitudes; a scientific message that contradicts a person’s current beliefs; and a mismatch between how a message is presented and a person’s style of thinking.

“What all four of these bases have in common is they reveal what happens when scientific information conflicts with what people already think or their style of thought,” said co-author Richard Petty, professor of psychology at Ohio State.

For starters, industries are degrading trust in science by hijacking scientific credentials, using “sciency” sounding claims to bolster their clout for profits; pharmaceutical companies have most certainly given us plenty of reasons not to trust them. What’s more, science doesn’t always get things right, and large factions of the media are stoking sentiments against “elitist” experts and bolstering anti-science views.

All this doubt, conflict, and information overload are eroding people’s trust in scientists, and those of us often responsible for conveying scientific information to the public, like the media and government officials, are fairing even worse on the trust scales.

This distrust of the source of information is one of the four main barriers to accepting science Philipp-Muller and colleagues identify in their review.  

When information challenges a person’s core beliefs, challenges the group they identify with, or doesn’t match their learning style are the other main barriers the team highlighted.

“What all four of these bases have in common is they reveal what happens when scientific information conflicts with what people already think or their style of thought,” explains Petty.

https://www.sciencealert.com/distrust-in-science-is-causing-harm-but-these-researchers-have-a-plan

We need to fight for the science….but this will be an uphill battle for social media is a powerful tool to be used by the anti-science faction.

All we can do is ask question….question everything and look for the answers….not just something that agrees with your misguided perceptions….

Do you want to know what is true?

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That 1972 Environmental Report

As per my usual stuff I just feel that I must inject a little history into the conversation on the Climate.

For the past couple of decades the climate has been the center of the debate on the future of this planet and its people…..but most everything that is happening these days with our climate was reported back in 1972….and no one wanted to hear it….especially our corporate controlled Congress……

For those too damn young to remember this report….I am here to help……

The computer modeling made it plain: If people continued to overextract finite resources, pollute on a massive scale, and balloon the human population in an unsustainable way, civilization could collapse within a century. It sounds like that modeling could have been done last week, what with climate change, water shortages, and microplastics corrupting every corner of the Earth. But in fact it dropped in the 1972 book The Limits to Growth, published by the Club of Rome, an international organization of intellectuals founded in 1968. 

The book sold millions of copies and was translated into at least 30 languages, attracting a storm of controversy. It was, after all, very early computer modeling—completed on a punch-card machine at MIT—and a highly simplified simulation of complex global systems. And it was making rather grand and consequential predictions. (As the old quip goes: All models are wrong, but some are useful.) That model spit out scenarios in which humanity either got more sustainable and equitable, and thus flourished, or continued letting capitalists plunder the planet and our civilization to death.

“What came from the simulations is that most of the cases—but not all, and it’s important to say not all—the evolution of a number of variables like population, production, pollution, was showing that around the mid-21st century, we would have a scenario of collapse of human civilization,” says Carlos Alvarez Pereira, vice president of the Club of Rome and co-editor of the new retrospective book Limits and Beyond: 50 Years on From The Limits to Growth, What Did We Learn and What’s Next? “The whole thing was framed into doomsday prophecy. We didn’t succeed in bringing the message that it was not about that. It was really about: We have the capacity to choose. We have, as humanity, the capacity to decide what kind of future we want.” 

https://www.wired.com/story/the-infamous-1972-report-that-warned-of-civilizations-collapse/

As you can see science has pointed to the position we find our planet in all those years ago……and yet we did nothing.

And we are still doing NOTHING!

I am glad I am old and will not witness the total destruction of the planet by these total douches that answer to no one but the pigs that own them….the corporations.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Mouth Of The South

I am referring to Rep. Taylor-Green……one could dedicate a whole blog to the idiocy that she spreads with daily posts….her moronic dribble flows out of her mouth with ease.

Her latest regurgitation are legendary….

Did you know that climate change is good for us?

Controversial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told Right Side Broadcasting Network host Brian Glenn on Monday that global warming is “actually healthy.”

“We have already warmed 1-degree Celsius and do you know what has happened since then?” Greene told Glenn, apparently confirming she believes in global warming as a trend.

While Greene nailed the degree to which the planet has warmed, NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) says the planet has warmed at least 1.1° Celsius (1.9° Fahrenheit) since 1880, she then offered a much less conventional take on its impact.

“We have had more food grown since then, which feeds people,” she claimed, arguing that the temperature increase has been a net positive.

“We are producing fossil fuels, that keeps people’s houses warm in the winter. That saves people’s lives, people die in the cold,” she continued.

“This Earth warming and carbon is actually healthy for us. It helps us to feed people, it helps keep people alive, the Earth is more green than it was years and years ago and that is because of the Earth warming,” Greene added, without offering evidence.

Marjorie Taylor Greene Believes in Climate Change, Says it is ‘Actually Healthy For Us’: ‘People Die in the Cold’

Her lunacy over climate change was beyond absurd….but she topped it with her thoughts on Tampons….

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene spread a baseless, transphobic rumor that blamed the country’s ongoing tampon shortage on trans people. 

“Men have taken over everything. They’re ‘women of the year’ in every category, in women’s categories. And the latest news is, there’s a shortage of tampons, and that’s probably because men are buying tampons,” Greene said on an episode of her podcast, “MTG Live.”

However, the Georgia lawmaker did not provide evidence for her groundless claim concerning tampon shortages in some parts of the country.

https://www.businessinsider.com/mtg-spreads-baseless-transphobic-rumor-about-trans-people-tampon-shortage-2022-6

She constantly lies and lies and yet she will most likely be re-elected…..that makes me think that the people of her district are morons…..how can any intelligent person take her seriously….and yet they do.

She, every time she opens her mouth, proves that you just ‘can’t fix stupid’.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”