Is there some way we can teach our children that there is no such thing as a free lunch?  Perhaps then they will not grow up to think that problems can always be solved - if only we throw enough crazy unscientific ideas at them.


The laws of thermodynamics dictate a simple policy of universal application.  It is one that policy makers must be forced to understand: mother nature will not permit us to reverse a fossil fuel energy production process without using more energy than the process has itself released.


One of the most ludicrous ideas I have ever read about, purportedly coming from scientists, is that we can somehow sequester carbon.  Let me give my reasons.

Rock Scissors Paper Custard



Ok, forget the scissors and paper - this article is about rocks

and custard.




The Sliding Rocks Of Racetrack Playa


Racetrack Playa is a dry lake bed in Death Valley National Park.  It is famous for its sliding rocks.  Theories that the rocks have been moved by people or animals have been ruled out.  These rocks move according to some as yet unknown natural mechanism.



Image source: Wikimedia, Tahoenathan, GNU.


The sliding rocks are few in number and are found mainly in the southeast.

NASA IceBridge Mission Prepares for Study of Arctic Glaciers


In a world where the blogosphere is filled with politically motivated versions of what is 'really' happening to the cryosphere it is good to know that real scientists are taking real risks to get real data.  I take my hat off to them.



NASA IceBridge Mission Prepares for Study of Arctic Glaciers


Press release March 18, 2010

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Operation IceBridge mission, the largest airborne survey ever flown of Earth's polar ice, kicks off its second year of study when NASA aircraft arrive in Greenland March 22.

Baird : The Wonder Of Television

The following article was scanned by me from
"The Wonder Encyclopedia For Children"
Odhams, 1933.

Apart from minor adjustments to layout and removal of page references it is verbatim.
I present it here as a view from the past, when television was a brand new scientific achievement being presented as a new wonder to children and using the latest photographic illustration techniques. 

John Logie Baird describes broadcast television in his own words.

-----------------------------------------

THE WONDER OF TELEVISION

Electric Eyes that Scan the World

By J. L. BAIRD

A Critique Of A Multiply-Published Article On Ice Sheet Collapse



An article in AIG News, the Australian Institute of Geoscientists Quarterly Newsletter No. 97 August 2009, purports to state that collapse of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets is impossible.

In this critique I demonstrate the writers' use of straw man arguments and other unscientific methods to support their arguments.

I commence with the authors' abstract and conclusions.  The body of the text will be dealt with in due course.

Why the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets are Not Collapsing.
Cliff Ollier and Colin Pain

Abstract: