HFO-1234yf, a climate-friendly alternative refrigerant for car air conditioning systems touted by environmental activists, may instead be a greater problem than the products they insisted was causing pollution.
A 'Super Moon' - a new or full moon at 90% of its closest perigee - hasn't happened since...well, last year. But it's still cause for concern, according to people who need things to be concerned about.
The world really stinks today. We have run out of aluminum, copper, gold, lead, mercury, natural gas, oil, silver, tin, tungsten, and zinc.Oh wait, no we haven't. But if you are an anti-science pessimistic hippie of the 1960s (or today, though their descendants only forecast doom for poor people, they will still have their iPads) you can be forgiven for thinking all that was going to have happened by now. Because a whole lot of people were once saying we were doomed in lots of ways. And millions still do it today but, like conservatives and Reagan, they try to validate their modern beliefs by invoking icons of the past. To wit:
If anyone still felt CNN was credible before their Boston Bomber coverage two months ago, it was only because they hadn't read their science and health coverage.Sure, all mainstream media loves its Miracle Vegetable of the Week stories, alternated with their Scary Chemical of the Week stories, but CNN is positively Huffington Post-ish in their willingness to engage in advocacy. And in New York City, there is always something to advocate.
Almost no one outside New York City government and health advocates engaged in social experimentation thought a ban on some drink sizes for New York City made any sense or would actually do any good.
Soda companies were obviously against it. They would prefer not to be demonized in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's latest culture war. Small businesses were against it, since a ton of products sold by large companies like Starbucks and McDonald's were somehow exempted. Movie theaters were against it, since overpriced giant sizes of popcorn and drinks are part of the experience (and a lot of the profit).
Do you like nuclear weapons?If you respond yes to that, I think you have lost your mind. While I understand the value of an overwhelming force to end a bloody world war, it's also something that can't be unmade. We had opened "Pandora's Box", the belief went.
If you want to make sure your extra-terrestrial efforts can survive a nuclear attack, working inside the Jamesburg Earth Station on, fittingly, ComSat Road, just outside Carmel, California, is a fine choice. A short drive to Pebble Beach and Spyglass golf courses means it is not a bad way to spend your weekends either.If you enjoyed seeing Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon, Jamesburg is one of the dishes you can thank. But the 10-story high antenna went out of service in 2002. The land was sold to a gentleman who wanted a vacation home - the coolest Cold War vacation home ever, if you ask me, with blueprints and cinder block walls and a room the size of a football field.
A few years ago, I wrote a piece for Communicating Astronomy with the Public outlining how to more effectively reach the public.(1)I have some credibility. Science 2.0 has become a well-known movement despite not having media conglomerate backing, a marketing department, a sales force or any government funding, Not many can do that - or they probably would.
It's not often that the Hallmark Channel gets a shout-out on Science 2.0 but when they send young people into space, I'm in. I got an email about an upcoming movie and it intrigued me so the publicist not only put me in touch with interesting people to interview, they sent along an exclusive clip just for you. Bonus: There is also a sweepstakes and we all love to win free stuff.
Does more food labeling related to calories and nutrition make a difference?
About one third of American kids and teens is overweight or obese, nearly triple the rate in 1963, making it a much bigger health concern than smoking or drug abuse. Meanwhile, a paper in the Journal of Public Health says obese kids are more likely to be paying attention to calorie information in restaurants. 40 percent of kids aged 9-18 read calorie information yet 33 percent are overweight.
What gives?
I generally didn't have much of an issue with the intent behind the High Quality Research Act.
Did you ever have breast milk or spinach? You might as well start shooting up heroin.If dihydrogen monoxide doesn't scare you enough, food activists have been rehashing an old term - opiates.
Calibration does not always mean fixing a device, it sometimes means adjusting to solve a problem. In the early years of America, the famous Kentucky longrifles that conquered the frontier (and some British) had fixed sights. Since they couldn't be adjusted, frontiersmen - Kentucky was part of "The West" then - would adjust for wind, elevation and range by experience. If their shot was hitting low and left, they aimed high and right. Inference helped them get a better result.
