words aren't everything — they aren't even enough
Others say it better than I do, but here goes.There is a sinister agenda, or a war, Russian or otherwise, to undermine the value and reputation of scientific work and knowledge, which is gaining momentum at a frightening rate. Science is being contested by nonsense, and so far it looks as if science is losing.Moreover,... Continue Reading →
It's not until you suffer a little (but painful) cut to your right hand's middle finger, that you realise how much you use it to express yourself.No, I'm not talking about sign language¹. That part still works fine. The problem has to do with typing, both privately and professionally, of which I do a lot!... Continue Reading →
"Why are you so fascinated by those stars? What's so special about them?""They're not stars, they're worlds."Venus (bright) and Jupiter (faint) together on the left, second and fifth rock from the Sun, respectively (though use of the word "rock" to describe a gas giant may be considered criminally incorrect); the first one brighter and closer than... Continue Reading →
I'm not fat! I, uh, just have a little bit of extra accumulated energy storage. OK, maybe a bit more than just a little bit. Don't believe me? There's science to back that up. Honest. The math Because — and I did the numbers on this — if my surplus body weight (~30 kg) underwent a... Continue Reading →
It's perfectly human to forget passwords. After all, most of us have a whole bunch of them, too many to keep track of in your head, especially when they all have to be different, and long and complex enough to be reasonably unbreakable. What most people seldom realise is, in most cases it's perfectly all right... Continue Reading →
So last night while out driving I saw one of the prettiest sights I've seen in the sky: the half moon shining pale and yellow through a thin and wavy veil of clouds, illuminating them like a frosted glass landscape from within, and flanked on its left side, barely a fist's width distant, by the... Continue Reading →
Like many others, I'm thoroughly annoyed by and tired of the back and forth adjustments between summer time and winter time every year. And although I know which direction to set my clock (always towards summer, spring forward and fall back, folks), at least half the population don't know which way to set theirs, there... Continue Reading →
My sister's cat, Plym, being his own, orange, furry self. Plymothy looking his most absolurably adorbsable in backlight. ~ With eyes a-closed and fur a-glow, Plymothy naps in the window. ~ (Shot in RAW format with iPhone SE and edited on iPad using the Lightroom Mobile app.)
With head heavy, eyelids heavier, hand tightly gripping the handle of a pint mug of tea, by now half empty and barely warmer than its surroundings, I sit quietly in a daze, resisting with all my strength the urge to doze off, listening intently to the silence of the room around me, and the whispers... Continue Reading →
The angel of spring, tiny as he is, slowly but tirelessly, digging his way, inch by inch, out of what's left of winter. It's been a long, cold wait.
I use an iPhone and an iPad, and subscribe to 200GB of iCloud storage which I also sync to my Windows 10 computer using the iCloud sync software. This means that the files I store to iCloud from my two Apple devices are also available on my PC. The problem is that Apple's iCloud... Continue Reading →
"It has to stop. And spare me your Second-Amendment arguments. It’s all you’ve got. If you don’t have any other practical solution than MOAR GUNS, then you don’t get to participate in the conversation about what we do next to make this stop." — Jennifer Gadd I'm the son of a teacher, and indeed my... Continue Reading →
My dear wife and daughters got me something absolutely wonderful for Christmas: a beginners' astronomical telescope! Alas, since then, the weather has gone out of its way to keep the night sky veiled and thoroughly hidden around these parts. Only last Sunday did I catch a momentary break in the cover, and an opportunity to... Continue Reading →
Monday Morning Sleepy Sunrise Revealing the Red Eye of the East. January 8th, 2018, at a quarter to nine. Technical: Shot in RAW and edited on iPhone SE using Lightroom Mobile.
You may or may not have noticed the current Facebook trend, which revolves around posting a black and white photo of, well, anything you like, every day for seven days, one photo per day, and with each photo you will challenge or nominate someone else to do the same. Everyday B&W Photo. “Seven days, seven... Continue Reading →
"This American solar eclipse, a terrific eclipse, believe me, and I know this, and it's one hundred percent American, not Mexican, and not Chinese, even if those fake news sites will have you believe so, which happens just in my first year as President, an amazing year so far, is far more spectacular, amazingly spectacular,... Continue Reading →
So you're another one of those sheeple who actually believe that the super hyped solar eclipse is really going to happen, just because “the scientists” said so? Well, think again! Ok, so it's a satirical article, but here's what I would've said if it and the stuff I wrote above was intended to be serious.... Continue Reading →
Praised be two-factor authentication! Thanks to that, my Steam account was not hijacked by someone who, according to Steam Guard, had both my correct username and my correct password on hand. What on Earth am I talking about? What is this 'Steam' thing? Steam is a gaming network, where I buy, manage and play most... Continue Reading →
If you're born in a Western country like England, Germany, Norway or USA, chances are that you're well aware of such little details as your date of birth. Being born and raised a Norwegian, besides remembering being thrilled whenever we celebrated my birthday as a child, I rarely give my date of birth much thought,... Continue Reading →
In the several years since we got it, we've never actually caught Suri using her basket weave cat bed. We still haven't. This is the neighbour's cat's identical bed that she's taken up residence in. Poor Caesar isn't allowed to use his own, and she sure as heck won't let him use hers either. The... Continue Reading →
The Trump administration and the Department of Homeland Security now want visitors to USA to surrender their social media login information before being allowed through security. "We want to get on their social media, with passwords: What do you do, what do you say?" [Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly] told the House Homeland Security Committee.... Continue Reading →
So it's not perfect, not by a long shot, but as the author puts it, “a work in progress”, aiming for an ideal goal which, though perhaps not quite entirely reachable, helps guide us towards an increasingly beneficial society which works for, if not absolutely everyone, then at least as many as possible, and leaves... Continue Reading →
For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by the Universe — both the very, very large, and the very, very small — and found great excitement and pleasure not only in seeing the beauty that exists both without and within, as mesmerizing and terrifying as anyone could imagine, but also in the... Continue Reading →
The evening of August 27, 2016, was scheduled to feature the conjunction of the planets Venus and Jupiter shortly after sunset, a marvellous mere ½ degree apart, the same as the apparent diameter of the Moon, which is pretty darn close in a big, big sky. That's a must-see in my book! As a last... Continue Reading →
One side wants women to be objects of property, the other wants women to be objects of sexual desire, both of which are hardly different from the other in terms of respect for women as human beings. There needs to be another version of this animation, where the woman slaps both men silly, then proceeds... Continue Reading →
