Question: The years 2016 – 2020 saw a huge exodus of scientific experts at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, due to firings, re-assignments, and simply leaving out of frustration, seeing that science itself had been demoted to a lower role, …
Category: Renewables – Science
Renewable Energy Concept
Have you ever been walking along a street and noticed the breeze created by a passing car? Probably. Ever wondered how much energy that breeze could generate? Probably not. The answer: It’s extremely low, which is why the renewable energy …
Tagged with: renewable energy concept
Renewable Energy from Gravity?
Ahh….no, despite the contents of this ludicrous article. There is no energy in gravity. Gravity is a force that is a function of the mass of two objects, say a brick and the Earth. Force and energy are not the …
Exercise in Techno-Fraud
Here’s a fellow raising money on crowdfunder.com to make a machine that he describes as follows: Lets (sic) fight climate change together. …. My first full size prototype will have 3 alternators around it each alternator producing 1.75kw so totaling 5.25kw …
Education and Bilingualism
There have been a decent number of posts here recently on the importance of quality education as the underpinning of an effective democracy. Here’s an article readers may find interesting; it covers the value of growing up in a bilingual …
Deprogramming Conservatives?
Apparently, some people are suggesting that those with extreme right-wing views need to be “deprogrammed,” that controversial idea normally associated with wresting a loved one from the jaws of some sort of cult. A few thoughts: • There is a …
Meeting Up with Alien Civilizations
“It not a question of if; it’s a question of when,” remarks an astrophysicist on the prospect of our finding extraterrestrial life. Here’s a wonderful article on a recent discovery, marking just one more data point in humankind’s quest to …
Karl Popper, the Philosophy of Science, and the Paradox of Tolerance
Karl Popper (pictured here) was a 20th Century philosopher of science, perhaps best known for his belief that if we are to call any idea a “scientific theory,” it needs to be falsifiable, i.e., that there needs to be a …
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Effective Teaching and the Use of Examples
I know I’ve mentioned that I tutor at the local schools and the junior college in Santa Barbara and that I, like anyone who’s had these experiences, learned quickly that there are effective and ineffective ways of getting certain concepts …
Tagged with: Effective Teaching
Political Protest Marchers Have a Certain Look
As someone who marches in favor of things like science in policy-making, Black Lives Matter, women’s rights, banning new oil pipelines, or whatever, this made me smile. There really is a certain look that compatriots and I have, and, correspondingly, …
