This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Michael Harris nicely describes what the Cons are actually doing with power while pretending to be innocuous fiscal managers: The PM and his government are not good managers. The nauseating repetition of the claim that the Tories know what they’re doing with
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Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Aurora in Wood Mountain
One of the advantages to small-town Saskatchewan, is that it’s easier to escape light pollution than it is in a city like Regina. I was fortunate to be out of the city on June 29th in the very early morning, so have many fantastic aurora (Northern Lights) photos and animations
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Temperature – Do we really feel it?
Of course not silly, and here is why… 🙂 Notice that unlike religious ‘truths’ we can test this stuff out empirically and thus can ascertain whether it add or subtracts to our understanding of the world around us. Filed under: Science Tagged: Minute Physics, Science, Temperature
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Smacking Down Conspiracy Theory Codswallop
You know those people who use their mouths but not their brains, this video is for them. The gullible fall for conspiracy theories with alarming regularity and will attempt to suck you into their own vortex of stupidity. Potholer54 has the antidote to their claims – basic research and fact
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Science and Beer? – On Biodiversity
One of the few times that adding beer to the equation will make things better – an analogy between competition and diversity in the forest, and the supermarket. And no, you may not have a Dude Beer. : ) Filed under: Humour, Science Tagged: Beer, Biology, Diversity,
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Age of Unreason – On Junk Thought
I’ve almost finished Susan Jacoby’s book titled the Age of American Unreason. There are a few passages that wanted to make me stand up and cheer and qualified themselves as sharing material on the blog. Of course, I can never find them when I want to do the actual
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Committing Sociology or Climatology
The Prime Minister infamously implored people to not “commit sociology” when Chechen-American thugs blew people up in Boston. The PM’s point was that he didn’t want people analysing the root causes of terrorism, out of supposed respect for the distant victims. With another deadly tragedy underway in Alberta, there are
Continue readingTerahertz: Council of Canadians resorts to fear on fracking
I somehow got on the Council of Canadians direct mail distribution list. While I like most of their work, I had to respond to their latest mail out and had to ask to be removed. The envelope featured the iconic flaming tap image as part of their petition to end
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Species Worth Saving
The Prairie Dog Blog linked to an excellent article in The Stranger last year. It lays out humanity’s future, based on the status quo. [W]hether you can pin it precisely on global warming or not, the ocean of wilting grain that fills the middle of our country after this hottest
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: PRISM: Greenwald on CNBC
Strong congressional oversight means asking direct questions & getting straight answers. 1.usa.gov/1a0EIY3— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) June 11, 2013 Encrypt your shit: Spooky reading after #Snowden: Julian #Assange's call to take up arms against the surveillance state | Cypherpunks cryptome.org/2012/12/assang…— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 11, 2013 The world is not sliding, but
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Dark Sky Preserve at Wood Mountain
I found a new way to appreciate my home town through the eyes of astronomers this weekend. Also, I used the astronomers’ telescopes, which is a great way to look from their perspective on the universe. Wood Mountain is the gateway to the East Block of the Grasslands National Park
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Creationism’s stench still lingers in American education
Creationism (and it’s dressed-up-in-drag younger brother, “intelligent” design) is the black mold of education. It’s an insidious infection of the mind, an intellectual parasite. And like real-life black mold, it creates a toxic environment – for learning and critical thinking. … Continue reading →
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Stuff Than Makes You Think – The Double Slit Experiment
Wave-particle duality is just one on a huge list of phenomena that we cannot intuitively understand. 1veritasium does a nice job of walking us through the steps and sharing the science behind the experiment. Filed under: Science Tagged: Double Slit Experiment, Science
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: What the Future Holds
In researching my latest book, I’ve been reading about predictions for the future: what will happen in technology, science, politics, government and medicine. It’s pretty fascinating what some see coming at us for the next 10 to 100 years. There … Continue reading →
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: End Point
If we pass the point of no return, we will have runaway global warming and the end point is human extinction. I don’t think people quite get that yet. I know many who don’t take the issue of civilization’s survivability very seriously. Most of my peers have grown up hearing
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Order of Operations is Wrong
Oh BEDMASS my reliable guide, you were actually lying to me all this time. Filed under: Science Tagged: Betrayed!, Humour, Math Literacy, Order of Operations
Continue readingThus Prate the Pundit » Social Critique: Timeline of Conservatives’ Deeds Against Science
In the Confessions of a Science Librarian blog, John Dupuy writes about the Harper Conservatives’ war against science. He’s logged and linked activities from 2006 to 2013 that show how the Conservatives have muzzled, cut budgets, and otherwise attacked Canada’s scientific research programs. The article is good, the situation is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Pat Steenberg observes that the Harper Cons’ deficits are the result of conscious choices to reduce government revenue – and that we can fix our deficit and rein in inequality at the same time by reversing the damage: (W)hen our governments say they
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Yes, there’s plenty more on the Cons’ Senate scandal, with Tim Harper headlining the latest discussion: Mike Duffy is radioactive. The one-time Conservative cheerleader is now the poster boy for the filth which envelops the party brand. The man holed up on Friendly
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Justin Ling writes that the Cons’ aversion to accountability isn’t limited to their own government, as they’re one of the few holdouts against transparency in resource-sector reporting of payments to governments abroad. – Meanwhile, Stuart Trew discusses an international citizens’ initiative to
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