Bell’s Palsy is one of those rare ailments, and one that annoys more than threatens, but can be difficult and socially awkward for sufferers. It’s also one that still baffles researchers as to its cause. And also for an effective treatment. According to facialpalsy.org, The name ‘Bell’s palsy’ comes from
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Scripturient: Blog & Commentary: The dangerous idiocy of the anti-vax movement
Measles is on the rise in Canada. There have already been many cases in 2014: in PEI, London, Ottawa, southern Alberta, Regina, Qu’Apelle, Calgary, Fraser Valley (320 cases), Hamilton, Halton, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Waterloo, Nanaimo and other locations. Eleven cases in Ontario this year alone. Nine in Alberta. That ancient, deadly
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Sport of Curling is Mysterious – Even to Science
Curling, the backdrop for a a controversy among physicists. Who knew? You do now. 🙂 Filed under: Science Tagged: Curling, Mysterious Rocks, Physics, Science
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Relativity Isn’t Relative – Minute Physics
Just when I think I have a handle on base concept or two… *sigh* Filed under: Science Tagged: Minute Physics, Physics, Relativity, Science
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Is this the end of the gluten-free fad?
Last November, when I first wrote about the gluten-free diet fad, I bemoaned how an everyday protein, a staple in human diets for many millennia, had become demonized by the diet fad crowd. In fact, the gluten-free fad rapidly grew into a multi-million-dollar industry in Canada to accommodate that
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Shrinking the God of the Gaps – Another step forward for Astrophysics
Some background on the the latest discovery about the nature of our universe. 🙂 The believers in ooga-booga should be feeling a bit less secure in their grand delusion (It’s a nice thought, but then again, since when do believers let facts get in the way of the TRUTH) .
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Thinking about a new ukulele
I’ve been thinking seriously of adding another ukulele to the herd. A tenor resonator, or resophonic, like the Kala shown above. That’s the re-designed 2014 model. I’ve played earlier models, including the 2013 version with the strings attached to a tailpiece (see photo below, left). The 2014 design (shown above)
Continue readingBlevkog: Stretched Thin, Part 1
As some of you may be aware, during my more prolific days on the ‘Kog, I decried the decline in the quality of journalism, a trend which I directly attributed to the establishment of the 24-hour cable news stations. The need to fill airtime has superseded the need to inform,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Nafeez Ahmed writes about the dangers of combining growing inequality and increased resource extraction: By investigating the human-nature dynamics of these past cases of collapse, the project identifies the most salient interrelated factors which explain civilisational decline, and which may help determine the
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Ram Pressure Stripping – More than close shave.
Now for your astronomical news of the week. The latest from the Hubble telescope. Filed under: Science Tagged: Astronomy, Ram Pressure, Science
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Brussels Sprouts – Numberphile
Yet another reason to be wary of Mathematicians. Filed under: Science Tagged: Brussels Sprouts, Math, Sneaky
Continue readingTerahertz: I get email – Human rights and Climate change
Recently, I wrote about a ruling against APEGA, Alberta’s professional association for engineers, by the province’s Human Rights Tribunal. Low and behold, the defendant in the case, Ladislav Mihaly, emailed me with a follow up request for help. My name is Ladislav Mihaly, and I am the Engineer who won
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: ‘Superweed’ Invaison – Agricultural Woes
What is profitable. What is right. Two categories that, if drawing a Venn Diagram, seem to overlap less and less these days: case in point the manufacture and use of genetically modified seeds produced by the Monsanto corporation. Back in 1990 the so called ’round-up ready’ crops came into being,
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Climate Change – Expecting the Unexpected.
Isn’t being on a run away train fun? Filed under: Science Tagged: AGW, Climate Change, Science, Tipping Points
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: The Blustery Winds of Stupidity Hit Weyburn Hard #skpoli
At least 2 Weyburn City Councillors were not duped by anti-Wind propaganda that afflicts many municipalities. There’s probably no bylaw against this family running a noisy, polluting diesel generator in their backyard, contributing to poor health of their neighbours. I’d have to reason that the neighbour(s) who complained about this
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: #Tarsands Polluting Groundwater and Rivers
As scientists have demonstrated in the past, the strip mining and tailing ponds employed on a Mordorific scale in northern Alberta are polluting ground and river waters. Sorry #tarsand shills, but turns out you’ve been lying all along when you’ve said that areas surrounding the tarsands are not being polluted.
Continue readingTerahertz: Nature blasts Swiss anti-immigration referendum
As part of Switzerland’s system of direct democracy, Swiss voters recently approved immigration caps by a narrow margin. This means that the country, which has remained independent of the European Union, will no longer be able to continue to allow the free movement of labour with its neighbours (a fundamental
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Science of Pornography
Like any habit, consuming pornography can be a hard cycle to break and here is why. Filed under: Science Tagged: Behaviouralism, Pornography, Science, Stimulus Processing
Continue reading350 or bust: I Love Climate Scientists, Don’t You?
* Even as the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration climbs upward, some climate deniers are bent on attacking climate scientists’ reputations. That’s why it’s more important than ever that we empower climate scientists to keep doing the stellar work they do, the work that makes climate change activism possible. Sign the Valentine’s
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Scientific Approach to Better Urban Design
Urban design is not an easy activity because of the multitude of variables that impact the overall urban experience. There are buildings, traffic (foot and vehicular), landmarks, natural occurrences like rivers, and abstracted economic forces. Space Syntax is a company has set out to make better urban design by using
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