12.28.2024

Water is…

 …all over the place.

Especially in California, it seems.

Spoiler Alert

How US Population Will Change in 2025

"We know all the residents will be one year older…"

Imagine.  

12.26.2024

The poster tells the story

 Chevrolet dealers distributed this poster of the Chicago Bears offensive line in 1985. (Chicago Tribune archive photo)


Ahh, the good old days.

On bringing back Napoleon

Napoleon Bonaparte is credited with advising "Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence." Later a guy named Robert J. Hanlon replaced "incompetence" with "stupidity" and christened the admonition Hanlon's Razor.

All of which leads, circuitously, to this investigative report from today's Wall Street Journal…

Behind Closed Doors: The Spy World Scientists Who Argued Covid Was a Lab Leak

The idea that the pandemic’s origins lie with a research facility in China was once labeled a conspiracy theory

 …which tells a tale of government flim-flam (and the maybe-not-malicious credulity of the press) and (you don't have to read very far to find this) also the pivotal role played by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) — the position our Mr. Trump has nominated Tulsi Gabbard to fill.

So yea or nay?

12.24.2024

A kid with ambition

North Lawndale middle schooler helps make scientific discovery of molecule with cancer-fighting properties in goose poop

When she grows up, she said, she wants to be either a climatologist, a pediatrician or scientist, or a professional volleyball player.

Drone wars (and more)

NATO Ally's 'Game-Changing' Radiowave Drone Killer Passes Key Test

Earlier this year, the British military announced that it was testing new weapons technology that is expected to be a "game-changer" on the battlefield, using nothing but invisible radio waves to take out enemy drones and vehicles from a range of up to a mile.
The more:
The Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon (RFDEW) beams radio waves at a target, or group of targets, in order to destroy their on-board electronics.

Sales of Faraday bags will skyrocket. 

12.23.2024

Well tut, tut, New York Times

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Wants to Ban Drug Ads on TV. It Wouldn’t Be Easy.

If Mr. Kennedy wins Senate confirmation to become health secretary and pushes to ban drug ads, he could find allies among doctors.…He could also find common cause with Americans who love to complain about pharma ads on their screens.

That would be me. I love to complain about pharma ads on my screens. I love to complain a lot. 

And as you, New York Times, should know, there are already plenty of laws that apply to advertising practices. How easy was that?

I disagree with Bobby Jr. on a whole lot of things, but not on this.

Is it a Christmas miracle?

Detroit-area library says Chicago man can keep overdue baseball book -- 50 years later

“Some people never come back to face the music,” [the Detroit library director] said of patrons with overdue books. “But there was really no music to face because he and the book were erased from our system.”
Or is it not?

Erased?

Starts (wow!) tomorrow

Google has a Santa tracker page that allows one to follow the old guy's Christmas Eve journey in real time. Imaginarily real (just kidding, kids) at least. 

And while waiting for the Big Event to begin one can play with jolly Christmas toys like a Santa coloring book or a translator that converts various seasonal phrases to other languages. [SPOILER ALERT: The English phrase, Ho Ho Ho, is pronounced, in German, Ho Ho Ho.]

NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) maintains a similar tracking page, but without the games. It does, however, offer mobile Santa tracking apps. (So they can track you too?)

Not me, but…

A million taxpayers will soon receive up to $1,400 from the IRS. Who are they and why now?

…if this trend toward throwing money at people is going to become a thing I'm here for it. Are you listening, Feds?

12.22.2024

On "bringing a close"…

Biden signs bill that averts a government shutdown and brings a close to days of Washington upheaval

…for three months.

And this I'm supposed to be excited about (whew)?

Every three months (for how long now?) a self-replicating fraught orgy of partisan politics — and all because the Congress is incapable of doing its everlovin' job.

Hiding in plain sight

Newberry Library discovers it holds the largest example in existence of an extremely rare paper type

[The 49-sheet manuscript is] printed on maguey paper, a type made from pounded agave plants that is so rare that only 10 sheets were known to exist: four at the Library of Congress and six at the National Library of Anthropology and History in Mexico City.

The Newberry Library in question is not in Newberry, it's in Chicago.

Oops

U.S. Navy Shoots Down Own Plane as Fresh Strikes Target Houthi Rebels in Yemen

[From coststudy.org

The F-18 is known to cost somewhere between $50 million and $120 million when bought new. Used F-18 models will cost significantly less, although it will be hard to find one below the price of $20 million.]

No word about the missile,

The F-18 aircraft carries a two-person crew. Both bailed out safely, one incurring "minor injuries."

Some skies are not so friendly

When Your $3 Million Cello Gets Bumped From Your Flight

The cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason had to cancel a concert in Toronto last week after an airline refused to let him board with his instrument, even though he had bought a ticket for it.
And no, it wasn't TSA.