Archive for Science - page 6

We’ll probably never know, since the City has decided to drain a 38,000,000 gallon reservoir because someone peed in it.  We’ve already explored how much pee it would take in your pool to make it dangerous.  Now, due to the events in Portland we get to explore how much pee might be acceptable in your drinking water.  Turns out, it’s a lot.  Which isn’t that surprising  since it is not uncommon for people to survive when drinking their own urine (!).  It is 95% water after all.

Seems normal…

So if a teenager pees into a 38,000,000 gallon reservoir, Portland City officials think it needs to be drained.  Granted they have a lot more water up north than we do in California, but that still seems like a waste.  Especially since no one keeps track of all the bird and animal feces, dead animals, etc that undoubtedly find their way into an open air reservoir.    Anyway… odd for a town that hosts an annual event on World Naked Bikeride Day.  Those riders might get thirsty!  Now you know what they mean by “Keep Portland Weird”.

…and the bartender says “I can’t serve you because I’m not sure you exist!”  Bada-bing!  Meh…needs work.  Anyhoo… it looks like we haven’t yet even learned all of what we don’t know.  That is to say that the more we learn, the more we don’t know.  Or something.  If I can’t get that point across, then I have no chance of explaining subatomic physics regarding the discovery of a new “exotic” particle, the 4 Quark Hadron.  Or rather the confirmation of the 2007 discovery of the 4 Quark Hadron.  So I’ll suggest you follow that link to a very concise and surprisingly easy to understand article on the subject at the UK Daily Mail.  Why do you care?  OK, you don’t but why should you care?  Because atoms and their subatomic components make up everything in our entire universe and we will never figure out what the hell this whole universe thing is about if we cannot even understand what it is made of.

Besides, C’mon! It’s Hadrons!

I write about anything that happens to be of interest to me, and the subject matter is varied.  If you like what I write about some subjects but don’t care for others, look on the sidebar to the right.  You will see “categories”.  All my posts fit into one or more of these categories.  Click on the category you are most intersted in, and you will see only posts in that category.  Simple.  Within my posts I often link to additional information and/or another blog or article that inspired the post.  When you see a word in red text, that is a link to additional information.  Click on it and the link will open in a new tab.  Any pictures within a post can usually be viewed in a larger version by simply clicking on the picture.

click on the picture to see it larger

Please comment! To the left of the title you will see a box with the date and below it a box that says comments.  Click there and a dialogue box will open where you will be able to write comments on the article. This is how I know you’re reading and I welcome all feedback on my writing. You will be asked for your name and e-mail adress but don’t worry!  You can use an alias if you don’t want to disclose your name and your e-mail adress will not be displayed, nor will I spam you.  I moderate all the comments so I will see your comment.

Thanks! and Enjoy!

The Black Plague began it’s march across Europe in London in the Autumn of 1348.  Within a short time, 60 percent of London’s population had succumbed to disease and within a decade approximately 25 million Europeans were dead in what is often regarded as the worst human catastrophe in history.  Recently a London construction project unearthed a mass grave of 25 skeletons that were plague victims from which we are learing more about life in the middle ages, the disease and how it spread.

a mass grave of plague victims

Two things stand out, one is that the general state of Londoners’ health at that time was poor.  The other is that the disease may have been more “pneumonic” than “bubonic”, in other words it may not have been spread exclusively by the bites of fleas from infected rats, but  also by the coughing and sneezing of infected persons.  Evidence suggests that the disease could not have spread so quickly simply by flea bites and that another mode of transmission was likely.  Why does this matter?  Because to better understand the past is to better understand the present.  To know one’s history is to know oneself.  Read more here if you wish:

Via The Volokh Conspracy (WaPo):  “Isn’t it bubonic…don’t you think?”

Via The Guardian (UK): “Black death skeletons reveal pitiful life of 14th-century  Londoners”

In depth analysis here: How Much Pee in a Pool Would Kill You?

Most likely you know of Pompeii – the city buried by Mount Vesuvius’ eruption in 79 A.D.  It lay buried under volcanic ash for some 1500 years when it (and other sites in the vicinity) were rediscovered by construction in the late 16th Century.  Here is a wikipedia link if you would like to learn more.  The excavations have continued since the 16th Century but began in earnest in the mid 19th Century.  They continue to this day.  What I learned of today and found interesting is this:

“Cave Canem”: Beware of Dog

This was the decoration on the floor in the vestibule or entry to a house.  It seems they may have had burlgars in those days, too.  This was discovered at a site known as “The House of the Tragic Poet”, a tragic poet being a poet who writes tragic poetry or poetry in the vein of tragedy.
The actual name of the house’s owner is unknown.  Should my home be excavated 1500 or so years from now they will more likely find something like this:

The cat’s not trustworthy, either

Canis Numquam Animum Curam Monte!

Here in Northern California today it is sunny and in the 70’s.  Not trying to brag, just making a point.  If you live in another part of the country or the world it may be warmer or colder, wetter or drier.  The weather will change wherever I am or wherever you are.  It’s going to happen, only Bond villains and certain Superheroes can do anything about it.  By that I mean no one can do anything about it.  Where am I going with this?

Here’s where.  I am a Anthropogenic Global Warming Denier.  Just call me Galileo Galilei.  No, I did not say simply Global Warming Denier, I added Anthropogenic which means “induced by man”.  In the title and the opening paragraph I used climate and weather interchangeably when technically they are two different things.  HOWEVER…the weather is a microcosm of the climate and they share charactersitics.  The Climate is a system made up of many smaller weather systems.  So Climate = big picture; Weather = lots of small pictures that make up the big picture.  And here are some of the dots I have connected to arrive at my opinion.

• Modeling is useless as a tool to predict weather and therefore climate
• Up until just a few tens of thousands of years ago the North American Continent and much of the Northern Hemisphere was covered with a sheet if ice miles thick.  The climate warmed (without man’s help) the ice sheets retreated, the earth and it’s inhabitants adapted, survived and dare I say thrived.
• The science is not settled 
• The only proposed solutions so far are taxes on carbon emissions (allegedly to reduce the emissions) and then a carbon credit exchange which will allow carbon emitters to buy licenses to continue to emit carbon.

The single greatest influence on earth’s climate is that big yellow thing in the sky.

IN THE SKY!! I said big yellow thing IN THE SKY!

That’s better.

Not happy with the weather?  Don’t worry, it’ll change.  Not happy with the climate?  Same thing.  Things change.  The earth started out as a hot ball of gas then cooled on it’s own.  The dinosaurs were not responsible for their own demise.  Nature will take it’s course and as it has been shown the creatures that are capable of adaptation will survive, those incapable of adaptation will die out and become extinct or if a situation devlopes that is impossible to adapt to then it’s curtains for all.  Man did not invent the processes – they have been going on long before we arrived (evolved? sprouted? were dropped off by aliens? whatever.) and they will continue regardless of our continued existence.  Indeed, if it were possible for mankind to influence the climate by varying carbon emissions then the result of limiting emissions could also catastrophic if the earth were entering, unbeknownst to us, a (natural) cooling period.   A reduction of our carbon footprint would exacerbate (if the carbon theory is correct) the cooling perhaps causing an ice age which would have a devastating effect on agriculture and food production possibly leading to global famine and economic collapse.  So we’re screwed either way.  I say let nature take it’s course.  And if anyone tells you the solution to any problem is communism and higher taxes, you should mock them mercilessly.  

Did I mention that it’s nice and sunny here today?  I believe I did.

“However, it said unarmed”.  That is the google translation of this title which you may recognize as “gibberish” text that sometimes randomly fills text boxes when you are viewing theme examples in various publishing applications.  It is a real language, Latin,  the language of the Romans and it is often termed a “dead language”.  Yet it persists in many areas of our modern lives – science, law and medicine to name a few.  Some of our modern languages are derived from it.  Since wordpress autofilled it into a sample text box I thought it fitting to retain the title and use it for a blog post.  Inspiration is where you find it, am I right?

Guess I’ll play it by ear…

The title of this blog is also in Latin.  Ego Vero translates roughly to “I Seek Truth”.

Ideas and language go hand in hand.  Without language, ideas exist.  But without ideas, language serves no purpose.

I intend to use this platform to practice the expression of my thoughts and ideas regarding various topics of interest to me through the use of the written word.  I believe that Ideas are the puzzle pieces that make up our lives and make up the human experience.  As each idea is expressed another piece of the puzzle falls into place – another pixel is illuminated.  Eventually the truth emerges and God’s idea comes into focus.  If you should choose to look into my little world I hope you may be entertained, informed or perhaps stimulated toward an idea or thought of your own.  And since you may be walking around inside my head, please wipe your feet first.

So… off I go.  Please join me if you will.  However, it said unarmed.