Remember four years ago when I wrote a blog about how space-based solar power is a terrible idea and won't work? Now, Engadget is reporting that China wants to do exactly what I was talking about in that post, which will still not be possible for the same reasons and because of science.
ARE MILLENNIALS KILLING THE SUNDIAL INDUSTRY?
According to an article in The Telegraph, sundials are at risk of dying out. This will come as shocking news, no doubt, to anyone that thought sundials had already died out, which is everyone.
COULD THIS BE THE WORLD’S FIRST NUCLEAR-POWERED AIRLINER? (NO.)
On January 5, 2011, I wrote the following: “Designer” is a dangerous term, because it usually means some crazy person with ridiculous ideas who then makes CAD drawings or actual mock-ups of his crazy ideas and yet, for some goddamn reason, I appear to be the only person to notice that said idea is crazy.... Continue Reading →
THREE REASONS THIS ROCKET WON’T SEND US TO MARS
Ever been to the website Elite Daily? If you haven't, don't bother. Home of such journalistic masterpieces as "Zayn Malik Isn't Worried About Leaving One Direction Because His Fiance Is Hot As F*ck" and "Man Given 18 Months To Live Says Cannabis Oil Cured His Cancer," it's a long-running stream of feel-good drivel that's generally... Continue Reading →
SPACE-BASED SOLAR POWER: DON’T GET TOO EXCITED
This has come up before and never gotten a ton of mainstream attention, but I saw it again and thought I'd address it. WHAT IS IT? Breaking news: the Sun is really freaking bright. Like you cannot believe. In ideal conditions, the Sun is shining roughly 1050 watts on each and every square meter of ground.... Continue Reading →
YOU ARE NOT A TETRACHROMAT, AND THIS GRAPHIC IS BULLSHIT
Recently there was a schism on the internet between people about the color of a dress. That led to all kinds of scientific articles about how we perceive color differently, memes about white and gold things and black and blue things, and finally, eventually, this. That is from an article on LinkedIn, written by a woman... Continue Reading →
I WATCHED “VERTICAL LIMIT” (AGAIN) SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO
If you've never seen Vertical Limit, good for you. If you've never even heard of it, even better. It came out in 2000 and somehow made $215 million on a budget of just $75 million, despite being a train wreck of scarcely believable proportions. It is, without a doubt, the worst climbing movie ever made,... Continue Reading →
CAROLE R. DAVIS NEEDS TO SHUT THE FUCK UP
Doubtless there are some among you who are already mad at me for being so rude to this innocent woman in my title. First of all, it's paraphrased from the atrocious article on which I based this post, and secondly, get over it. She deserves it. You'll see. Earlier this week, a friend of mine... Continue Reading →
WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR…
Obviously the classic song ends that phrase with “your dreams come true.” Then, as I’m sure you’ve seen, some smartass decided to put a modern and more cynical spin on the phrase with some iteration of the following: Unfortunately, that smartass was also a dumbass. Here’s why. First of all, the phrase “you’re a few... Continue Reading →
22 STUPID PEOPLE HOLDING SIGNS
As I'm pretty sure everyone on the internet knows by now, Bill Nye recently had a debate with Ken Ham about whether creationism was a viable explanation for the origins of people and animals and plants and rocks and stars and stuff. I'll cut to the chase: it's not. Creationism doesn't have any science behind... Continue Reading →
SIX REASONS WE’RE NOT GETTING A MOON ELEVATOR
A while ago, several news outlets of varying degrees of reputability reported on the intentions of a company called Liftport to build a space elevator, but not on the Earth where it'd be accessible by human beings. They want to build one on the moon. But first they have to figure out if it's possible.... Continue Reading →
THE MOST AWESOME THING IN SPACE (IF YOU HAVE THE MATURITY OF A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD)
There's a lot of science that's kind of boring if you don't understand it or its implications. I get that. But there's also a lot of stuff that's awesome in the world of science, despite being almost literally unbelievable when you first hear about it. This is one that I was perusing recently that, upon... Continue Reading →
DEATH FROM THE SKIES! OR SOMETHING.
First of all, the first sentence of this post's title is taken from Phil Plait's book of the same name, which is awesome. It looks like this. You should buy it and read it, and then make all the people you know do the same thing. It's a really good book and Phil is really... Continue Reading →
BLOW ME, YOU’LL FEEL BETTER
Yes, I know, that was a somewhat crude title. It is not, however, misleading. You see, a little while ago I read on Inhabitots (Inhabitat's despicable hellspawn) the following headline: I was intrigued, naturally. And being a responsible and intelligent member of the human race, I naturally look up the original study every time the... Continue Reading →
TRANSPORTATION IDEAS THAT WON’T WORK (BECAUSE OF SCIENCE): PART 3
I'll keep this one short. A company named Innowattech (innovation + watt + tech. Get it?) wants to put piezoelectric pads under railways to harvest electric energy from passing trains. Trains roll over the pad, the pads compress, electricity happens, and eco-conscious morons the world over collectively cream their pants because we've MAGICALLY GOTTEN ENERGY... Continue Reading →