Category Archives: Science/Engineering

Yesterday’s global cooling

Posted on March 4, 2013 | Comments Off on Yesterday’s global cooling

The pols like to keep the little people agitated with one scare or another—see the Boy Emperor’s current gun control campaign which has no chance of becoming law—because it helps keep the snooze media busy while hiding the thieving they’re actually, uh, spending their time and our money on.

The Texas Legislature does it every biennium with some threat of, say, new regulations for abortion (the snooze media backs abortion, you see).

Hence global warming/climate change’s little-remembered antecedent: global cooling leading to an imminent Ice Age. Ah, but these are scientists who preach this stuff, you say? Not really, they’re politicos with science degrees who depend on federal funding to keep their university jobs. And who controls the funding? Congratulations. Now you’re catching on.

Via Powerline, which has a neat video clip showing one “activist” who lately has preached warming actually preaching cooling way back when. Gotta love the Internet.

Comments Off on Yesterday’s global cooling

Posted in Blogosphere, Obsessions, Science/Engineering, Texana, Weather/Climate

Tagged , ,

Why I avoid ABC News’s web site

Posted on February 27, 2013 | Comments Off on Why I avoid ABC News’s web site

Not just because it’s just another alphabet group of Democrat political stenographers and propagandists pretending to be objective journalists, but because it’s one of those sites (and there are others) where an embedded video/audio immediately cuts on without my say so.

They also make it hard to figure out how to turn the damn thing off. As Instapundit says, what we need is a browser that alerts us to this crap before it happens and allows us to turn it off with one easy-to-find click.

Comments Off on Why I avoid ABC News’s web site

Posted in Blogosphere, Science/Engineering, Scribbles

Tagged ,

Asteroid message: Colonize Space Or Die

Posted on February 26, 2013 | Comments Off on Asteroid message: Colonize Space Or Die

“Asteroids,” tweeted astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, “are nature’s way of asking: ‘How’s that space program coming along?'”

We could start with the moon. That’s easy pickins’, comparatively. And a much smaller target.

Via Instapundit and his latest column at USA Today.

Comments Off on Asteroid message: Colonize Space Or Die

Posted in Science/Engineering, Space

Tagged , , ,

The Cuomo high-capacity magazine

Posted on February 21, 2013 | Comments Off on The Cuomo high-capacity magazine

Had to laugh at this story about UT law student Cody Wilson who recently tested his new high-capacity 3D plastic magazine for semi-auto AR-15s, which he has named for New York Gov. Cuomo. The guv is backing laws to restrict rifle magazines to seven rounds. As if that would do anything except impede self-defense. Cuomo just wants to be a big in the ongoing Democrat gun-control baloney.

Cody’s testing, on an unnamed range near Austin, reportedly found the “Cuomo” as workable as any conventional metal-and-spring rifle magazine and apparently will soon start marketing a 3D printing template for it here. In the meantime, Wired Magazine is calling him one of the world’s 15 most dangerous people, according to Wikipedia. Gosh, only 15? I guess only 15 met the publication’s Leftist criteria. Anyhow, way to go Cody! Always good to see the neighborhood in the snooze. The Scribbler and the NRA love you!

The only drawback I see here is that Cody & Co. will hasten the feds’ legal assault on 3D printing, which could be a game-changer. But it was inevitable anyhow. There really hasn’t been a whole lot of innovation in the last few decades. No big game changers since invention of the Web. Principally because the feds and other pols are always trying to regulate anything new. (Such as the Web.) 3D printing was bound to get the federal (or state) schnitz sooner or later.

Via The Fat Guy

Comments Off on The Cuomo high-capacity magazine

Posted in Blogosphere, Guns, Science/Engineering, The Economy

Tagged , ,

Our robot overlords have arrived

Posted on February 18, 2013 | Comments Off on Our robot overlords have arrived

This K-Max robot helicopter, which has no human crew, is doing resupply for Marines in Afghanistan. Up to 4,500 pounds worth. Yes, but will it do Medevac?

Meanwhile, our drone-lovin’ president (like Slick Willie a natural-born killer when he can do it by remote control without endangering himself) is encouraging the use of drones over our airspace. Maybe the next time you see a helicopter fly over your neighborhood, you should duck and cover.

Or else bring out your still-legal (so far) AR-15 semiauto and shoot the sumbitch down. Not that I would ever advise anyone to break the law, you understand.

Via Mouth of The Brazos.

Comments Off on Our robot overlords have arrived

Posted in Afghanistan, Science/Engineering, The War, Troops

Tagged , , , ,

Good luck, Charlottesville

Posted on February 8, 2013 | Comments Off on Good luck, Charlottesville

Charlottesville, Virginia, is the first U.S. city to ban drones in its air space as as one councilman put it “pretty clearly a threat to our constitutional right to privacy.” Hey, no kidding. Not to mention our very existence if the drone is armed. But will the feds comply? I doubt that even the state government is likely to pay any attention.

UPDATE:  Other cities and some states, including Texas, also are considering such bans. Could be because the cops these days look so much like soldiers that we already feel that our neighborhoods are under siege.

MORE: Speaking of cops, did you catch how the LAPD shot first and asked questions later on two women delivering newspapers in a truck that did not even fit the description of the killer’s truck they were after? They peppered the neighborhood with bullets. Imagine what these “professionals” could do with drones.

Comments Off on Good luck, Charlottesville

Posted in Obamalot, Science/Engineering, The War

Tagged ,

Wind and solar mean burning trees and smog

Posted on February 6, 2013 | Comments Off on Wind and solar mean burning trees and smog

Reliance on wind and solar, both heavily subsidized by tax money but still undependable and ruinously expensive for consumers, is denuding parks in Germany and Greece and creating air pollution.

“Both countries are reporting that trees are disappearing from forests and parks as ‘impoverished residents, too broke to pay for electricity or fuel, turn to fireplaces and wood stoves for heat.’

“In Germany, Der Spiegel blames high energy costs for a rise in tree thefts and wood-burning stove purchases: ‘Germans bought 400,000 such stoves in 2011, the German magazine FOCUS reported this week. It marks the continuation of a trend: The number of Germans buying heating devices that burn wood and coal has grown steadily since 2005.’

“Similarly, the Wall Street Journal reports that in Greece: ‘As winter temperatures bite, that trend is dealing a serious blow to the environment, as hillsides are denuded of timber and smog from fires clouds the air in Athens and other cities, posing risks to public health.'”

We can expect these trends to come to the USA when King Putz and his Progressive and Green cronies get finished banning coal-fired power plants, thereby significantly raising the price of electricity.

Smog and denuded parks, coming to a town near you. Fortunately, here in Centex, we have plenty of mesquite to burn. A more or less endless supply, but the air won’t be so breathable anymore.

Comments Off on Wind and solar mean burning trees and smog

Posted in Obamalot, Science/Engineering, Texana, The Economy, Weather/Climate

Tagged