Category: General (Page 45 of 55)

First there was the Pioneer anomaly and then came the Flyby anomaly. Are they related? And now I’m reading the history of Planet X. Mike Brown, the astronomer whose discovery of Eris led to the demotion of Pluto, has a blog post entitled: Planet X uncovered (again?). As I was reading it, I had a thought is it possible the observed anomalies of Kuiper belt objects related?

My ignorance of orbital mechanics, Newtonian and Einsteinian physics is pretty profound, so my speculation here is very crude and there may be no connection with any of these. Astronomers can measure changes in velocity pretty accurately and compare them against what theory predicts. The problem is there are very very tiny differences between what is predicted and what was measured. The scientists don’t know if there are errors in their calculations or measurements or more importantly maybe there is some new physics at work.

They’ve repeated these calculations and measurements enough to go “hmm… there may be something else here.” If none of these anomalies are related and they are real, that would imply three new area of physics. If they are related then that would certainly simplify things and add more evidence to that ‘hmmm…’ thing.

I have one more question. Dark matter is still a major mystery but astronomers can detect it’s effects on a macro scale (galactic). Could it be there is a property of dark matter on a micro scale (solar system) that is the root cause of these anomalies? Again these may be totally unrelated and my understanding of astrophysics is pretty abysmal but it might be worth looking into.

—I ought to expand on this post—

I think I’ve found a solution to mountain top removal that is as green as clean coal and American as apple pie. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. After the coal mining company blows off the top of a mountain and scrapes all the coal out, Disney could set to designing and building new mountain tops. Anyone can build a mountain out of papier-mâché and chicken wire, but only Disney Imagineers can build a scale model of a mountain. The government would of course have to give a no bid contract to Disney who then in turn can hire all the displaced coalminers to build new mountains to replace the old ones.

They wouldn’t need to import rock from China because it’s in situ. They wouldn’t need to hire illegal immigrants because they have the equivalent of third world workers in situ. They could revive the steel industry so they can build the mountain frames. It’s a win win situation for everyone.

—I ought to expand on this—

So what should our priority be on the food we eat? It should be tasty and nutritious. But as Michael Pollan says in his latest book, In Defense of Food, we should:

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

That, more or less, is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy.

I started to think we hear all these terms: organic, fair trade, food miles, and sustainable. What do we make of it? It’s unfortunate that most Americans obsess on food as medicine. I know I do. We know obesity is a growing problem and has created many many health problems. The lead culprit is high fructose corn syrup along with the over-processed foods that we eat everyday.

What should our food source priority be? I’ll rank them. sustainable, local, fair trade, and organic. Our food source should be sustainable. It shouldn’t deplete the land for this generation or the next. Our food should be local. This reduces the food miles and thus reducing the amount of fossil fuels that contribute to global warming. It should be fair trade. The food we buy should be mutually beneficial for both the farmer and consumer. The farmer and those in their employ should be able to make an living wage. Finally, the food should be organic. Produced with the least amount of artificial pesticides and fertilizers.

Some food cannot be produced locally: chocolate and coffee for two examples. By reducing the miles that our other foods have to travel we can make sure that what fossil fuels are used are to a minimum. Because I really really don’t want to do without my coffee and chocolate.

I found a great new way to get rid of unsolicited phone calls at work. If they are trying to reach someone else, put them on hold. If they are trying to talk to you, say hold that thought, then put them on hold. At home you can say do the same thing just put the phone down if it doesn’t have a hold button.

Why is this awesome? Time is money to these people. It wastes their time and you don’t have to talk to them. Eventually they’ll hang up and move on to the next person.