Monday, November 18, 2019
Friday, November 8, 2019
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Monday, October 21, 2019
Is Time Travel Impossible?
https://youtu.be/pGnMiGrYmPE
I still have a problem with "space-time" as a unified thing. This leads to conclusions like time didn't exist before the Big Bang, which I find highly questionable. However, Special Relativity depends upon it. In order for space-time to not exist, we would need a completely different model of the universe.
I still have a problem with "space-time" as a unified thing. This leads to conclusions like time didn't exist before the Big Bang, which I find highly questionable. However, Special Relativity depends upon it. In order for space-time to not exist, we would need a completely different model of the universe.
Sunday, October 20, 2019
The Largest Volcanoes in History – Mantle Plumes explained
This might be more detail than you would ever want, but I find it fascinating.
https://youtu.be/NrbdYcNTo7Y
https://youtu.be/NrbdYcNTo7Y
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Quotation of the day
In this age of political hysteria, we must all educate ourselves on the facts – the actual science. Unfortunately, there seems to be a total lack of awareness about important issues that scientists like myself – who aren't paid by research grants – are concerned about.
Instead, climate science is being used as a political weapon, and the voices of scientists like me are being ignored or even vilified. I was under the impression that in the United States, all voices and arguments should be heard. Climate science is not settled science. If it was, why would there be a continuous flow of money to research it? For example, is AOC aware that in the fossil fuel era, in spite of a four-fold increase in population, deaths have plummeted?
….
Perhaps we should pause and consider why none of the global warming models from two decades ago have come to fruition. Perhaps we should slow down and think about the consequences of allowing our adversaries to supply the world with cheap energy, because one thing is for sure – wind farms and solar panels won't get the job done.
The objective reader should examine all sides of the climate debate and should ask himself: Are the consequences of acting hastily worse than not acting at all? I think many are skeptical of rushing forward. We must rein in the political hysteria and fear-mongering that is driving the climate change agenda.
Instead, climate science is being used as a political weapon, and the voices of scientists like me are being ignored or even vilified. I was under the impression that in the United States, all voices and arguments should be heard. Climate science is not settled science. If it was, why would there be a continuous flow of money to research it? For example, is AOC aware that in the fossil fuel era, in spite of a four-fold increase in population, deaths have plummeted?
….
Perhaps we should pause and consider why none of the global warming models from two decades ago have come to fruition. Perhaps we should slow down and think about the consequences of allowing our adversaries to supply the world with cheap energy, because one thing is for sure – wind farms and solar panels won't get the job done.
The objective reader should examine all sides of the climate debate and should ask himself: Are the consequences of acting hastily worse than not acting at all? I think many are skeptical of rushing forward. We must rein in the political hysteria and fear-mongering that is driving the climate change agenda.
Friday, October 11, 2019
Saturday, October 5, 2019
A Sound of Thunder
The 2005 "A Sound of Thunder" was an interesting time travel science fiction movie, although the special effects were kind of crappy. I like the movie, but I suspect that it would look dated.
The premise of the movie is that if you time travel back to the time of the dinosaurs and make one tiny little change then you will completely alter the present in horrible ways.
However, I don't buy this premise. The natural forces that alter this world over tens of millions of years aren't going to care didly squat what you did 70 million years ago. That is like saying if I were to spit into the Missippi River at Minneapolis Minnesota that it would cause a flood in New Orleans Louisianna.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Monday, September 30, 2019
The Zipf Mystery
This is really interesting, for the mathematical or the inquisitive.
"The way one of my teachers explained the 80 20 thing: 80% of the noise in a classroom is caused by 20% of the students."
Friday, September 27, 2019
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Monday, September 23, 2019
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Which Way Is Down?
This has some interesting explanation of Relativity.
I have some problem with the concept of "Spacetime" because that leads to conclusions like time didn't exist before the Big Bang.
The Special Theory of Relativity is a great model for making predictions in the universe, but maybe, and that is a big maybe, another theory could also make accurate predictions.
Fwd: Asteroids and earth life
Asteroid dust may have triggered massive explosion of life on Earth 466 million years ago
Nearly half a billion years ago, there was a huge explosion of species development on Earth, causing the biodiversity of animals to increase dramatically -- but the true cause of that event has remained a mystery.
In a new paper published on Wednesday in Science Advances, scientists show that the event's onset coincided with the largest documented asteroid breakup in the asteroid belt over the past two billion years.
That breakup, which was triggered by a collision with another asteroid or comet, would have spread enormous amounts of dust throughout the solar system.
"The blocking effect of this dust could have partly stopped sunlight from reaching the Earth – leading to cooler temperatures," the study's co-author Birger Schmitz, a professor of nuclear physics at Lund University, writes in The Conversation. "We know that this involved the climate changing from being more or less homogeneous to becoming divided into climate zones – from Arctic conditions at the poles to tropical conditions at the equator. The high diversity among invertebrates, including green algae, primitive fish, cephalopods and corals, came as an adaptation to the new climate."
Schmitz and his colleagues also studied the distribution of very fine-grained, extremely tiny dust in the sediment, determining its extraterrestrial origin by discovering helium and other substances inside the sediments.
"Our results clearly show that enormous amounts of fine-grained dust reached Earth shortly after the breakup," writes Schmitz.
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
M&M's - Wikipedia
The candy-coated chocolate concept was inspired by a method used to allow soldiers to carry chocolate in warm climates without it melting.
During World War II, the candies were exclusively sold to the military
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%26M%27s
During World War II, the candies were exclusively sold to the military
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%26M%27s
Monday, September 16, 2019
Stable Climate
We are fortunate to live in a geologically stable period. In 535 AD, a supervolcano blew away one island in the Philipines creating an 18-month nuclear winter world wide. However, that's small potatoes compared to what this planet has been through. We have enjoyed about 12,000 years of relative comfort after the last period of glaciation. This brief warm period is predicted to go away in another 10,000 years. The further you go back in time, the more extreme some of the events have been, including at least five mass extinctions. One of these was caused by an asteroid strike and another may have been caused by a deadly gamma-ray burst from space. Twice, the planet has frozen solid, covered in a mile or more of ice worldwide. In the very early days of planet Earth, a Mars-sized object hit the Earth scooping out enough material to create the moon.
Monday, September 9, 2019
Saturday, September 7, 2019
What Will We Miss?
This is a very interesting video.
It would seem impossible for humans to survive billions of year. If we have any descendants billions of years from now, then they would be dramatically different in form and function. They would also have to survive many worldwide extinction events.
Due to plate tectonics coming to an end, the Earth is predicted to be cold, dry and dead in 500 million years. Maybe our more advanced descendants, if they are still around, will find a way to terraform the planet
I think that machine intelligence will eventually replace biological intelligence. I see this happening through our own actions as we slowly modify ourselves. I think that the beginnings of this will start in our lifetimes.
Here is another very interesting video from the same source, called "Last Words." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qig68IuPrbk
Best wishes,
John Coffey
Thursday, August 29, 2019
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