Posts under ‘Science & Space’

Wind Farm
Originally uploaded by MikeOliveri
I drive past this wind farm when I visit my folks in Indiana, and every time I see it I get just a little jealous.
There are three separate wind farms in the works around here, but every one of them is under fire from locals who don’t want anything to do [...]

Just a thought I had today:
The closest star to our planet is 4.2 light years away. Let’s assume life exists there, and they have ships advanced enough to fly ten times the speed of light. That means it would still take them over five months to get here. Even for a four-man (-being?) crew, you’re [...]

An alien showed up in Pakistan, and what do they do? Kill it.

“Look, an alien! Let’s kill it, cook it up, and show it off on a dinner plate so his friends get really pissed!”
Thanks, Pakistan! Guess we best start preparing for the invasion.
At least they’re tiny and likely have tiny ships. Maybe we can [...]

I dug up some info on the Honda FCX Clarity today. It’s their hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that emits nothing but sunshine and rainbows when you drive it, and apparently there are several test cars on the road in California. The biggest problem is the infrastructure, of course, and I kept wondering where one would [...]

This video of Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place, is about 18 minutes long but is well worth watching:

The video explains how Better Place came to be, the plan for the cars, and the economics behind the Better Place plan versus oil over the next ten years.
Whether you think his plan will work [...]

I ran into a few items today I thought were worth mentioning, but really didn’t merit a longer, dedicated blog post. So I’m just going to pile them up here.
After reading that the great state of Kentucky is officially relying upon God for their state security, I learned that the group American Atheists is suing [...]

I’m happy to see the Better Place guys haved inked a deal with California mayors to build an electric car network for the Bay Area. The last time I talked about them, they were just getting rolling in Israel and Australia.
I’m not yet convinced they’re going to overhaul the auto industry, but I’m certainly not [...]

A mad scientist, of course, but these days it may not be far off.
The tardigrades that NASA fired into space have now returned, having survived exposure to both the extremes of the stellar vacuum and exposure to cosmic rays. I think that would be a fun job, blasting random critters into space. I can think [...]

It turns out some of us may just be wired for horror.
According to an article in the Telegraph, scientists have found a sort of genetic switch that determines whether a person will laugh or squirm when watching a horror flick. Given The Exorcist and Hostel had zero effect on me, and I laughed my ass [...]

DNA Collection Kit
Originally uploaded by MikeOliveri.
Our school is distributing DNA collection kids to elementary students.
My son’s will be promptly round-filed.
Like many a well-intentioned-but-flawed process, they’re doing this to protect the children. This kit will supposedly help the police locate your child should he be kidnapped, molested, or otherwise run afoul of some Great Evil.
Mm-hm. And [...]