Thursday Throughput: When You Get Caught Between the Moon and Suez Canal
To get the giant container ship blocking the Suez Canal unstuck, engineers needed the stars to align. Actually, the sun, Earth and moon.
Author: Michael Siegel
Basics Belie the Birx Betrayal
Other failures-from the Administration, from China, from the WHO, and from our own individual selves-loom much larger than Dr. Deborah Birx
Mini-Throughput: The Voyagers
What’s really amazing about The Voyagers is that not only are they functioning after 40 years, but they are also still doing science
Hate is Hate: The Toxic Brew of Race, Sex Workers, and Hysteria in Atlanta Shootings
When you boil the Asian massage shootings down to misogyny & hatred of sex workers, there’s plenty of evil left to attribute to racism.
Thursday Throughput: COVID Vaccine Side Effects Edition
To stop distribution based on a vaccine side effect that is rare, unproven, & statistically insignificant is simply irresponsible.
Mini-Throughput: Rubin Observatory Edition
This amazing feat of engineering is going to make a huge number of breakthroughs on some of the outstanding problems in astrophysics.
Thursday Throughput: Phthalates, or Every Sperm is Sacred Edition
I do think phthalates may be overstaying their welcome. But I am very dubious that they are the Big Bad Sperm-Killing Wolf.
Denmark, McDonald’s, and AOC: The US Is Not Other Countries, Part 55 Billion
We can’t wave a magic wand and turn the United States into Denmark. We have to build on existing policies and traditions
Mini-Throughput: A Year of COVID
It has been almost exactly one year since I first wrote about the Coronavirus. It has been one hell of a 366 days of COVID
Perseverance Video
What you’re seeing is a stunning feat of engineering and human endeavor. Let’s hope the Perseverance video just a taste of what’s to come.
Perseverance Does the Impossible Again
I will never not be amazed that human beings can do things like Perseverance. The vision, the skill, the audacity — the human race at its best.
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel and the Internet Injustice Machine
The Netflix series Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel is their latest quarantine hit. I can recommend it, with some caveats.
Thursday Throughput: Texas Power Outages Edition
Republicans and editorial boards have taken to blaming alternative energy for the Texas power outages. Is this accurate? Not Really.
One, Twice, Three Times A Maybe: A History of Presidential Losers and Potential Trump Run
Now acquitted, again, will Trump run in 2024? A look at Presidential candidates who ran for office again despite losing a previous election
Mini-Throughput: Artemis Program Edition
My preferred approach at this point is to orient Artemis Program around a series of achievable goals and less around specific dates.
Thursday Throughput: TYC 7037-89-1, or Six Star Edition
Last week, NASA announced the discovery of one of the most unique systems we’ve ever seen. Behold TYC 7037-89-1.
House Impeachment Brief: Dems Make the Case
Democrats have released their House Impeachment Brief for the Senate Impeachment Trial. You can read it here.
Mini-Throughput: Mutant Math and New Strains of Covid
The rise of new more infectious strains of COVID-19 are the biggest story in science right now. This is why herd immunity was always a bad idea.
Thursday Throughput: Covid Vaccine Army Edition
The Covid vaccine is not the end of the War on COVID. It’s D-Day. It’s when we begin to fight back against this indifferent monster.
False Flags, the Capitol Riot and The Need to Believe
False flags are popular among conspiracy theorists for the same reasons all conspiracy theories are: they allow us to deny the evidence of our own eyes.
