A Beef: No, Joe Biden Is Not Going To Take Away Your Burgers
Putting the hysterics of the Daily Mail, Starnes, Boebert, and their followers aside, beef isn’t going anywhere.
Author: Michael Siegel
Mini-Thoughput: Ingenuity Flying on Mars Edition
If everything goes well with NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter, we’ve just gotten a huge force multiplier for our exploration of the Solar System.
Thursday Throughput: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Science, and Facts vs Truth
It’s fashionable to say, “believe the science”. But science is not a belief; it’s a series of facts and our interpretation of those facts
CDC and FDA Against Johnson & Johnson Vaccine
Suspending the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine right now seems an over-reaction that is likely to get more people killed.
“Better Voters” Is Not Just About Voting
Voting isn’t about preferences; it’s about accountability. But therein lies my disagreement that we should have “fewer but better” voters
Mini-Throughput: A Crack in the Standard Model?
Knowing the Standard Model doesn’t explain everything…is everything: gravity, dark energy and ultimately the fate of the Universe itself
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.
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
