Redneck Science. How Does A Carburetor Work?

How does a carburetor work?  Physics.

Doc Fauci, Again

 Poor ol' Doc Fauci, the media darling, is once again the news, getting testier and testier as his work is revealed for all to see.  I was watching Fox Nation this morning, and listened to an interesting episode of Hannity, where I caught this screen-grab.

And, because I need a couple of sources, I went over to National Review and found the article in question.  It's got links and if you're interested, jump on over.

In a newly resurfaced paper from 2012, Dr. Anthony Fauci argued that the benefits of gain-of-function research are worth the increased risk of a potential pandemic-causing lab accident. 

Really, Doc?  How's that working out for you?  Millions dead worldwide from a lab leak that many people believe that you funded with American taxpayer dollars.

 

The Role Of Science

 I see, in the continuing train-wreck of the Biden bullshit, that he has ordered a sweeping review of government science integrity policies.  That would be great.  We want our scientists to have integrity.

They could start by running off Dr. Anthony Faucci.  I've seen his "science" change many times during the past year.  From no masks, to wearing masks, now to wearing two or more masks.  Google it yourself.  It's plainly been his advise since the pandemic began.  We are really not sure what is science, or what is his desire to preen for the camera.

I understand that science changes over times.  Galileo was tried for his insistence that the Earth rotates around the sun.  Even Einstein admitted that he blundered from time to time.  There is some settled science, but we should always be aware that scientists are fallible, and that scientific thought changes over time.  There are a few immutable scientific facts, laid out mostly by Euclid, Archimedes, Newton, and yes, Einstein.  But, there are also scientific questions that don't have hard answers.

I know a few scientists, and it is really refreshing to hear them tell me that they might not know the answer to a particular question.  When I hear a scientist say "We used to believe this, but now we think that ....", I know that they are telling me the truth.

What would really be refreshing is to hear politicians admit error.  Not all policies are grounded in fact, and sometimes do more harm than good.  When the science seems to be changing on a weekly basis, and the politicians are making changes based on those shifting sands, it doesn't engender confidence in their policies.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back.

It seems that the scientists at the National Lab have come up with a way to run a Tomahawk missile on corn.

Los Alamos National Labs has come up with a replacement fuel for JP-10 that uses corn bran and other feedstocks instead of petroleum products. The result is a fuel that can be sourced directly from America’s most plentiful crop, bypassing foreign sources.

That's interesting science, but recent events show us to be awash in petroleum, certainly not dependent of foreign sources of fuel.  At one time last month, crude oil sold for $-34/bbl.  They couldn't give it away without paying someone to haul it off.

If memory serves, the original diesel engine was designed to run on vegetable oil.  They got away from that when petroleum became more widely available.

It's interesting to know that we can make jet fuel from corn, but at this particular moment, I'm not convinced that it's particularly applicable to the markets, unless we're trying to subsidize corn production.

Trajectory

It's hard to explain to people what a bullet does when it leaves the barrel and how the interaction of gun, sights, and shooter all combine to make a bullet fall down at a particular spot.

So, there's this guy, Mark Novak, who works on guns, and explains things.  He will take you down a rabbit hole, as long as you are willing to follow.  This episode is about trajectory.



Yes, there is math involved.

Elasticity

Postmodern Education

It seems that researchers are blaming YouTube on the Flat Earth phenomena.

Despite steps taken to counteract problematic material YouTube is still a hotbed of hoaxes and fake news -- a problem that's become so prevalent the site recently announced it is changing its AI in a bid to improve matters. But now the scope of the problem has really come to light, as new research suggests that the increasing number of Flat Earthers can be attributed to conspiracy videos hosted on the site.

I thought we settled this in the 16th century.  Of course, postmodern education has nothing to do with the idea that the Earth is flat.

Gender Roles

There are a couple of things I've noticed int he past week.  Both from Insty.

First, this:

Then This:

Today, with the freeing of females from traditional role constraints, it is still primarily men who do the dangerous and dirty jobs, who make up most of the first responders and the military who defend us, and who, as scientists and engineers, continue to address the natural world for understanding and to serve our needs. These are some of the ways that the characteristics and qualities of men benefit society. And it is the job of socialization to direct the traits of men into constructive channels, a more realistic and productive strategy than trying to turn males into females.

The one thing that I noticed recently, at a ceremony at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine was that the overwhelming majority of students (upwards of 80%) were female.  This school is highly competitive, with a limited number of slots available to aspiring vets, and the successful applicants are overwhelmingly female.  The students that I know are uber-smart, talented people who would do well in any academic situation.  They are also going to be great veterinarians.

Finally, the 21st Century

Finally, the 21st century might be turning out more like I expected.

For more than half a century, rockets have been the only way to go to space. But in the not-too-distant future, we may have another option for sending up people and payloads: a colossal elevator extending from Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 22,000 miles, where geosynchronous satellites orbit.

Imagine a huge cable, stretching from Earth's surface to a geosynchronous orbiting platform, with people and payloads traveling the cable, without rockets.

NASA says the basic concept of a space elevator is sound, and researchers around the world are optimistic that one can be built. 

Let's get after it, fellows!  (Then, get to work on my flying car.)

Science

Reproductive hormones related to how attractive a woman smells.  Imagine that!

Researchers at the University of Bern demonstrate that some women smell better to men than others—namely those who are "fittest" for reproduction.

So, there is a difference between men and women, and gender does matter.  Imagine that.    I would also speculate that perfumes or other  artificial scents are designed  to level the playing field.

Eat Meat, Be Immortal

Well, not exactly, but there is some evidence that red meat is good for you.

Researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, found that people who scarf down higher levels of red meat and cheese are likely to live longer.

People who had three portions of dairy and 120 grams of unprocessed red meat per day benefited the most, the research team found...

 Those eating the most dairy and red meat saw their chances of early death fall by 25 percent and fatal heart attack decreased by 22 percent, according to the researchers, who in their methodology accounted for differences in wealth and education, as well as other health habits.

That works for me.

Hoplophobia Writ (But not Printed) Large

The hoplophobes are in a full tizzy.

Jazz Shaw reports that several states have moved to block the downloading of 3D gun printing files.

Those states were Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Oregon, Maryland, New York and the District of Columbia. 

Those states are now on record as being against the free flow of information.

It's interesting that 3D printing is one of the most revolutionary advances of the 21st century, especially in the field of medical research. 

The left is going smooth crazy.

Imagine this: the convicted domestic abuser next door tries to buy a gun. He’s turned down because he fails his background check. When he gets home, he opens up his browser, and in half an hour he’s printing out his own undetectable, fully functional plastic gun, with no background check and no record of his purchase.

And, it will still be a felony.  Just like if he stole the gun, or had a straw purchaser buy it.  Whether or not he prints his own gun, simple possession of it is against the law if he's a "prohibited person"  This changes nothing.

Aliens Among Us?

Well, why the hell not?

“Thus the possibility that cryopreserved Squid and/or Octopus eggs, arrived in icy bolides several hundred million years ago should not be discounted as that would be a parsimonious cosmic explanation for the Octopus’ sudden emergence on Earth circa 270 million years ago.”

I've seen a few octopii, and those are some alien looking critters.

Doing Science

We got out the chronograph this morning to obtain data.  The data is weirdly inconsistent, but it's data nonetheless.  It's time to re-set and make some changes.

The brass is tumbling right now.  If we get time, we'll try again later this week.

The Science Is Settled

Insty links us to a great article from Sarah Hoyt's site.  As it turns out, what determines climate is our sun.    Some pertinent excerpts:

The ‘Little Ice Age’ was actually a significantly extended cool period lasting several centuries, and no less than FOUR extended minima occurred during its ‘tenure.’ These include, in order, the Wolf, the Spörer, the Maunder, and the Dalton minima. These extended minima were not all of the same ‘depth,’ in that the minimum numbers of sunspots were not the same across all of them — the Maunder was far deeper than the rest — but there are indications that we are hitting numbers in the range of the Dalton already. . .

The fact that, as sunspot numbers go down, the overall energies output by the Sun also go down is an indication that, in this instance, correlation may well equal causation, at least to some degree. Add in a few large (or many small) volcanic eruptions to complicate matters — and there usually ARE such concatenations of volcanic eruptions in such multi-decadal timeframes, as a matter of course — and it may well prove interesting times ahead, as well as in the past.”

We have noticed, locally, that April, May, and so far June have been the mildest that we can remember.  Here in the second week of June, we're having lows in the 60s and highs in the 80s.

You might want to make sure your furnace works before winter sets in.

Friday Surfing

This is just cool.  If you have grandkids like me, just about every other sentence is about robotics, and these guys are exploring the dexterity of robots.

This Is the 21st Century

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. –  U.S. military officials say an unmanned spacecraft orbiting Earth since May 2015 has landed in Florida.

The Air Force posted tweets that the X37B spacecraft landed Sunday morning at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral after 718 days in orbit.

I still think that space flight is cool.

What Is Out There?

That's the big question of space exploration: What is out there?

NASA is supposed to make an announcement at 2PM today about findings from the Cassini spacecraft that's been orbiting Saturn.

This afternoon, NASA is going to make an announcement about big findings from the Cassini spacecraft, a probe that’s been exploring the Saturn system since 2004. This particular announcement will revolve around “new results about ocean worlds” in our Solar System, so that means we’ll be most likely be focusing on either Titan or Enceladus. The two moons of Saturn are thought to harbor liquid water. Enceladus has a subsurface ocean and this saltwater periodically erupts from the moon’s surface as plumes. Titan’s surface, in comparison, is dotted by lakes and seas of liquid methane and ethane.

As alien a world as we'll probably ever imagine.  Lakes of methane and ethane.  This is cool stuff.

Gender Is Simple

Okay, we're going to take a look at an article, and we're going to go over this one more time.

From PJMedia:

Radical feminists and conservative women are joining together to defend womanhood from transgender incursions via Title IX, calling it a war on women.

The question is really quite simple; do you have a Y chromosome?  It's basic biology.  It really is that simple.  Gender is not a choice, it is assigned during the chaos of conception.  It is what it is.

Don't get me wrong, I generally love gay people.  I'm a live-and-let-live kind of guy.  I don't care who you sleep with; it doesn't matter to me.  But, gender is not something that is open to choice.

Microwaves?

Not the ovens, the communications capacity.  ARS Technica talks about microwave transmission in today's world.  For an old geek,, it's cooler than hell.

My dad was an old Bell System long-lines expert and he worked on microwave communications technology back in the '60s and '70s.  He worked with microwave systems for 40 (sometimes 60) hours per week, and knew it inside-out.  Yeah, the old man was a geek, with a deep, detailed knowledge of communication technology.  He helped during the switch over from microwave to fiber optic tachnology.

Just before we lost him in 2007, I was driving him on south McArthur Drive and he saw a new microwave tower that he had never seen.  He had me pull over to study it.  "I don't know who it belongs to" he said, "but they are pushing some serious wattage through it."  He waved me back onto the roadway.  "I always thought that microwave would make a comeback.  It has a lot of advantages that most people don't realize."

Just as an aside, back in the '70s, one of the kids was reading the comics and talked about Dick Tracy's wrist phone.  The old man told us that one day, portable, personal phones would surpass and supplant the standard telephones that we had in our homes.   We all looked at him like he was crazy.