Category Archives: Technology
Another Whack Job Heads a Government Department
When Reagan was elected, he was largely put in place by moneyed interests that wanted to buy up public land and the mineral extraction leasing of those lands. He installed a special little toad of a human to head up the Department of the Interior named James Watt. Watt was a lunatic who believed that it didn’t matter if we destroyed the planet because Jesus was coming in a few years anyway. I was reminded of him by the idiot in this story. When I was in high school my Physics teacher told me that we would have nuclear fusion figured out in 10 years of less. That was almost 50 years ago. When I was in college my Physics professor told me we would have nuclear fusion figured out in the next decade. That was 40 years ago. I don’t think the track record on predicting fusion is reliable.
US energy chief tells BBC nuclear fusion will soon power the world
Senator Angus King Lays Down Some Common Sense
AI and Data Centers are causing the largest increase in electrical consumption in decades, and a pushing up prices.
Clever
Fear of a Dangerous World Leads Parents to Allow their Children to Spend Time in a More Dangerous World
What Kids Told Us About How to Get Them Off Their Phones
Turns out, kids would lust like their access to the real world turned back on. Then they wouldn’t have to live in a virtual one.
Time Crystals
What the heck is a time crystal, and why are physicists obsessed with them?
The second part of that title just seems silly. I mean, it’s a time crystal. Who wouldn’t be obsessed. The crystals seem to exhibit a kind of perpetual motion with zero energy.
Smartphones and Kids
The rise in teen suicide, juvenile crime and child anxiety can be traced (at least in part) to the use of smartphones. I have heard child psychiatrists acquaint giving a smartphone to a child  with giving them a heroin needle. So why would a loving parent get one for their kid? The answer, of course, is peer pressure, and a contest of wills between parent and child.
‘My Fellow Parents Have Betrayed Me’ How it feels when your allies in the fight for a phone-free childhood buy one for their fifth-grader.
The answer, must be legislation. Give parents a break and allow kids to only have “dumb phones” until eighth grade. Only if we do this as a culture, do we have a chance at saving out kids. Ohio just passed and is implementing a “no phones” in school policy. We will see how that works. If behavior and academics improve, then I see no reason to not implement a kid smart phone ban.
The Magic Lever
Mesmerizing.
What an ingenious idea.
How Things Have Changed in Computers
Louis Rossmann is a consumer rights advocate. While he tends to be a bit colorful with his language, he is a native New Yorker after all, but he is pretty spot on with his opinions on “Right to Repair”.
This is an interesting idea…
I’ve Been Saying This For Years
It also gets 45 mpg freeway, 35 city.
God, I Love Goodwood!
Especially the annual Festival of Speed which just concluded last weekend. You don’t often see a vintage Cheetah doing a hill climb at full throttle.
And on This Day Let Us Consider…
This is the beginning of a current article in Scientific American…
“From World War II until 2024, the US stood unchallenged as the scientific leader of the free world. Across practically every discipline — physics, materials science, astronomy, chemistry, biology, medicine, geology, etc. — American scientific missions and initiatives, often in collaboration with European, Canadian, Asian, and many other global partners, brought us new advances and breakthroughs, paving the way for generations of scientists to thrive. In a society that values facts, scientific truths, education, and the public good, this recipe led to multiple generations of continued breakthroughs and advances.
Since late January of this year, however, all of that has rapidly changed. Many of the most valuable scientific organizations in the world, including NOAA, NASA, the NSF, the CDC, the EPA, and the FDA, have experienced a set of unprecedented internal attacks.Funding streams have been terminated.
Grants that have been successfully competed for and won have been pulled.
Fellowships and scholarships have been revoked.
Contracts have been broken.
Thousands upon thousands of employees have been terminated, often in defiance of court orders.And now, at the start of the second half of 2025, a new budget is on the verge of becoming law, which would largely eliminate science as we know it across universities and colleges, research institutes, and national labs. This isn’t a horror story; this is a real-life nightmare for the most educated and skilled American workers of all: scientists.”
This is a sad thing indeed. And a real betrayal of our country. Hope all that “winning” was worth it Trumpers.
American science to soon face its largest brain drain in history
Is the Coming Apocalypse Inevitable?
For more on the danger…
Long COVID in Kids
“An article recently published in JAMA Pediatrics (or, the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics) presents findings from a study suggesting that Long COVID, a condition where symptoms last at least 3 months and up to several years after a SARS-CoV-2 infection, has surpassed asthma as the most common chronic health problem affecting children.”
Summary here… Long COVID in Young Children, School-Aged Children, and Teens
Full article here… Characterizing Long COVID Symptoms During Early Childhood
Don’t bother vaccinating them, they’ll be fine.
Dispelling Myths About Vaccines
“Since late April, an infectious diseases specialist at Stanford University and his colleagues have been volunteering their time on a project they hope will help educate the public, and combat misinformation, about the safety and efficacy vaccines.”
Vaccine RCT spreadsheet aims to show the data, dispel myths about vaccines
I Could Watch This Guy for Hours
I first heard about “Mend It Mark” when there was an outcry from the Youtube community that he had received a take down notice from a “high end” audio manufacturer called Tom Evans. It became a right to repair issue and many Youtubers posted a copy of the video and dared Tom Evans to try and take them down. Anyway, Mend It Mark is a really good channel of a very competent electronics tech doing his job. Like furniture and tool restoration videos, it is soothing. Here Mark does a quick, but thorough repair on a 90’s Technics Amp.
The Tom Evans thing is pretty neat. He basically reverse engineers a piece of audio kit that has every part “potted” (identifying numbers have been erased or covered on every component) and created his own repair manual. Amazing talent this guy has. The video was restored and is here…
The £25,000 Pre-Amp that went Wrong – Tom Evans Mastergroove SR mkIII
Not Sure, But This Doesn’t Seem to be the Place to Make Cuts
Well it’s About Time
I have been complaining about the lack of small affordable trucks in the U.S. for what seems like forever. This is the sort of thing America needs!
Slate: Introducing the Bezos-backed EV pickup for the masses

Meta is Lying to You
Regulate social media! Eliminate section 230!
Update: It gets even worse…
Another Critical Problem that Washington will Ignore
Northern Exposure Predicts the Future
With great accuracy. God, I loved that show.
Killing Solar Power in Ohio
From the Plain Dealer…
Ohioans and their elected representatives have killed enough solar development to roughly power the state’s three largest cities in the three years since state lawmakers passed one of the nation’s most stringent restrictions on new solar development.
Those political efforts to block or preempt 2,000 megawatts of new energy coming online are the product of 2021 legislation that gave new power to project neighbors and local elected officials to stop development.
Many of these projects were killed by local Republican officials doing the bidding of the oil and gas industry. Just last week, developers behind a proposed 500-megawatt solar farm in Logan County withdrew their permit application, ending a $500 million development. Regulatory staff recommended the Ohio Power Siting Board reject the application, given opposition from local activists and Republican political power at the state and local level.
Enough power to power all three of Ohio’s biggest cities, with no carbon emissions. The Republican party is not a forward looking party. It is a party that holds Ohio (and the country) back. As they force America off the world stage they leave greater and greater openings for China to be a world leader.
Plain Dealer Stories (behind a paywall)
Solar development plunged in Ohio after new, restrictive state law
How NIMBYism and Republican politics killed a $500M solar farm in Ohio
Evil, But Honest About It
Clean Drinking Water More Cheaply
More Cheaply? Doesn’t sound right. Anyway, This new technology relies on a 3D printing method to make membranes for reverse osmosis desalinization plants. As long as it doesn’t create another problem with the used membranes (unlikely) any help in lowering desalinization cost would be very helpful.
Experts develop 3D-printed device that could reshape our drinking water: ‘This … is what makes our technology special’
Grow New Teeth?
What a world!
