Scientists haven’t detected it, and can’t show it exists; they infer it does. Mathematics argues galaxies should be tearing themselves apart unless they have 10 times more mass than we can see. So scientists have tried to explain the gravity holding galaxies together by postulating the e[...]
Archive for August, 2021
Climate experts: “Almost out of time”
“As the world battles historic droughts, landscape-altering wildfires and deadly floods, a landmark report from global scientists says the window is rapidly closing to cut our reliance on fossil fuels and avoid catastrophic changes that would transform life as we know it,” CNN reported o[...]
August 7th, 2021 - 11:41 pm § in Misc.
Lock him up!
Jeffrey Clark (photo, left), a Trump lackey who briefly headed the Attorney General’s civil division around the time of the 2020 election, tried to overthrow our democracy. That became clear from revelations made public on Saturday, August 7, 2021 (read story here and here). Clark drafted a le[...]
August 7th, 2021 - 4:01 pm § in Misc.
Preview of 2024 solar eclipse
On April 8, 2024, people from Maine to Indianapolis to Dallas will get to see a total solar eclipse, if it isn’t cloudy. Everyone in the U.S. will see at least a partial eclipse, but residents of Neah Bay, Washington, probably will hardly notice. For many Americans, this will be the last such [...]
“Biblical” wildfires ravage Greece
“Wildfires rampaged through Greek forests for yet another day,” Huffington Post reported on Saturday, August 7, 2021, “threatening homes and triggering more evacuations a day after hundreds of people were plucked off beaches by ferries in a dramatic overnight rescue. … Dozens[...]
August 7th, 2021 - 1:01 pm § in Environment, Science
The world’s top gymnasts
… are squirrels. They flip, leap, and vault through the treetops. The “speed and ease with which they navigate the challenging and unpredictable canopy environment is spectacular,” a Berkeley biomechanics expert says. They also have excellent memories — they have mapped route[...]
Where rent is $420 a month
A 65-year-old American woman living on Social Security and whatever she makes from freelance writing pays $420 a month for a 2-bedroom, 1,100-square-foot apartment with 10-foot ceiling only half a block from a beach. She can “also walk to a plethora of cafés, shops and restaurants.” Her[...]
Why Libertarians support vaccine mandates
Republican flag-waving and hooting about “freedom” notwithstanding, vaccine mandates “have been around since the very first days of the republic, claiming broad support and withstanding legal challenges,” a story on Huffington Post notes (read it here), adding, “This is[...]
August 6th, 2021 - 3:21 pm § in Law and Courts, Racism
Buying a home while black
When a black real estate agent let himself inside a nice house in a white neighborhood, prepared it for showing, and his black clients showed up a few minutes later, someone assumed they were intruders and called police. The police didn’t ring the doorbell to find out who they were. Or make an[...]
August 6th, 2021 - 2:08 pm § in Law and Courts, Politics
Capitol riot consequences begin taking shape
GOP leaders have falsely called the Capitol insurrection “peaceful” and the rioters “tourists” in their efforts to downplay and whitewash their party’s violent reaction to losing the 2020 election. This is nonsense. Among other things, they’ve claimed the rioters [...]