Category Archives: Science

SOME PROPOSED EXPLANATIONS FOR WHY IT TOO SO LONG TO INVENT ROPE.

Posted on January 5, 2018 by Philip

SOME PROPOSED EXPLANATIONS FOR WHY IT TOOK SO LONG TO INVENT ROPE. Katja Grace received a large number of proposed answers to her question. She summarized them here three days after she posed it (link via Marginal Revolution). The first … Continue reading →

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WHAT IF I HAD HAD TO INVENT ROPE?

Posted on January 4, 2018 by Philip

WHAT IF I HAD HAD TO INVENT ROPE? I have said for years that if human progress had required that I invent rope or the wheel, it would never have happened. Technological progress has depended on people who are “handy”, … Continue reading →

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WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG TO INVENT ROPE?

Posted on January 3, 2018 by Philip

WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG TO INVENT ROPE? Katja Grace posed a great question here on her Meteuphoric blog (December 28, 2017): “One of the biggest intuitive mysteries to me is how humanity took so long to do anything. … Continue reading →

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MAYBE THE APPENDIX IS USEFUL AFTER ALL.

Posted on January 2, 2018 by Philip

MAYBE THE APPENDIX IS USEFUL AFTER ALL. Many of the things I learned in high school health classes fifty years ago now appear to be wrong. It may be I can add to that list the theory that the human … Continue reading →

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ALGORITHMS SENDING TRAFFIC TO BUSY STREETS.

Posted on December 24, 2017 by Philip

ALGORITHMS SENDING TRAFFIC TO BUSY STREETS. Rick Paulas describes here what is happening to traffic all around the country: “All that extra traffic down previously empty streets has created an odd situation in which cities are constantly playing defense against … Continue reading →

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A COSMOLOGIST SAYS THAT ASTRONOMY IS “FAR SIMPLER” THAN THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES.

Posted on December 5, 2017 by Philip

A COSMOLOGIST SAYS THAT ASTRONOMY IS “FAR SIMPLER” THAN THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES. For me, the discovery of the gravitational wave is an almost unbelievable achievement. In this essay on the Aeon site, Martin Rees looks at the discovery of a … Continue reading →

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WHAT THE GRAVITATIONAL WAVE DISCOVERY CONFIRMED.

Posted on December 3, 2017 by Philip

WHAT THE GRAVITATIONAL WAVE DISCOVERY CONFIRMED. Leah Crane in this post on the New Scientist blog lists what she considers the five biggest discoveries resulting from the discovery of the gravitational wave resulting from a neutron star merger. The fifth … Continue reading →

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PLACING THE GRAVITATIONAL WAVE IN OUR TIME FRAME.

Posted on December 2, 2017 by Philip

PLACING THE GRAVITATIONAL WAVE IN OUR TIME FRAME. Rebecca Boyle in a post on the FiveThirtyEight site (November 14, 2017) describes the way the gravitational wave I posted on here was perceived by scientists on August 17, 2017: “GW170817 [which … Continue reading →

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HERE ARE SOME OF THE ISLAY TASTING NOTES THAT DROPS OF WATER WILL INTENSIFY.

Posted on December 1, 2017 by Philip

HERE ARE SOME OF THE ISLAY TASTING NOTES THAT DROPS OF WATER WILL INTENSIFY. I have posted several times on tasting notes for Islay whiskey. Here are some from John Hansell of the Malt Advocate: “Intense smoke on the nose … Continue reading →

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WHY YOU SHOULD ADD A FEW DROPS OF WATER TO YOUR WHISKEY.

Posted on November 30, 2017 by Philip

WHY YOU SHOULD ADD A FEW DROPS OF WATER TO YOUR WHISKEY. I have read a number of times that you should add a “splash” of water to your Islay whiskey even if you are drinking it neat. It seemed … Continue reading →

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