Category Archives: Science

It’s people like us who are running nuclear power plants

Posted on April 26, 2016 by a1skeptic

I came across this great picture of a wolf at Chernobyl. For those of you who don’t remember, that is the nuclear power accident that happened back on April 26, 1986, or exactly 30 years ago today. And laid waste … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Science | Tagged | 1 Comment

Unlike lab rats, Americans are completely untrainable

Posted on January 27, 2016 by a1skeptic

It’s been reported recently in the news that, with gas prices at record lows, people are “trading in their hybrids” and buying SUVs again. We really are morons. Lab rats can at least can be trained. We, it appears, are … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Science | 1 Comment

The incomprehensible and completely avoidable public health disaster in Flint, Michigan

Posted on January 26, 2016 by a1skeptic

It wasn’t that long ago that I used to like to cite this statistic for the proposition that things had gotten better when it came to the question of race, in the United States: if you lived in the toney … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Science | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Submit to the snow, which rewards indolence and punishes the go-getters

Posted on January 23, 2016 by a1skeptic

Here’s a great little piece in the opinion section of the New York Times about how in the case of a blizzard, one should do nothing. A snowstorm rewards indolence and punishes the go-getters, which is one of reasons it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Science | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Have fun shoveling snow, climate change deniers!

Posted on January 23, 2016 by a1skeptic

There’s a new normal in the Northeastern states for winter weather, and it’s not good, frankly. The new pattern seems to be this: we get a nice and warm December, which brings us a Christmas without snow and much warmer … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Tagged , | 5 Comments

If Daesh is so adept at Social Media

Posted on November 30, 2015 by a1skeptic

Here’s one thing I haven’t understood for a while: if ISIS/ISIL/Daesh-or-whatever the fuck we’re calling them today is so adept at social media, why can’t we use that against them in our supposed war on them. I mean, Daesh is … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Science | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Can one die of a broken heart?

Posted on November 28, 2015 by a1skeptic

Can you die of a broken heart? Maybe. Maybe so. There was a story recently that Doug Flute – he of the “Hail Mary Miracle in Miami” win over the Hurricanes back in 1984 – lost both his parents within … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Science | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The timing of this announcement was a bit Curious

Posted on November 10, 2015 by a1skeptic

If you were paying attention, you may have noticed that last Friday Justin Trudeau was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Canada, and on the very same day President Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline. It was like, … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Science | Tagged | 2 Comments

Surprise! The Earth has trillions more trees than we thought.

Posted on October 11, 2015 by a1skeptic

Here’s a mostly good news story: it turns out that the Earth has trillions more trees than we thought. Research published in the journal “Nature” drew on global satellite imagery and more than 400,000 sample counts from forests around the … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Science | Tagged | 1 Comment

Why Congress is more religious than the rest of the United States

Posted on September 25, 2015 by a1skeptic

This argument reveals the same fundamental cognitive bias that people have had all along, and that is that religiosity equates with morality. It does not. Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Politics, Religion, Science | Tagged | 1 Comment