Archives for 2015

A Healthier You

October 15, 2015 by

If you play your cards right "'Til Death Do Us Part" could be a long time away. — If you play your cards right “‘Til Death Do Us Part” could be a long time away.

People who buy unsalted pretzels are evil. I say this to inform you of two things; (1), I am not the paragon of all things good and holy when it comes to health, and; (2), I have stared into the face to pure evil and laughed. I’m tough that way. That said, I should also share something else with you. On February 13, 2013, I began a dietitian approved diet. No fads, no cool paleo, nothing that would make me part of this week’s internet meme. Before I did that I went to a doctor and got all my fluids tested. He then gave the results to my dietitian and she was able to design a diet that worked for me. Fun note here, had I gone on the Atkins Diet I would have been dead in a month or so. My body had problems the internet couldn’t see and seeing a doctor first saved my life. You can cheer or boo as you wish, that doesn’t make it any less true. What this little story should do is remind you to see a medical professional before embarking on any life changing diet or exercise programs. We’ve grown fond of most of you and would hate to see you disappear.

As to the rest of you …. meh.

So let’s set about making the world a healthier place. Just like any good pet I’ve had all my shots. Which means if I cough around you I will not give you polio. Sadly, those like me are a diminishing breed which has led to hilarious results like measles, which was wiped out in 2000, coming back at fatal levels all over the country. In an effort to justify ignoring the decades of successful science behind vaccinations a group of non-scientists hired a group of scientists, and paid them buckets of money, to prove science wrong.

As Josh Davis reports, this went about as well as you’d expect.

The overwhelming majority of scientists agree: Vaccinations do not cause autism. Study after study has shown this, and even the original research used to peddle this myth was eventually retracted due to falsified data. But this hasn’t stopped many anti-vaccination groups from still trying to create data that says otherwise, often by commissioning studies that they hope will support their ideologies.

But for one group at least, this method of funding scientific studies to prove their point seems to have backfired. A six-year study looking into the effect that vaccinations have on the neurological development and social behavior of rhesus macaque infants, funded in part by the anti-vaccination and autism advocacy group SafeMinds, concluded that there was no evidence at all for such a link.

Way back in 1796, or twenty years after America became a country, a dude name Dr. Edward Jenner discovered that he could cure smallpox, which was killing millions, by injecting people with cow pox, which was just annoying. The latter disease produced the necessary antibodies for the body to survive the former. He got shit for that too.

Jenner was widely ridiculed. Critics, especially the clergy, claimed it was repulsive and ungodly to inocculate someone with material from a diseased animal. A satirical cartoon of 1802 showed people who had been vaccinated sprouting cow’s heads. But the obvious advantages of vaccination and the protection it provided won out, and vaccination soon became widespread. Jenner became famous and now spent much of his time researching and advising on developments in his vaccine.

Trivia: Vaccine is based on the Latin word Vacca, which means …. you guessed it, cow.

Do vaccines have side effects. Yes. Do they have them for everyone? No. A majority? No again. A sizable minority? Not even close. There’s a lovely video by Penn and Teller that you can watch which explains the odds of your kid dying, or suffering a permanent illness, after being vaccinated versus not being vaccinated. If you haven’t got a minute or so allow me to summarize thusly, get your shots if you want to live.

Our pal Josh also reports, on a related note, that scientists are part way to a cure for Malaria. Not a big deal in Chicago but absolutely huge for the rest of the world. All quinine treatment does is ameliorate the symptoms. The disease is permanent and life debilitating.

Also, as Robbie Couch reports, Dr, Robert Gallo, the dude who discovered HIV and its relationship to AIDS, has developed a vaccine that appears to be a total cure for the disease. It’s in human trials now.

All right then, now that we have you disease free, let’s get to feeding you. As of this writing there are approximately 800 MIL people who are going hungry. I don’t mean they need a Snickers, I mean they may not have eaten anything in days. And that number includes an astonishing number of Americans.

Before we get distracted by food waste, corporate greed or political corruption or indifference, let’s take a clear eyed look to see if there’s anyway we can afford to feed all these people without bankrupting the planet.

Jack Choros says the answer is a resounding yes.

Let’s talk about the joys of floating farms.

1. They could open up a lot of space for farming
In places like Singapore, land is hard to come by. Roughly 5.5 million people live in the island city.

Considering Singapore measures approximately 277 square miles, that means about 20,000 people inhabit the city for every square mile of available space. That doesn’t leave much room for farming.

The good news is that this cutting-edge smart floating farm technology is scalable and replicable, which means that as the world’s needs grow, so too can production levels.

According to the firm, 25 of the world’s 35 largest cities (New York being one of them) have nearby access to bodies of water, so these farms could theoretically be built to serve metro areas around the world.

2. They are self-regulating
These water-based farms don’t need soil to grow plants. They would use water that is already infused with vitamins and minerals, a process known as hydroponics. Of course, the plants couldn’t survive on saltwater — freshwater would be pumped into the grow facility and then sprayed evenly on plants through a mechanical system.

According to the plan, the entire farming system would be built in three levels on huge barge-like containers, with the first level housing a solar-powered energy facility and the second level using that energy to grow crops (no soil required). On the third level, you could raise fish, which would survive on the waste products from the farm.

This top to bottom system allows the sun to be used for energy, crops to grow without being harmed by saltwater, and fish to be fed and farmed. Genius!

3. They are cost effective and greener
If these farms were built near major cities, it would cost less to transport food to grocery stores. A self-sustaining ecosystem could also mean less maintenance and lower manufacturing costs, too.

And even though these techniques would be used in bodies of water, they can be applied in the air, too. Singapore-based company Sky Greens builds skyscrapers filled with plants that rotate up and down between water and sunlight, allowing vegetation to be grown 10 times more effectively than traditional forms of agriculture would allow. As a result, food is cheaper, more accessible, and more abundant.

There’s hope for the future.

These types of innovations have the potential to help regions around the world cope with the need for more food, even if they have less space.

Here’s what one of those bad boys looks like. Click on the pick for a larger image.

What do we do with all these new-found veggies? Only in America would the answer be “make a cheeseburger.” Anthony Joseph has the story.

A California-based that calls itself Impossible Foods, which has been around for approximately four years, now takes on the challenge of creating the world’s best vegetarian burger by 2016; one that looks, tastes, and even smells like an actual all-beef cheeseburger and is made from 100% plant material.

The firm has raised over $108 million in funds to support the cause. Among those investing in the cause is Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who is a well-known philanthropist that donates to good causes, such as this one. Google’s Tony Fadell is also on-board with the cause.

The company essentially has to create food substitutes that can still mimic the tastes of meat and dairy, which has been done before, but the goal is to improve on the flavor while keeping the healthy aspect of the vegetarian burger in mind.

“We start with plants – such as grains, greens and beans – and separate proteins, fats, and other nutrients from each one, selecting those that give our foods desirable flavors and textures,” Impossible Foods explains. “We then combine these proteins with vitamins, amino acids, and fats, all from plants, to make our meats and cheeses.”

Unlike many hybrid vegetarian burgers that exist today, which are a plant/meat combo with reduced caloric intake and grease, Impossible Foods will produce a cheeseburger that is made completely from plants that are broken down into the essential components, and other resources will be used to simulate flavors.

For example, unrelated to this current experiment, nuts have been used in the past to simulate dairy taste without actually using milk, which has led to a type of non-dairy cheese that can be used as a healthier alternative to actual cheese, or even for people who are lactose intolerant.

The benefits of a truly vegetarian burger that looks, tastes, and even smells like the real thing will become quickly apparent.

Yep, fewer calories, more soluble proteins and mass and, ta-daa, you’re on your way to a healthier, well fed, you. A friend of mine, who’s a cattle rancher, went to one of their demonstrations and pronounced the resulting burger “pretty damn good.” A side bonus is that these burgers are very cheap to produce compared to meat so the price will be very affordable. That means the number of people who need meat, or meat protein, in their diets but can’t afford it (around 15% of all Americans) will now be able to get it easily. It also means that people who want to eat healthier but hate food that tastes like cardboard will now have options.

“But Bill,” you whine, “I didn’t climb to the top of the food chain not to eat dead things.”

I can understand that, which is why I’m happy to report that Kate Bratskeir has good news for you.

It sounds like an ancient proverb, but it’s actually a scientific finding: In a battle of little insect versus big cow, insect wins.

A study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition compared the healthfulness of edible insects with more traditional protein like beef, pork and chicken, finding that the bugs beat out the mammals in terms of nutritional value.

Researchers at the University of Oxford used two different metrics of nutritiousness: The first, the Ofcom model, appoints a score from one to 100 based on a food’s calorie, sodium, sugar and saturated fat content per 100 grams of weight. The second, Nutrient Value Scores, offers a similar score to Ofcom, but includes vitamin and mineral values.

The Ofcom test didn’t show any significant differences between bugs and livestock. But when vitamins and minerals were taken into account for the NVS evaluation, crickets, palm weevils (beetles), honeybees and larvae scored much higher than chicken and beef in particular.

While bugs have yet to make it into mainstream American cuisine, insects are often included in meals in countries like China, Mexico and Thailand. But insect-infused products like cricket protein powders and bars are starting to creep up on U.S. store shelves, too.

Insect-eating advocates say that bugs should become the millennium’s preferred protein. One perspective argues that if vegans replaced plants with insects, they’d harm fewer animals. Others say that eating insects could solve world hunger, citing sustainability benefits and bugs’ high protein content.

If you can get past the creepy-crawler factor (hey, lobsters were once perceived as nasty sea creatures fit only for the poor), your dinner options could become a lot more interesting — and vitamin-packed!

A moment of journalistic transparency here. I have eaten many bug related dishes, including peeling a live grub worm off a tree and eating it alive. It tasted like honey. In other words, this article isn’t preaching to me.

And BONUS! Bugs are completely fine for Kosher or Halal diets. The nice people over at Insects Are Food have some simple recipes to get you started. Here’s one I’ve had before that’s absolutely delicious.

Cricket Pad Thai
Serves 6 – 8
Ingredients:
8-10 oz dried rice stick noodles
6 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
6 tablespoons lime juice
4 tsp. organic sugar (Turbinado, etc)
4 tablespoons peanut oil
1 cup crickets (prepared properly)
3-4 cloves garlic
3 eggs – lightly beaten
½ cup scallions, finely chopped
2 cups bean sprouts
¼ cup crushed peanuts
½ cup fresh cilantro
1 lime (cut into wedges to serve to each person)
Directions:
Combine the fish sauce, soy sauce, lime juice and organic sugar in a bowl and blend well.
Pour oil into a wok or skillet, and cook the crickets over medium-high heat.
Push crickets to one side and scramble the eggs on the other side of the wok or skillet. Remove crickets and eggs and set aside in bowl or on plate.
Add garlic and scallions and fry until soft.
Add sauce mixture, crickets and eggs back into the wok or skillet, and warm thoroughly.
Cook rice noodles for about 10 minutes in boiling water.
Remove and drain noodles, and add to wok or skillet.
Add in bean sprouts and toss thoroughly, being careful not to break the noodles. Top with peanuts, cilantro, and garnish with a lime wedge.
This dish goes great with Vietnamese spring rolls.

Yes it does. It also can be served with a dipping dish filled with your favorite Asian hot sauce.

Listen to Bill McCormick on WBIG (FOX! Sports) every Friday around 9:10 AM.
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Joining the Green Gang

October 6, 2015 by

When I was a kid my grandmother, a devout Catholic, had an interesting phrase she used to say. “Nature takes its own.” It was her, slightly pagan, take on the whole “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust” thing from Genesis. It also served as a reminder of her second favorite phrase, “The bible says the world is without end. It says nothing of man.” While her theology might have been a little skewed it worked for her. One thing she did harp on is that we were supposed to be custodians of the Earth. Being top of the food chain meant we had a great responsibility to all around us. I can honestly think of worse philosophies. She kept a garden, raised flowers, bred dogs and, with my grandfather, fed and kept squirrels and bees. Because of them I never grew up with a fear of nature. That had its good points and bad.

Let’s start by taking a look at a few of the bad things that man is doing right now. There is an unsubtle irony that rising waters are going to render NASA, the home of climate research, useless in a few decades if the trend isn’t reversed. The walls that some are trying to have built around Miami and other places in Florida are short term stop gaps, at best.

But, as my granny would say, God does have a sense of humor. Which is why, the home of the constant obfuscation and denial when it comes to climate change, Washington D.C., is sinking.

John Johnson tells us all about it.

It sounds like a metaphor but is geological reality: Washington, DC, is sinking. In fact, researchers led by a team at the University of Vermont predict that the ground will drop another six inches by the end of the century, reports UPI. The cause isn’t man-made: It’s the result of an age-old geologic process that will continue to unfold for thousands of years. But it’s presenting the DC region with a dangerous double-whammy—the ground is sinking at the same time that sea levels are rising because of warming temperatures, say the UV researchers. The study confirms a long-held theory on why sea levels around DC are rising faster than any other stretch along the coast, reports the Washington Post.

“Right now is the time to start making preparations,” says lead study author Ben DeJong. “Six extra inches of water really matters in this part of the world.” He and his team drilled dozens of boreholes around the Chesapeake Bay to figure out what’s happening. The culprit is an ancient ice sheet that covered much of North America, then retreated, and the land is oh-so-slowly settling back into place. DC was actually in an area just outside the sheet and “bulged upward,” as the Post puts it. “It’s a bit like sitting on one side of a water bed filled with very thick honey,” says DeJong. “Then the other side goes up. But when you stand, the bulge comes down again.”

At least that one’s not our fault. Just bad planning. Although rising water levels due to warming could exacerbate the problem in unforeseen ways. Swimming at the Smithsonian anyone?

But one that is our fault is happening in the wonderfully backwards state of Arizona. Rob Quinn says that the state is literally fracking Phoenix into a pit.

Researchers say that while there’s no need for residents of Phoenix to panic, parts of their city are slowly and unstoppably sinking into the ground. Land subsidence caused by the extraction of huge quantities of groundwater over the decades is to blame, and the Arizona State University researchers say it’s causing some parts of the metropolitan area to sink by roughly 0.75 inches a year, Sonoran News reports. Residents may not notice much change year to year, the researchers say, but over time, the problem will affect things like canals, utility lines, and sewers and, eventually, the foundations of buildings. The depletion of groundwater has changed the sediment under the area, so the drop is irreversible.

The lead researcher tells the Arizona Republic that the subsidence has “the potential to cause costly structural damages, and is something to keep an eye on.” The sinking is happening at an uneven rate—with some areas actually rising a little—meaning floodwaters could cause major problems in affected areas. Another problem, the lead researcher warns, is that the sediment changes have left the ground unable to store as much water as it used to. “We live in a desert, and our underground canteen is getting smaller,” she tells the News. The Republic notes that the problem is widespread across the US, with Denver, parts of California, and the New Jersey coast among the many areas starting to sink.

Just FYI, in case the above wasn’t clear, fracking uses a ton of groundwater.

Also, as noted above, the constant mining of subsurface water is also to blame. And, while not sinking at the moment, Oklahoma has seen a meteoric rise in the number of Earthquakes in ares where fracking is practiced. That leads to weakened infrastructures such as sewer lines, roads (which require stable beds) and pretty much anything you thought was built on solid ground.

Things like businesses and homes and stuff. Maybe they don’t need those in Oklahoma.

So, where is the good news? East of here. As in the Far East.

In countries where they don’t use harmful methods of energy extraction or have come around to the fact that maybe, just maybe, we might not want to kill the planet, they are taking measures to reduce the human imprint. And they are using some creative methods to accomplish that goal.

Dan Lewis reports that China is surrounding the Gobi Desert with billions of trees to stop dust storms and encroachment. He also reports its working.

One Chinese news agency, citing the State Forest Administration, reported in 2007 that “more than 20 percent of the lands affected by desertification in the project areas have been harnessed and soil erosion has been put under control in over 40 percent of the areas that used to suffer soil erosion in the past.”

And in 2014, the Daily Mail echoed these results, reporting that “a study says the measures are working, despite previous criticism.”

There are still problems. Trees tend to wither and die in desert conditions. So they are having to reroute water to stabilize the environment. The good news is that, as China clamps down on pollutants around the country, they have more fresh water to work with than ever before.

But, because China is still China, one of the methods they are using to save and reroute water, the Three Gorges Dam, is so large it will alter the rotation of the Earth.

Raising 39 trillion kilograms of water 175 meters above sea level will increase the Earth’s moment of inertia and thus slow its rotation. However, the effect would extremely small. NASA scientists calculated that shift of such as mass would increase the length of day by only 0.06 microseconds and make the Earth only very slightly more round in the middle and flat on the top. It would shift the pole position by about two centimeters (0.8 inch). Note that a shift in any object’s mass on the Earth relative to its axis of rotation will change its moment of inertia, although most shifts are too small to be measured (but they can be calculated).

Just remember this when someone tells you that man can’t alter anything on Earth.

Speaking of trees, and here altering the Earth in a good way, Amanda Froelich reports that Milan Italy is building the world’s largest vertical forest.

In an age where harmonious innovation is becoming more celebrated, sustainable designs to preserve the Earth and contribute to wellbeing are being implemented at a rapid rate. One such innovation to recently be accepted for development is a vertical forest designed by Stefan Boeri Architects.

The first ever vertical forest will soon be the greenest building in Milan. Because the average household in a city produces approximately 25-30 tons of CO2 per year, implementing greener architecture in highly populated areas cannot come soon enough.

This stunning development is part of a vision presented by BioMilano which promises to incorporate 60 abandoned farms into a greenbelt surrounding the city. Part of the mission is to create a vertical forest building which boasts a stunning green façade planted with dense forest systems to provide microclimate and to filter out polluting dust particles. According to Inhabit, there are two buildings currently under construction.

The greener architecture will help absorb CO2, oxygenate the air, moderate extreme temperatures, and lower noise pollution. The bio-canopy is not only aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but it helps lower living costs.

So it saves money, makes living in a city healthier and helps the earth be a better place to live. Bonus? It’s pretty too. Here’s a pic.

But how do you put all of those ideas together? How do you stop erosion while simultaneously upgrading the planet?

Amy Frearson says that one answer is to build a really fucking cool school and that Vo Trong Nghia is doing just that.

According to Vo Trong Nghia Architects, the structure is intended to promote sustainable development in Vietnam, in response to rapid industrialisation that causes frequent power shortages, increasing temperatures, high levels of pollution and reduced green space.

“It is our goal to create a green university building that counters these problems as well as instils sustainable practices to these future generations,” said the design team.

Creating 11,000 square metres of floor space, the seven-storey facility will feature a prefabricated modular concrete structure that can flexibly accommodate different uses, while also keeping construction costs to a minimum.

The building is orientated to face the prevailing wind, allowing for efficient cross ventilation, and large trees positioned in front of every window will help to lower the temperature of the air flow through the interior.

A shallow plan will also allow daylight to permeate each storey, reducing the need for artificial lighting.

Vo Trong Nghia Architects – whose previous projects include a naturally ventilated school and a thatched bamboo bar – says the structure provides an alternative to the air-conditioning-reliant buildings that dominate South-East Asia.

That’s important because not only does it reduce waste created by artificial air systems it reduces, dramatically, the amount of power needed for people to live.

Bonus? It’s pretty damn pretty too. Here’s a rendering from the architect.

Look at it this way, if monkeys and other primates really are evolving to full sentience (spoiler alert: they are) at least we’ll leave them a nice place to live.

Listen to Bill McCormick on WBIG (FOX! Sports) every Friday around 9:10 AM.
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Stuff You Want to See

October 1, 2015 by Bill McCormick

Turnabout is fair play. Image courtesy of Symmetry is Art.

There are a ton of superhero movies headed your way. They’re also headed my way. Which makes me all tingly. A well made superhero flick is a great way to escape for a couple of hours. And they provide inspiration to our youth. Superman is the Christ-like figure we should all aspire to. Except when he’s not. Yeah, that link will ruin your childhood. Batman doesn’t kill. Except when he does, as he did in his very first story. But, in many ways, it’s those flaws and mishaps that keep the characters interesting. They point out, often brutally, that anyone can fail. That doesn’t make the ideals any less laudable. Since the 90’s Hollyweird has finally started figuring that out. Not with the Fantastic Four, sadly, but in general they’ve done a pretty good job.

Clip and Save

September 27, 2015 by

It's amazing what you can get with the right coupons. — It’s amazing what you can get with the right coupons.

Ah, the never ending joys of click bait. Those links that you HAVE to click to find out the WHOLE story that no one else wants you to know. Because you’re the only human on earth who has the internet what they’re sending you is a big secret. Usually a secret that comes with one of three requirements; (1) send money now, (2) try this useless product (often by sending money now), and (3) share this with your friends before something horrible happens to you and them. The latter ones usually appeal to your religious beliefs as well. Look, all of them are scams of one form or another. Simply put, God isn’t checking Facebook to find out whether you prayed or not. That’s not how prayer works. Nowhere in the Bible does it tell you to post your prayers on the walls of anything, digital or otherwise.

In fact it does just the opposite. If you don’t believe me, ask Him. “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-6). Secrets are kind of antithetical to Facebook.

As to the rest, most of them prey on the basic paranoia we all have. All you have to do is ask one simple question, how does ___________ benefit from keeping this a secret? Because, in the case of the FDA, for example, allowing people to die in large numbers causes many more problems than it solves. The same with the hysterically named Big Pharma. A couple of weeks back I dealt with that fallacy and won’t belabor it here other than to say those companies couldn’t put together a softball team, forget about collaborating on an international conspiracy.

The same basic rule applies to the government. They are either wildly incompetent and shouldn’t be trusted with sharp objects or they know how to hide aliens under the Pentagon. You can’t have both. Since we have members of Congress who don’t believe that science exists it should be an easy choice for you.

Just a side note on that snark. Government, when it’s functioning, does some incredible things that benefit us all. It does, to paraphrase Green Arrow, what people can not do for themselves. It builds highways and bridges and trains, it provides hospitals and education and so on. All stuff we need. If you want a useful government there is only one solution; vote for it.

Okay, off my soapbox.

By the way, no, you did not win a lottery you’ve never heard of and, no, no one is giving you a fucking $50 gift card for anything. Those are all click bait to make you take a survey and then give you a $1 coupon for shit you don’t need.

Another meme rearing its ugly head again is that President Obama isn’t the first black president. The meme attributes that honor to a man named John Hansen. Just for giggles, let’s break this one down. First off, the person they are referring to was the president of the Continental Congress, not the U.S., and his name was John Hanson. Also, he was very, very, white. The black man pictured in the meme is also named John Hanson. He was a senator from Liberia (which is in Africa, not the U.S.) who fought to have American slaves, and any other willing blacks, repatriated to Africa as citizens. His efforts led to Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Liner movement at the beginning of the 20th century. While all three men are very important to American history none was our president.

There are two other memes making the rounds concerning President Obama as well. These claim to show ALL THE FACTS about government spending since he was elected. One says that he’s spent more than the previous 43 presidents combined and the other says that he’s spent less than any president in history. This may come as a shock to you but they’re both wrong. If the former were true we would be bankrupt. If the latter were true we’d have trillions to toss at education and infrastructure. Neither is happening. It is true that he’s spent a ton of dough, but it’s still less than Bush did in his eight years and, let’s be honest, he inherited a couple of wars and three major industries, banking, auto and real estate, on the verge of bankruptcy. Motives aside, had he not spent that money we’d all be in bread lines that would have made the Great Depression look like a garden party.

Speaking of politicians, while the president does get a salary for life it’s only $195,000 per year, not $450,000. In fact the president makes less than that last amount while in office. No Congressperson gets paid after they leave office unless they qualify for pension benefits and that amount varies and is based on years of service. So please stop sending people that email your angry Uncle Elmo sent you.

As to comparing those figures against what soldiers make, they are misleading. The Department of Defense provides the base salaries, correctly listed around $30,000 per year, but soldiers also get free housing, medical, food, and many other perks that would greatly increase their pay if they were factored in. It is only after they leave the military that those things become their responsibility. Which sucks if you think about it. They’re willing to take a bullet for us and we can’t come up with some way for them to get eye glasses and such when they need them? That’s embarrassing to our country.

As to all those wonderful emails and posts that tell me to click and share so that Facebook, CNN, Bill Gates, some guy you met at Wal-Mart, can donate money to this or that charity, help this or that dying baby, feed the hungry in Syria or Arkansas, or whatever, they’re all lies. No one does that. If you want to help a certain charity your only options are to volunteer your time or give them money. If you can do both, God bless you.

As to the meme claiming more Americans have died by gun violence, since the laws were loosened in the 80’s, than the total number of American soldiers killed in combat since the country began, sadly, that one’s true.

I’ve dealt with the whole history of gun ownership in the U.S. before. If you want to know how we got here, click there.

So there you have it for today. Clip and save this in case someone you know sends you more useless shit.

Lies :: Astroglider :: Music Video from Astroglider on Vimeo.

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Radio Ta-Tas

September 25, 2015 by

Admit it, you just whimpered in joy, at least a little. Well, we have to put up with this every day. Pity us.

Last week, at the behest of a few listeners, I popped up a summary of what was to come on the radio show and a few extra bits for folks at home to enjoy. That turned out to be mind numbingly popular so I’m going to do it again. I’m easy to manipulate. Also, for the right fee, I will do children’s parties. Ah, just kidding, I’m not even sure if it’s legal for me to be near kids in the first place. Bachelorette parties, on the other hand, are good to go. Just FYI, Google’s spell check wanted me to change Bachelorette, which is spelled correctly, to bacteriologist. That, kids, is why you NEVER edit with spell check. Anyway, since I’m in a sciencey mood this week I figured I’d do a breakdown of some of the cooler things happening right now. Cooler even than the pic to your left of the WNC weekly podcast which gets recorded on WBIG 1280 AM.

All right, on to the fun.

Let’s be honest with each other here for a moment. You live in fear of dying before you get to enjoy the glorious world of manned robo-warriors facing off in death matches. I know that since we are a lot alike, you and I. Well, Sunshine, I have some good news for you. TEAM USA has challenged TEAM JAPAN to a giant robot duel and that challenge has been accepted. Images of both robots are below.

As you can readily tell the American robot on the right is going to get its ass kicked unless it gets some serious upgrades. That’s why TEAM USA has started a Kickstarter campaign to cover the costs. Forget porn or megachurches, this is a tremendous cause to throw money at.

Now what do you do with all the resulting tech that will come from this? Quite a bit actually. Dr. Chauncey Siemens, from I Fucking Love Science, says that one use you may not have thought of is building robot bears to help people commit suicide.

No, I’m not drunk.

SeppuKuma, which loosely translates to “Suicide Bear” has robotic arms that are able to carry up to 80kg of weight, hands that are powerful enough to crush human bone, and roller legs that can retract or extend from a base as necessary when bending to pick someone up out of bed or when maneuvering through tight spaces like doorways.

The robot weighs 140kg and it is powered by specially designed software and advanced actuators (a type of motor that controls mechanisms). SeppuKuma also offers 23 very different methods one can choose to end their life, including Everlasting Sleep (lethal injection), Pillow Kisses (suffocation), Peaceful Breath (helium asphyxia) and Sleepy time Hug which is where the robotic bear strangles its partner until their pulse stops for 15 minutes. All of these attributes enable the SeppuKuma to give it’s patient the power to choose how they get to end their own life. An official from the JSDD says that, so far, robots have never been used for this purpose in any hospital.

“We really hope that SeppuKuma will lead to advances in the Right to Die movement, it’s important to give those who want to end their lives the power to do so in a safe and responsible manner. We intend to continue with research toward more practical robots capable of providing powerful yet gentle euthanasia to elderly people and those battling with either shame or depression,” said Tsuneki Suko, leader of the Artificial Intelligence Systems Research Team at the JSDD-Orient Institute Center for Human-Interactive Robot Research.

And not only is it lethal as fuck it’s also, THANKS JAPAN, cute as a button.

See how happy she is? Don’t you want to be that happy too?

Let’s move on to healthier thoughts.

Matt Damon is starring in a new movie called The Martian. The story is simple; NASA goes to Mars, the mission goes tits up on the carpet, one guy dies, oops, dead guy’s still alive. Now what? As they say in the trailer “(you’ve got to) science the shit out of this.”

NASA has already previewed the flick and given it rave reviews. It’s based on a book by a real rocket scientist so the science is solid. Or, close enough to solid that no one’s bitching.

So how close is any of this stuff to being real? Tracey McMahon, over at NASA, says a hell of a lot closer than you think.

Without air or water humans simply cannot travel, live or work in space. Marshall is responsible for the design, construction and testing of regenerative life support hardware for the International Space Station, and maturing these technologies for the journey to Mars.

The Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) installed on the International Space Station includes two key components – the Water Recovery System and the Oxygen Generation System – that reduce the need for constant resupply of the basic needs from Earth. That leaves open valuable cargo space to carry items necessary to explore and conduct research once we reach our destination. To date, ECLSS has processed more than 25 tons of water, including 5 tons that have been converted to oxygen.

The Water Recovery System provides clean water by reclaiming wastewater, including water from crew members’ sweat and urine, cabin humidity condensation, and waste generated during spacewalks. The system filters and recycles wastewater for reuse as potable clean water, reducing by 15,000 pounds per year the net mass of water and consumables that would need to be launched from Earth to support six crew members.

The Oxygen Generation System produces oxygen necessary for the crew to breathe, as well as for replacement of oxygen lost due to experiment use, airlock depressurization, module leakage, and carbon dioxide venting. The OGS technology consists mainly of an electrolysis system, pulling oxygen from water by running an electric current through it.

Ed Mazza, another really smart person, says that, at our current pace, we could be living on Mars in fifteen years.

We’re going to Mars — and we’re going in the not-too-distant future.

NASA says preparations for a manned mission to the Red Planet are proceeding as planned, with humans expected to set foot on Mars in the 2030s.

“We are farther down the path to sending humans to Mars than at any point in NASA’s history,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said at an event last week, according to Space.com. “We have a lot of work to do to get humans to Mars, but we’ll get there.”

That work includes completing the development of the rockets and spacecraft that will get humans there and back again, including the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft, which are still being tested.

The next Mars rover, planned for a 2020 launch, will carry the Mars Oxygen ISRU experiment. MOXIE, as its known, will take carbon dioxide out of the thin Martian atmosphere and produce oxygen, the space agency said.

If it can do so successfully, humans will have oxygen to breathe and rockets will be able to use that oxygen to help power the return trip home.

“We’re going to make oxygen on another planet — the first time ever to make oxygen on another planet,” said NASA deputy administrator Dava Newman, according to The Space Reporter. “These experiments — they’re real, they’re here.”

Andy Weir, author of “The Martian” which has been made into a film starring Matt Damon, was at the NASA event. He recently said the main barrier is funding — and that given enough money, a manned Mars mission could happen in the 2030s as planned.

“But I don’t have faith in Congress to give them enough money to make that happen, so I’m being a little more conservative,” the novelist told Space.com last month, guessing that humans would set foot on the Red Planet by 2050.

Oh, ye of little faith. I never dreamed I’d have sex with a supermodel and now, at the tender age of fifty four, I can attest that I’ve done so twice. If it can happen to me it can happen to NASA.

Also, for better or worse, the Bush administration privatized a lot of NASA’s functions by outsourcing contracts to non-government agencies. We will soon find out whether Ayn Rand was right and all corporations will do what is best for humanity or if it’ll be the Alien Hunger Games.

Either way, companies now have the financial incentive to make things like this happen.

For example, fusion power has been the butt of jokes for decades; “Fusion power is only thirty years away … and always will be.”

Those wacky theoretical physicists. Don’t forget to try the veal.

Now, David Chandler, over at MIT, yes, THAT MIT, money has magically appeared and allowed scientists to develop a true fusion reactor.

Advances in magnet technology have enabled researchers at MIT to propose a new design for a practical compact tokamak fusion reactor — and it’s one that might be realized in as little as a decade, they say. The era of practical fusion power, which could offer a nearly inexhaustible energy resource, may be coming near.

Using these new commercially available superconductors, rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) superconducting tapes, to produce high-magnetic field coils “just ripples through the whole design,” says Dennis Whyte, a professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering and director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. “It changes the whole thing.”

The stronger magnetic field makes it possible to produce the required magnetic confinement of the superhot plasma — that is, the working material of a fusion reaction — but in a much smaller device than those previously envisioned. The reduction in size, in turn, makes the whole system less expensive and faster to build, and also allows for some ingenious new features in the power plant design. The proposed reactor, using a tokamak (donut-shaped) geometry that is widely studied, is described in a paper in the journal Fusion Engineering and Design, co-authored by Whyte, PhD candidate Brandon Sorbom, and 11 others at MIT. The paper started as a design class taught by Whyte and became a student-led project after the class ended.

Power plant prototype

The new reactor is designed for basic research on fusion and also as a potential prototype power plant that could produce significant power. The basic reactor concept and its associated elements are based on well-tested and proven principles developed over decades of research at MIT and around the world, the team says.

“The much higher magnetic field,” Sorbom says, “allows you to achieve much higher performance.”

Fusion, the nuclear reaction that powers the sun, involves fusing pairs of hydrogen atoms together to form helium, accompanied by enormous releases of energy. The hard part has been confining the superhot plasma — a form of electrically charged gas — while heating it to temperatures hotter than the cores of stars. This is where the magnetic fields are so important—they effectively trap the heat and particles in the hot center of the device.

While most characteristics of a system tend to vary in proportion to changes in dimensions, the effect of changes in the magnetic field on fusion reactions is much more extreme: The achievable fusion power increases according to the fourth power of the increase in the magnetic field. Thus, doubling the field would produce a 16-fold increase in the fusion power. “Any increase in the magnetic field gives you a huge win,” Sorbom says.

In just today’s column we’ve dealt with being able to create water, air and now power on an alien world. What about food? Some fertilizer, some seeds and you’re good to go. You’ve got water. You’ve got air. You’ve got power to create a climate controlled enclosure. In other words, you’ve got food.

All in all what this means is that, right now, as you’re reading this, we have the technology to travel the solar system. We have the capability to settle an alien world. We can access resources in space to keep our settlers alive.

We can. Now, will we?

MARTIAN AMERICAN (official trailer) from Lee Citron on Vimeo.

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