Pew Research says “America is in the midst of two (demographic transformations) right now. Our population is becoming majority non-white at the same time a record share is going gray. Each of these shifts would by itself be the defining demographic story of its era.” See the graphs and read more here. H/T Andrew Tobias.
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The next “cold fusion” is here. There are at least two claims out there of microwave rocket engines which use electricity and do not need any fuel. I’m not talking about ion engines, which accelerate helium molecules or other fuel to super high speed and exhaust into space.
These are closed microwave cavities that violate Newton’s third law “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” One is the British EmDrive, and the other is the similar American Cannae Drive. There is no agreement on the theory of how these could possibly work.
The news reports claim NASA tested them and actually measured thrust, but that isn’t exactly true. There is no mention of Cannae or EmDrive on the NASA website. Instead, there is a conference paper which notes that …
Thrust was observed on both test articles, even though one of the test articles was designed with the expectation that it would not produce thrust. Specifically, one test article contained internal physical modifications that were designed to produce thrust, while the other did not (with the latter being referred to as the “null” test article).
This Lifehacker article sorts it out pretty well. Sounds like another cold fusion to me. Note that cold fusion (now renamed) claims are still being made. As Carl Sagan said, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
– Reader Supported News  NO MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC IS IN ANY DANGER FROM THIS WARNING More Radiation Exposure Won’t Hurt You, Says U.S. EPA ¬– Reader Supported News MH17 Shoot-Down Mystery Deepens since July 17
“Black Boxes Show Shrapnel Destroyed Malaysia Airlines Plane, Ukraine Says” MOSCOW—Ukrainian authorities said Monday that data retrieved from the black boxes aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 showed the plane was destroyed by “massive explosive decompression” caused by shrapnel from a missile. Moscow? Nothing about the story relates to Moscow, except perhaps the location of the reporter. He does not say where the “Ukrainian authorities” are, and identifies only one: “Col. Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.” The reporter says Lysenko “revealed” the evidence of a missile explosion, although there is little possibility Lysenko has any direct knowledge of the black box contents, since the black boxes have never been in the possession of Ukraine officials. I’ve been accused of being a doomer. Perhaps. Allow me to state my case. I fully expect my argument to anger some of you. (Wonder how many Facebook “friends” will disappear? Oh well…)
No, I’m not dying…well, not yet. A series of events have conflued and I am able to take an extended sabbatical from all forms of wage-earning to pursue some things in my personal and artistic life. I anticipate at least a month off, but more likely, I will be off work until the end of the year. It’s a beautiful opportunity to write, shoot photos, dive and vacation, and release some of the stress that working some 40 years (since sophomore year of college) has built into my body. Mostly, I get to clean up the rat hole I live in and ride my bike to boot. I’m excited and terrified, at the same moment. This is now on me. I don’t have a boss to complain about – the Bag of Salted Rat Dicks was fired, altho his tenure will outlast mine, but only by dint of some legal wrangling on his part – and while I don’t have a routine, I have to put one into place until I’m comfortable being busy doin’ nothin’, as the old Beach Boys tune put it. As events have unfolded over the past four months, it seems more and more likely that I picked the perfect opportunity to walk out, because my suspicion is I would eventually have been carried out on my shield. I paid attention, and the world told me what to do, is the message. I’ll still be blogging, perhaps even more frequently and at more places. One cannot tell these things in advance. My first adventure awaits in two weeks, and then the looking glass is entered upon my return. Wish me luck, gang!
(Palmerston, who was no slouch when it came to Imperialism). Let’s examine the evidence:
This is a theory, constructed to fit the set of facts listed, and to try to provide an Hypothesis which meets the facts, explains the US’ behavior, lists the possible outcomes and discusses the probabilities of those outcomes. It’s about “MEE”: Money, Energy and, Empire. This is an interesting link about the growing presence of oil tank cars routed through your backyard. North Carolina recently voted to permit fracking (and its attendant secrecy) after a panel presents regulatory recommendations. I hope (but seriously doubt) they know anything about railroad safety and the movement of oil. They need to see this. Maybe you do too. – Reader Supported News Objectively, that seems to be a plain fact, with particular relevance to Israel, whose existence was made possible by, among other things, acts of terror. Nowadays Israel objects, with no apparent sense of irony, when Palestinians seeking their own state also resort to acts of terror. Terrorism is a tactic of the relatively weak (as is non-violence) that sometimes seems to produce the desired result, as did Irgun’s bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946 that left 91 dead.
Putin is on the horns of a dilemna. For the first time since the dismantling of the Soviet Union, Russia faces a severe economic crisis – after enjoying years of relative prosperity – and she has a warmongering chief executive. This is a nexus of events that will shape and define Russia for at least the next decade. The popular version inducing fear
cont at link. My son notes that “Not the most trusted news source, would be interested in what others think about it…” Latest from WHO. Panic inducing notes from Nursing World Nigeria:- hattip Sue from Canada. Although unlikely airborne transmission is possible. Whereas the novelist creates characters to drive his narrative and arranges plot steps into a dramatic arc toward some sort of resolution, the historian is given his characters and tries to find a plausible narrative to support an unfolding record of events and outcomes. He searches the record to identify the circumstance, interpret the motive. It might seem like an “objective” pursuit, but there is a built-in bias. Historians value history because they believe the forgetters of history are the condemned repeaters. They usually acknowledge the companion idea that the “winners” in history also record it for posterity’s “losers”. The temptation is strong, therefore, to construct a dramatic narrative to make history both purposeful and instructive. Put another way, history is often told as a story organized to make a point. – Reader Supported News U.S. Government Backs Some War Crimes, Not Others The same day that Israeli tanks crossed into Gaza, to continue killing civilians and the occasional Hamas fighter, MSNBC decided to ignore the Israeli invasion in favor of wall-to-wall coverage of the presumed shoot-down of Malaysian Airliner MH17 over eastern Ukraine. Why would MSNBC make a choice that looks so much like propaganda? The last time the Israelis invaded Gaza, in 2009, more than 100 Palestinians died for each Israeli killed. The 13 dead Israelis were soldiers on the attack, the 1,400-plus dead Palestinians were mostly civilians with nowhere safe to go. That hasn’t changed much. |
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