Category: Science

Hydraulic Fracturing Chemical Disclosure: Too much information?

As you’ve probably already heard, the Texas Railroad Commission (the oversight agency for the Texas oil and gas industry, for the non-Texians in the audience) today approved a regulation that will require the public disclosure of chemical ingredients used in hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells permitted on or after February 1, 2012 [read… Continue reading Hydraulic Fracturing Chemical Disclosure: Too much information?

Desalination a solution for our water woes? Uh, not so fast…

As we creep inexorably toward the one-year mark without meaningful rainfall (how mind-boggling is that, anyway?), ideas that were once bandied about in sci-fi mode now start to take on some semblance of credibility. Like, for example, the idea that we have plenty of water available to Texas, it’s just a bit on the salty… Continue reading Desalination a solution for our water woes? Uh, not so fast…

Playing with Uranus

Hey, they started it! Nevertheless, I think you’ll be impressed by this interactive 3D model of the solar system. What did you think I was talking about?

Is it time for Al Gore to return his Nobel?

Roger L. Simon focuses on some very interesting new research regarding so-called “global warming” (and, yes, I use the scare quotes intentionally): In his paper, Qing-Bin Lu, a professor of physics and astronomy, shows how CFCs – compounds once widely used as refrigerants – and cosmic rays – energy particles originating in outer space –… Continue reading Is it time for Al Gore to return his Nobel?

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Categorized as Science

The Anatomy of a Curve Ball

In honor of the World Series (which I understand is being contested now between two teams indistinguishable from Yankees, regardless of what they’re called, and thus is of absolutely no consequence to your scribe) here’s an analysis of why a well-pitched curve ball is the stuff of batters’ nightmares. The animated visual is particularly remarkable.… Continue reading The Anatomy of a Curve Ball

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Categorized as Science, Sports

Book Review: “Proust and the Squid”

…the goal of reading is to go beyond the author’s ideas to thoughts that are increasingly autonomous, transformative, and ultimately independent of the written text. … The experience of reading is not so much an end in itself as it is our best vehicle to a transformed mind, and, literally and figuratively, to a changed… Continue reading Book Review: “Proust and the Squid”