This whole debate assumes that the only purpose of space exploration is science. But if we want to settle space, we have to accept the fact that we are going to “contaminate” it with earthly life.
Category Archives: Media Criticism
Paleolithic Sleep Patterns
Apparently, sleeping all night isn’t a modern industrial invention:
The volunteers also slept continuously. They would toss and turn like everyone does, but they almost never woke up for a concerted window in the middle of the night. This contradicts a growing idea, popularized by historian Roger Ekirch, that sleeping in eight-hour chunks is a modern affectation.
Ekirch combed through centuries of Western literature and documents to show that Europeans used to sleep in two segments, separated by an hour or two of wakefulness. Siegel doesn’t dispute Ekirch’s analysis; he just thinks that the old two-block pattern was preceded by an even older single-block one. “The two-sleep pattern was probably due to humans migrating so far from the equator that they had long dark periods,” he says. “The long nights caused this pathological sleep pattern and the advent of electric lights and heating restored the primal one.”
Interesting. Also some good advice for better sleep.
Sit
Standing desks don’t extend lifespan?
I don’t know, it still seems like you’ll expend more energy by standing than sitting. But now I don’t feel as bad that I’ve never gotten around to getting/making one.
Mark Steyn
Apparently, David Appell is as hilariously illogical as ever. And yes, Big Climate does seem to be a tad misogynistic. But hey, they can be forgiven, they’re just tying to save the planet.
[Update a while later]
The problem with Senator Whitehouse’s RICO suit. He has no evidence.
Yes, it seems to be mostly a wild conspiracy theory. And projection.
Related: Katherine Hayhoe has gotten an infinite amount more money from Exxon than I have.
Jim Webb
Thoughts on who the real enemy is.
This demonization of their political adversaries, as Hillary did last night, and Barack Obama does often, is the hallmark of fascists. I disagree with Jim Webb on many issues, but I respect him. I think he’s finding out that he joined the wrong political party.
Fictional Characters’ Names
Here’s news you can use: You’re pronouncing them wrong.
I’ve never had a problem with Don Quixote, but shouldn’t “quixotic” be pronounced “Key-ah-tik”? Because Brit Hume said “quix-o-tic” the other day.
SpaceShipTwo’s Propulsion System
No, it was not a “minor nuance” on the fatal flight.
Meth
It’s not an argument for drug prohibition; it’s a demonstration and consequence of the failure of drug prohibition.
News College-Bound Men Can Use
Four questions men should ask when selecting a college:
Since most college handbooks now define sexual assault broadly to include pretty much everything, one’s best bet is to avoid sex in college altogether. Colleges have enacted policies that allow non-students to bring accusations against students, so dating off campus isn’t safe either.
There’s really nothing that can be done to protect oneself from an accusation in the current climate. Sorry to sound so dire, but when a school puts up posters suggesting that even a sip of alcohol renders a women unable to give consent, things have gotten dire.
…I apologize if this seems like fearmongering, but college campuses are no longer safe for students accused of sexual assault. Due process rights have gone out the window because, activists tell us, this issue is so important that draconian measures must be taken. Their message is clear: Due process is fine and dandy for criminal courts, but this is a college campus, damn it, due process has no place here for those accused of felonies.
This is all making on-line education look better and better. And once again kudos to Ashe for being all over this beat.
Hillary’s Server
It was even less secure than previously thought.
This is my shocked face.
As someone noted on Twitter, this is the equivalent of leaving a new Mercedes out on the street with the key taped to the outside of the windshield.