Let’s do a crowdsourcing review of it.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
Upgrading My Phone
I’ve sworn that I’ll give up my mechanical keyboard when they take it from my cold, dead hands, but my Droid 4 is on its last legs, with an OS that’s becoming incompatible with too many apps. I’ve given up hope of continuing to have one, and am shopping for a new (used) phone. I’m not a power user, and can’t see spending $500+ on the latest and greatest, but I would like to get an older high-end machine. I was looking at the Moto G4+, but when I asked Verizon if the network supports it, they said no (which surprised me). They have a web page that says “Bring your own device,” but in order to check compatibility, you have to enter the device ID, which is kind of hard when one doesn’t actually have a device.
Anyway, I had a chat session with someone else at Verizon, who finally came up with a list of compatible devices for the past few years. I don’t know why it should be this hard, though.
This Week’s Vandenberg Launch
Even though they have enough performance for a return to launch site, they’ll still be landing downrange on the ship (or perhaps closer to the site). Chris G. explains why.
Racial Purity
A great idea from Katherine Mangu-Ward: Let’s hand out DNA testing kits at the next neo-Nazi rally.
The Lancet
…has reviewed Nina Teichholz’s book
Many readers will be incensed by this book. If you think saturated fats and cholesterol are bad for you, you’ll be incensed. If you think the fat story is exaggerated, you’ll be incensed. If you trust in the objectivity of science to inform health policy, you’ll be incensed. Stories of shocking scientific corruption and culpability by government agencies are all to be found in Nina Teicholz’s bestseller The Big Fat Surprise. This is a disquieting book about scientific incompetence, evangelical ambition, and ruthless silencing of dissent that has shaped our lives for decades.
Good for her.
Regulating Commercial Space Companies
Laura Montgomery says that Congress and/or the White House could ease the burden of Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty. Some at the COPUOS and UNOOSA will bitch, but Washington should team up with Luxembourg, who is taking the lead in Europe, on this.
Animal Reactions To The Eclipse
Just had an argument on Twitter with someone who doesn’t believe they’ll have them, but the reports go back centuries. They’ll be very confused.
TDRS
Today’s Atlas launch heralded an end of an era:
Younes suggested that those future data relay satellites might be owned and operated by commercial entities rather than NASA. “NASA’s optimum goal is to push the technology to enable the commercial sector such that these services can be provided by commercial providers, and NASA will not need in the future to build these kinds of capabilities,” he said. “They can become a user, like any other user.”
In general, NASA needs to move to procuring services, rather than hardware.
Moon Village
The brilliant and lovely Angeliki Kapoglou (Ms. #MoonVillage on Twitter) has set up a new web site. She’ll be putting out a monthly newsletter, which you can subscribe to there.
Low Fat Versus Low Carb
A major new study. This is an important point that too few pay attention to; it’s not about weight loss per se:
The 18-mo moderate weight loss of 3.7 kg was similar in both groups, but the reduction in waist circumference was higher in the MED/LC group (−6.9 ± 6.6 cm) than in the LF diet group (−2.3 ± 6.5 cm; P = 0.01). After 18 mo, the IPF volume had reduced twice as much in the MED/LC group compared with the LF group [−37 ± 26.2 mL (−22% ± 15%) compared with −15.5 ± 26.2 mL (−8% ± 15%), respectively; P < 0.05, after adjustment for changes in weight or visceral adipose tissue]. [My emphasis]
This is one reason BMI is BS. Another is that it doesn’t take into account the difference between muscle mass and fat.