Posted in Opinion on Aug 10th, 2006
[Alternative Fuels, Energy, Fossil Fuels, Oil, Resource Scarcity]This week’s crude-oil price spike got me thinking a bit more about a future that will, by and large, be without oil. I’ve thought about this subject for a long time, as I’m sure many folks have, and the thought used to scare me. Even five […]
Posted in Opinion on Aug 1st, 2006
[Exploration, Manned, Mars, Moon, NASA, Robotic, Space, VSE]Apparently, NASA’s facing a rather-paltry $100 million dollar budget shortfall for fiscal year 2007. So what is it considering cutting? Of course, “all options are on the table” which is to say “all low priority activities are on the table”. What is one of those […]
Posted in In The News, Opinion on Jul 31st, 2006
[Biology, DNA, Synthetic, Terrorism, Viruses, Weapons]Today’s Washington Post has an article about how synthetically-produced pathogens may become a viable means of bioterrorism. The article itself is a fairly broad overview of an immense subject, and as such lacks some important details (like who the researchers are that are working on synthetic microbes, I wanted […]
Posted in Opinion on Jul 24th, 2006
[Abortion, Bush, Embryonic Stem Cells, Ethics, Morality, Religion, Veto]I’ve spent a bit of time thinking about the ethical controversy in the whole embryonic stem cell debate and have come to a conclusion: there are no non-religious ethical arguments against destroying embryos. That is not, of course, to say that such an argument is invalid. […]
Posted in Opinion on Jul 7th, 2006
[1491, Anthropology, Charles Mann, Clovis, Debate, Philosophy of Science, Science]I’ve just finished reading the first five chapters in Charles Mann’s fantastic 1491 and have been simply blown away so far. But, that will have to wait until a future entry. Today I’m going to share an idea I had when reading Mann’s chapter […]
Posted in Opinion on Jun 30th, 2006
[Politics, power, President, Supreme Court, War]I’ve largely avoided writing about politics lately largely because there isn’t a lot of moral or ethical clarity for me to be encouraged by. Though I am in disagreement with many of the actions of our President and Congress, I can’t get too angry about what happens. Were […]
Posted in In The News, Opinion on Jun 15th, 2006
[Environment, Marine Reserve, Northwest Hawaiian Islands, Oceanography]Yesterday President Bush signed an executive order designating the Northwest Hawaiian Island chain as a protected marine reserve.
This is a significant move for a number of reasons, but primarily it’s because President Bush’s environmental record up to this point looks pretty terrible. The National Resources Defense […]
Posted in Opinion on Jun 7th, 2006
[Conservation, Environment, Environmentalism, Global Warming, Wind Energy]
As I’ve gone to lengths to discuss in previous posts like this one about nuclear energy, I’m green to the core. Nevertheless, I have some serious disagreements with prominent parts of the environmental movement including my belief that nuclear energy will be a key source of energy […]
Posted in In The News, Opinion on May 24th, 2006
[Criticism, Science, Space Elevator, Space Exploration]One of the treasured axioms of scientific inquiry is that science is incapable of proving something to be true; it can only prove that something is untrue. However, that statement does not mean that science is necessarily capable of proving that something is impossible. Scientists are fond of […]
Posted in In The News, Opinion on Mar 30th, 2006
[Administration, Cancer, Contamination, EPA, Groundwater, TCE, War on Science]Starting in the early 1980s, it became clear that the common industrial degreasing agent Trichloroethylene (or TCE, for short) might increase the risk of cancer in those exposed to it. Since then, over 80 studies have been published on the possible toxicological effects of TCE exposure. […]
