Sequiturs

Progressives Kill the Poor

nathan — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:19:02 +0000

Harsh title? Yes, but it is no less than the truth. A lunatic ideology has claimed another life. By pushing to ban the malaria-preventing compound DDT in many of the world’s poorest and most disease-ridden nations, leftist Environmentalists are responsible for far more than just one death. As an environmentalist, Envoronmentalists who oppose life-saving technology disgust me.

Public Condescension Announcements

nathan — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 05:37:07 +0000

Actual script of a television ad I just saw:

“In the real world, there is no spokesperson to prevent reckless driving; there’s only you.”

Do these folks not realize they’re saying this on television? Why do public service announcements always sound like the government thinks we’re all in preschool?

You See But You Do Not Observe

nathan — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:51:20 +0000

This story is quite ridiculous, from a physical point of view, but it’s still most entertaining.

A Clock On Fire Learns to Stutter as a Poorly Conceived Defense Mechanism

nathan — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 04:51:38 +0000

“tick…tock…tick…tock…t-t-tick…t-t-to-tock…t-t-ti-tick…to-t-to-t-tock…

… burn.”

Images from Venus

nathan — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:59:43 +0000

There’s really only one place in the Solar System where the success of Soviet space exploration eclipsed that of NASA: Venus. Nobody else has yet landed an operational probe there on purpose (one NASA atmospheric probe punched all the way to the surface and returned data, but it wasn’t equipped to take advantage of such luck). The Soviets, meanwhile, returned data from not less than four landers.

Don Mitchell has applied modern image processing techniques to create a collection of processed images from these missions. It’s great work! You can get a feeling for the inhospitable surface. Here’s a composite panorama view:

Nice day for a stroll, if you like 700 K temperatures and enjoy picking out the cute animal shapes in sulfur clouds! Inhospitable as the surface is, Venus is easily overlooked as a destination for manned exploration. However, as Geoffrey Landis has pointed out, if you go a few tens of kilometers up in the sky, it’s actually a very promising place.

The Traveler’s Dilemma

nathan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:21:48 +0000

Why impale yourself on either horn when you can just kiss the ram on the forehead and be done with it?

A Guide to World Insults

nathan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:36:38 +0000

Read this or I will throw my voice at you.

If Mike Griffin had been Columbus

nathan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:29:59 +0000

I reserve any opinion on NASA head Mike Griffin. I’m linking this satire because I find it amusing, but I take no position on its merits. Still, it’s a diverting read.

Solar Weevils in Earth’s Magnetic Field

nathan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:25:30 +0000

The ill-understood area of solar-planetary physics got a new twist recently, as an the solar wind punched an unexpected hole in Earth’s magnetic field.

Neat Pictures

nathan — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:44:05 +0000

From out and about on the internet.

Colonary cuisine. I love how they magnanimously allow you to use it either as a side dish or a main dish.

Harmonic harm.

Spirit and Phoenix.