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So you wanna live on Mars?

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  This redneck mispent a significant portion of his youth devouring science fiction. I pretty much stuck to what is now categorized as 'hard' science fiction, as in based on 'hard' science, ie what we thought we knew about physics and such.  We populated other planets, solar systems, created new societies, fought wars, and when things got tough, we could board a rocket and go somewhere else. Space travel was easy. About the same time I grew out of sci-fi, the genre evolved into fantasy and science fiction, as in mostly fantasy, elves, dragons and wizards, and magic without science.  Then we got dystopian future fiction, which  is also classified as fantasy and science fiction.  In contrast to the sci fi I grew up with, the dystopian was a future  no one would want to live in. Looking back with a critical eye, so called hard sci-fi was every bit as fictional and magical as elves and dragons.  When science fiction went to Hollywood it became even more divorced from actual

Political Science

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  "Politics is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals..." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics).   "Science is a rigorous, systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about everything." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science). Political truths only need agreement or compliance. There is no requirement for political truths to make sense.  Trofim Lysenko was a Soviet  agronomist who was appointed the head of  the Soviet Academy of Agricultural Sciences by Joseph Stalin.  Lysenko stated that  genetics and agricultural science was "bourgeois and  fascist   " .  Lysenko rejected Mendelian genetics, substituting his own crackpot ideas.  As many as 3,000 soviet scientists who challenged his ideas were silenced, fired, imprisoned or even executed.  Lysenko studied as an agronomist and geneticist under some of t

Canada Conquers Climate Change

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  The United Nations has declared July 2023 the hottest month in recorded history. “Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning,” said UN chief  Secretary-General António Guterres.  Fortunately, it appears that Canada has found a way to defeat global warming. According to Canada's Department of Environment and Natural Resources Weather Information Services, Ontario Capital City, Toronto's July 2023 monthly average temperature of 27.1 was actually 1.2 degrees Celsius cooler than  July 2022 .  Alberta's Capital, Edmonton, was 1 degree C cooler, 23.6 in 2023 vs 24.6 in 2022 . Ottawa, the national capital, was fully 3 degrees C cooler than July  2020 , in fact, Ottawa's July 2023 27.4  C monthly average  was  identical to  July 1892's monthly average, convincing proof that Canada has found the solution to halting global warming. Canada's achievement in combating climate change can be attributed to the leadership shown by Canada's Pr

The deadly gas stove

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  A recent tempest in a tea pot was about gas stoves and their potential hazards to health and environment.  The usual suspects have climbed on their soapboxes, the loony left demanding the sale of gas stoves be banned, and the right wing-nuts proclaiming that the right to buy a gas stove is right up there with assault rifles. After an exhaustive five minute internet search, I have discovered that gas stoves may result in a statistically higher incidence in childhood asthma, may leak methane when turned off, and may release nitrogen oxides when they are used. Burning natural gas has also been blamed for the release of toxic chemicals, such as benzene. So cooking over open flames might be dangerous, who knew?  Digging a bit deeper it turns out that the source of leaked gas inside homes was due to leaks in gas lines.  So plumbing might also be dangerous, or perhaps the plumbers are dangerous.  I wonder what the ban the gas snowflakes will do when they find out that electricity is also da

Artificial Intelligence revisited

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  People who write for a living are all excited about ChatGTP, that generates an intelligently written response or explanation on almost any subject. I gotta admit, it's amazing. ChatGTP has a huge knowledge base and provides a well worded response to almost any question.   On the other hand, reports are coming in that some i phones  are sending false emergency calls for accidents that never happened at amusement parks and ski hills because the phones were programmed to automaticially detect accidents based on their motion detectors.  Go for a roller coaster ride, fall off your snow board, put your phone in the glove box and hit a few potholes, and your phone calls 911 on you.   The latest 'feature' included with almost any household appliance is  the ability to connect to a smart phone.  You might wonder why your phone needs to speak to your refrigerator.  You now have the ability to turn off your bathroom light in your Oshkosh home while you are in a business meeting in H

Autocrats Love Liberal Democracy

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  Liberal democracies buy their stuff.  Liberal democracies provide a wide variety of opaque financial instruments to hide their wealth. Liberal democracies sell them the technology and weapons they need to stay in power. Liberal democracies abide by the rule of law, in other words with the right lawyers it is possible to get away with just about anything. If things go south at home, somewhere in the liberal democratic world a safe haven will be provided for the right price. What's not to love?

Canadian police need more diversity

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As the great Canadian Border and Capital Cities blockades wind their way down, we might ask where were the police?  This was far from the first Canada's first blockade rodeo. When the Indians (as in First Nations), environmentalists, G20 summit protesters, strikers, unemployed workers etc., take to the streets the police can be counted on to show up in full riot gear ever ready to restore order.  Maybe they learned from past mistakes, or maybe cops are reluctant to bust the heads of their drinking buddies.   Most Canadian cops are smart enough to keep their opinions off social media, but there are a few who have not gotten the memo yet .  Which is yet another reason that our police forces need greater diversity.  With a better selection of pissed off oppressed minorities the cops would be able to respond to any flavor protest with equal enthusiasm.