On the Death of George A. Keyworth: “You are a lunatic.”

The death at 77 of George Keyworth, Ronald Reagan’s “science advisor” from 1981 to 1985, recalls the roots of today’s anti-science zeitgeist in the Republican Party and farther reaches of American right-wing politics. Keyworth was the epitome of the technically educated but politically clueless rube, who rose from toiling at Los Alamos as a protege […]

The United States of Amnesia

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Henry D. Thoreau, 7/12/1817

“Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sunMillions of people all over the USA suffer from some sexual problems and erectile dysfunction always tops the list. buy viagra in canada So much so these sorts of comments can keep you away from each other, they are […]

Die Rakete

From the earliest days of the Third Reich, when Wernher von Braun and other German army enthusiasts developed the tech that spawned the V-2 and, later, when they came to the United States and Soviet Union after WWII, helped create long-range missiles that doubled as astronaut launchers, big chemical rockets have held an outsized fascination. […]

B-21: Raiders of the Lost Mind

The minuscule number of Americans who take even a cursory glance, let alone a concerted gaze, at their nation’s fantastically expensive strategic weapons programs quickly run into the wall of secrecy that keeps all but a few officials in near total darkness. Even the Congressional Research Service, tasked with informing members of Congress about such […]

Heliocentrism is a BAD deal for geocentrists

Annals of anti-science.

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Sound of One Hand Clapping: The Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site

The aptly named Ronald Reagan missile defense testing range centered in the Marshall Islands at Kwajalein Atoll was back in the news this week for the latest attempt to hit a mock ICBM launched there with an interceptor fired from California. Military officials called it a success, but longtime observers of this program know how […]

American Longevity

Of the ten U.S. counties where life expectancy has dropped the most since 1980, eight are in Kentucky, largely due to socioeconomic disparities. Wagering on all races on the 143rd Kentucky Derby Day program totaled $209.2 million, a 9 percent increase over the 2016 total of $192.6 million and an increase of 8 percent over […]

A Man, A Tan

Melanoma fans will rejoice over House passage of the Trumpcare bill, whose section 231 repeals Obamacare’s tax on tanning salons. From the very handy Congressional Research Service summary of the legislation, which it is reasonable to assume few if any House Republicans found time to read before voting:

 

  Their impotency or male […]

Vinson Sails Into the Masalembo Triangle

American aircraft carrier strike forces are the nation’s most powerful expression of military might–being actually useful, unlike the nuclear triad. So when one of them figures prominently in an international crisis, the situation is presumed to be deadly serious. Or, in this post-factual era, not. That the USS Carl Vinson wasn’t anywhere nearYou can buy […]