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Category Archives: Science & Technology
Am I turning into a greedy AARP member?
My free blood pressure measuring device arrived today! It’s a perk I have because I have high blood pressure and I’m using the Hello Heart app on my iPhone. Jennifer is a nurse so taking the readings are a basic … Continue reading
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
I finally finished a book! We all (including myself) thought I’d get a bunch read during Covid. No luck. I was really guilty of starting a few, then getting bogged down, forgetting to continue and then losing all the momentum … Continue reading
Posted in Anthropology, Biology, Books, D & D, Ecology, History, Reviews, Science & Technology
Tagged 17th Century, 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, China, Colonization, Enlightenment, Europe, First Nations, Renaissance
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More good news that brought Picayune back!
For once it wasn’t one of those annoying groundskeepers or Chinese restaurants sticking something on my door. Initially I thought it was a joke because Google Fiber hit Austin like a decade ago, raging full on. Everybody everywhere in the … Continue reading
Good joke about a rather lame episode and casting issue
This is a dig at a rather disappointing episode from the early Nineties Next Generation period called “The Chase.” If it were done today via the Paramount+ regime, the execution would more likely be a more satisfying mini-arc within Strange New Worlds or a … Continue reading
Fall ’22 has arrived!
For Austin, it means we’ll only be somewhat, unbearably hot. Nah! I will never trade it in for Midwestern Winters and I say it’s practice for being accustomed to the world being that horrific +3-4° C higher than it used … Continue reading
So many amazing events/discoveries with people’s DNA
I stumbled upon a couple articles which blew my mind about Human DNA! First up involves these unusual pair of identical twins known as the Salyers. Or maybe they’re just odd or weird because the women always wanted to marry … Continue reading
RIP Dr. Frank Drake
Dr. Frank Drake passed away last Friday and he’s pretty famous to me and to many in Astronomy circles, namely for his equation that postulates the possibility of life on other planets in our galaxy. Translated into English or layman’s … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Science & Technology
Tagged Celebrity Obituary, Seventies, Sixties
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KMAG Stream turns 20!
Dammit, dammit, dammit. My exhaustion from the Franz Ferdinand concert and two recent celebrity passings made me forget this huge milestone on Sunday. Better late than never with some events I’d say. Well, way back on August 7, 2002, my … Continue reading
Chess robot breaks kid’s finger…
…and then it beat up Deep Blue and Watson for their lunch money! Well, the real story can be found here in The Guardian. I fear that the horrors of Skynet might be closer than we thought and it won’t come … Continue reading
An editorial from the Math-impaired
The only thing I give D&D 5E a round of applause for is their advantage/disadvantage rule with d20 rolls. Given how much players love to roll dice more than anything, it caters to their obsession. It’s a pretty clever solution yet … Continue reading
Welcome to July 2022
Phew! We just got through the hottest June on record and now we’re headed full speed into the broiler with July. Note how the Climate Deniers/Right have changed their position from “it’s not happening,” to, “we’ll have to live with … Continue reading
Posted in Ecology, News, Science & Technology, The Site
Tagged Climate Change, Header Art
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1972: First Leap Second added to UTC system
We must be getting better at this because I haven’t seen warnings at work about this happening in a some years. All our computers, phones, tablets, GPS systems and whatever need to know the exact time down to probably millionths of … Continue reading
As per Astronomy, Summer is “here!”
We already have had a one-month head start on the heat wave which also means Climate Change arrived years ago but it remains a fiction to the morons in charge with their legions of millions like my dead uncle and … Continue reading
Now most of the US can play!
Welcome to the new Normal! So glad you selfish assholes, namely the Greatest Generation and Boomers, who continued to favor cheap gasoline, we are having the super-hot weather a month early! The added bonus is how you can’t escape it … Continue reading
Posted in Austintatious, Ecology, Science & Technology
Tagged Climate Change, Current Events
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Cool eco pencil
When I first received one of these pencils, my initial response was, great, there’s no eraser, thanks…I guess. Then this really nice person handing out treats gave me a couple more and explained why these pencils were cool and special. … Continue reading