Aside from sounding like some kind of plan hatched by MacGyver, what do those items have in common?
I’ll give you a hint: UFOs.
It turns out that those “mysterious” unexplainable lights in Phoenix are, like every other sighting: very explainable.
I actually kind of find it funny because it was just some guy playing a fun prank:
[...] he used fishing line to attach road flares to helium-filled balloons, then lit the flares and launched them a minute apart from his back yard. He said he believed turbulence created by a passing jet caused the balloons to move around.
If anything it shows just how unskeptical some people still are — jumping to conclusions in an effort to prove their beliefs in ET.
Kind of like deists sometimes do, right?
And it’s not that I knew the correct explanation, but a spoonful of Occam’s razor keeps the boogie man at bay. And cures cancer.
When was the last time you went outside, looked up at the sky and said: “thank you stellar masses, please give me another”?
When was the last time you heard a porn star do the same thing?
If you haven’t sent a Valentine to has-beens like 1987A, then you probably don’t know where the material used to make your computer came from.
Grab a handful of sand
You can find silicon in a bevy of products in numerous industries. You can buy it in bulk and turn it into origami figurines. It is seemingly plentiful but where did it come from?
While you don’t necessarily need to enroll in a planetary formation course at the local college, few people can explain where metals like Si come from.
Believe it or not, but elements like gold that are found on earth didn’t form or grow on a tree. In fact, earth itself didn’t “grow” anything but rather was formed by the accumulation of particles.
Guess where these particles came from? Stars.
You see, stars like the Sun have a core made out of iron. The way the iron got to the middle is that it simply was the heaviest atom of the surrounding lot (e.g., Hydrogen, Helium). For instance, anyone that has thrown their brothers weight set into the pool will have observed that dumbbells sink. This is because the dumbbells are denser than water.
If you’ve ever been at the bottom of a big dog pile (who hasn’t?) you can feel the temperature in your body increase due in part to the pressure exerted on your corpus.
Similarly, based on spectroscopy you can see what kind of elements float around in stars like ours. Aside from nickel, iron is typically the heaviest element found in them (other types of stars have heavier elements, more on that later).
You see, as stuff begins to pile on top of the iron it becomes more compact and the resulting pressure continuously heats up the multi-million degree ball of plasma gooey stuff. This iron gets so incredibly hot that it can explode and fuse into other heavier elements, such as silicon.
That’s right. In order to create silicon you have to blow up a star. Because only then is there enough energy and heat to fuse together other heavier elements.
These were fusion explosions, which are essentially microcosms of stellar activity. In stars, peer pressure literally creates a ballistic explosion. As elements are squished together, the pressure becomes so great that the dorky high school dweeb and hot prom queen fuse together and release a crap load of energy. And in the process become a different, heavier element.
In the case of Castle Bravo, Lithium and Hydrogen deflowered one another. Actually, it was a menage a trois: 1 lithium and 2 hydrogen hooked up.
So now whenever you hear the word ’silicon,’ in addition to thinking of gigantic breast implants and/or iPods, thank your lucky stars.
Some people erroneously believe that nature is really efficient at turning sunlight into energy. The fact of the matter is that typical photosynthesis processes actually amount to an efficiency rate of about 5%.
The leaf coloring is all wrong (but that’s a limitating factor partially imposed by the structure of chlorophyll). They should all be black!
Tanning lotions wanted
Anyone that has driven around in a dark colored car on a hot summer day or worn a black shirt while strolling along the beach with a metal detector (which obviously, only really cool people do) could tell you their body sphere attracts a lot of attention from our friend Mr. Sun.
This is because the color black does not reflect light — it absorbs it.
Celestially, one way astronomers measure objects in space is through their albedo. Or how much they reflect light.
For instance, the average albedo of Mars is 15%. The reason this is an average is because different parts of the surface reflect at different rates. The composition and altitude of various geographical features ranges from Valles Marineris (the largest canyon) to Olympus Mons (the tallest mountain) and can change overnight due to planet-wide dust storms that launch debris and dust miles into the air, changing its aggregate reflective qualities.
Taken to the most logical extremes: there is also the concept of Peaks of Eternal Light, or rather a geographical area that is continuously bathed in sunlight. Because the Earth rotates every day, no single terrestrial area is up for winning this award.
On the other hand, there are certain areas on the surface of the Moon that are suspected of receiving sunlight almost everyday of the year (sans a few hours from eclipses and maybe a few days during the winter).
While the logistical and financial realities are literally out of this world, there have been numerous engineering proposals to erect solar panels on the face of the moon to take advantage of this perpetual illumination — by beaming the accumulated energy back to earth via microwave antenna.
In continuing this thought experiment, I should point out that the moon has an average albedo of about 12%. Again, this is not the same thing as shining (like from a flash light). Think of albedo as a way of measuring mirror strength. The aggregate dust, pebbles, boulders, craters and crevices create the bright image we see every night… or don’t see.
What would happen to the nocturnal world if the entire moon became a black body object? For example, most solar panels have reflective properties because they are not entirely made out of one big piece of silicon-based absorption material. There are pieces of plastic, hinges, glass and other x-factors holding the material together that reflect sunlight.
Let us assume that in the fancy pants future some guy creates an atomically precise manufacturing process that allows engineers to build solar panels across the entire face of the moon, with an albedo no greater than charcoal (4%). As non-reflective as the flat and dull paint on your dad’s first car.
While I’m sure organizations like Green Peace, PETA, WWF would cry many rivers over this, I am curious to know how nocturnal creatures that use optical senses — highly-sensitive to moonlight — would be able to effectively navigate.
On the one hand the phases of the moon already create several nights without much moonlight, yet these creatures manage to flutter and scurry around. What would happen if the big nightlight failed to act as a big mirror?
I hope you cried as much as my inflatable doll did
While this is not going to probably ever occur in any of our lifetimes, the variables surrounding a black moon could possibly lead to solving half of the question that keeps some singulitarians up at night: how to power large amounts of computronium? [Note: large arrays of solar powered satellites grouped into a Dyson Sphere is still the leading candidate.]
And because I want a gold star from the teacher, the answer to the other half is of course: condensing the cosmological masses into increasingly tight densities, thereby reducing latency between nodes.
Perhaps the most efficient arrangement is ultimately a man-made blackbody of sorts. Capable of absorbing all sol-produced light waves (as well as the radiating heat) and converting it all into large amounts of electricity to power 3D chipsdenser than lead or the inner core… fused impossibly tight, meters on end.
Election – parodies student government elections in high school. The sad part is, these charades continue through college. Why on earth would you give an inexperienced kid authority to do anything important with student funds? More french fries on Tuesday? Bigger selection of soft drinks in the vending machine? Rock music during break time?
Do me a favor and never hire someone that puts that on their resume.
American Dreamz – satirizes the phenomenon of American Idol. And for shits and giggles it lampoons Bush’s first term. Hugh Grant is great at portraying smug self-importance. It’s pretty good if you dislike teeny bopper insta-celebrity crapola.
Saved! – I’ve recommended this before when it first came out in ‘04. Still great. In fact, if you’ve ever met anyone in the evangelical movement this is a pretty accurate lampooning at their expense. It is always timely because every week there is some idiot that claims god protected them from certain death, yet he somehow failed to protect everyone else that died a horrible undeserved death. For instance, see the quotes coming out of the recent plane crash in the Congo. Miraculous!
Dr. Strangelove – favorite movie of all time. Perfect in today’s political climate. Way too many memorable quotes. Uniter of hippies and historians.
In the past six weeks I’ve conducted at least 1802 searches (according to my history cache). And it’s not all for super sexy helicopter porn or aesthetically unappealing crocks.
I mention this because today Sergey Brin mentioned that one of the reasons Google has so-far weathered the economic downturn:
Let me highlight search improvements in last 90 days. have launched more than 100 improvements in search quality. New tailored home pages in international markets, such as Japan. Also better job in foreign countries selecting domestic results.
I can only imagine how many searches someone like Justin Raimondo does (his articles are, in the words of Gene Callahan: link portals).
Speaking of which, I haven’t written a single new article in that time frame (the 3 previous Mises articles this year were all written in the first week of February)… so my quarterly numbers are skewed!
Incidentally, I sat in a noisy internet cafe next to several middle-aged chain smokers (who were farming gold in WoW) for a solid week between teaching hours to whip the Pulitzer-prize winning pieces together. The green tea and steroids helped.
As an aside, unless it was Scarlet Johannson in a bikini, I don’t think I clicked on any web ad. Who clicks on ads?
Very few, if any, mobile customers have voice mail enabled in Northeast Asia — they all txt. It was yet another strange lifestyle change that took some adjusting to (primarily because I didn’t care much for sending txt msgs in America).
Anyways, I was demonstrating my English abilities today at a new school near that Belgium pub I mentioned a few weeks ago.
The idea is that to recruit new students for a school, gringo’s like me typically make a public demonstration in front of the bill-paying parents… even if they don’t speak a word of ingles.
Why?
For several reasons. First, they want to try before they buy. And in all reality, they want to make sure their kid is learning angliski from someone that has blond hair, blue eyes and sounds like they are from the Midwest.
Fortunately for me, I am really good at looking white and talking like a white person (of course it helps that I read StuffWhitePeopleLike.com each week).
I mention all of this because in the lobby at the buxiban (cram school) there were various toys and trinkets for sale to the students… all blazoned with American flags and nonsensical Englishese (I’ve probably seen more American flags in Asia than I did in America…).
On one of the packages enclosing a dozen or so toy cars was a warning label printed on the front corner:
Not suitable for children 3 years old because small pieces can be swallowed.
I sent that as a txt to several of my friends and promptly won the chinglish award for the week.
Sucks to be a 3 year old. I mean if there is one thing we can all agree on: if you can’t put toys in your mouth, what’s the point of living?
Honorable mention: Last week I was at the airport and noticed a sign that combined the word sustainability and substantially: substaintantially. I no longer feel bad about my poor grammar or spelling.
A couple years ago I discussed the world of artificial land creation/reclamation. One of the motivating reasons behind creating your own land is to quote Borat, you get to be the king of the castle.
I mentioned that one of the endeavors being organized involved a (equatorial-based) seasteading group.
It was being spearheaded by Patri Freidman, an engineer at Google (and grandson of Milton Friedman). At the time I didn’t think it would go past the drawing board and shot Patri an email to see what the status was. He cordially replied that it was taking baby steps towards a more public expansion a couple years down the road… and that he would keep me abreast of new developments.
And surprisingly, guess what I just found in my inbox?
Today the Seasteading Institute officially launched. And it has received $500,000 in seed money from Peter Thiel (the co-founder of Paypal and VC behind Facebook).
I for one welcome this concept and wish them the best of luck.
With desalination and solar power, it is conceivable that a group of hardworking, creative individuals could tie together something as simple as barges along the equator. The equator, which is not necessarily the first or only location SI is looking at, is ideal for several reasons.
First, it is located in the doldrums and as a result, very few storms pass over the area. In fact, only one hurricane/typhoon in recorded history (Vamei) has ever meandered near the equator. And based on satellite measurements, waves typically range no greater than 3-5 meters in height. Thus, if the location is placed in international waters (200 miles) the structures should be able to outlast most of what mother nature throws at it without having to worry about climate being diverted by land masses.
Second, the equator receives more daylight year round than any other spot on Earth. Therefore, inhabitants can use solar panels to effectively power electrical equipment including desalination machines and hydroponics stations. While the quantity may be impractical to rely on as a cash export, it could provide most of the caloric intake for the residents.
Third, if placed around -120 E, the community would be in the same time zone as the West coast, such as LA or Seattle. As a result, they are conveniently available to provide tax-free outsourcing services such as web or software development. This is an idea that was tossed around by a couple of firms, one of which (SeaCode) wanted to anchor a cruise ship off the coast of California and fill it with programmers who would be paid tax-free for their labor.
As a libertarian this appeals to me on many levels as well, however a small word of caution. Even as the logistics appear to be conquerable, one factor that will always remain a variable are blue-water navies such as those operated by the US or the UK.
Operating gambling websites like Antingua does or hosting adult material like Sealand did has incurred the wrath of politicians that unfortunately enough, control carrier-based task forces.
But then again, this assumes a cynical sort of realpolitik, something that never occurs in reality, right?
As the saying goes, if there is a will, there is a way. And I think Patri has both. After all, if large oil platforms are designed to be nearly self-sufficient why couldn’t other usable designs be concocted and implemented?
Some researchers building a tree house in Sweden bumped into a 8,000 year old spruce. That should make some nice violins…
On that note, while it is a bit hoaky, this 2003 animated movie shows 2 anthropomorphic rocks watch the evolution of modern humans, presumably in Deutschland:
Stepping off the plane, the oddest site I saw in Taipei and now in Kaohsiung was people wearing face masks. I saw a few in Seoul last year, but they were the exception and usually only used by meter maids.
Some of the masks are designed with bright colors, scary faces, or even cartoonishy (e.g., Hello Kitty). Some people don’t even bother taking them off as they stroll along the boulevard — talking through the cloth to shopkeepers whom manage to comprehend their muffled voices.
So why do they wear them?
Here the pollution is seemingly godawful compared to what I was bombarded with in Dallas. The reasons are numerous.
You can partially place the blame on externalities of factories across the straits in China or even on the local ones (there is a nice smelling one right next to the HSR terminal in Zuoying).
And because cars are expensive relative to disposable income, nearly everyone drives a scooter. And because they’re trying to save money, they don’t exactly buy the most expensive filtering system.
My coworkers mention that living in Bangkok is far worse, as is most of SE Asia and India. And those that grew up in LA didn’t notice a big transitional difference either (never been, so I can’t say).
However, as incomes increase and infrastructure is built (e.g., more subway lines, more buses, bigger/stronger roads) it is likely that scooter owners will move to alternate, cleaner forms of transportation. In addition, private property owners may begin to litigate this issue under the terms of trespass.
And no, I still don’t wear a face mask because I’m too cool. And yea, that is a picture of me parking the ol’ beast at a cafe. The trendy Ferrari jacket was later stolen by an anonymous coward : (
When was the last time you went outside, looked up at the sky and said: “thank you stellar masses, please give me another”?
That’s right. In order to create silicon you have to blow up a star. Because only then is there enough energy and heat to fuse together other heavier elements.
Some people erroneously believe that nature is really efficient at turning sunlight into energy. The fact of the matter is that typical photosynthesis processes actually amount to an efficiency rate of 
What would happen to the nocturnal world if the entire moon became a 
Four movies that get my stamp of approval:
In the past six weeks I’ve conducted at least 1802 searches (according to my history cache). And it’s not all for super sexy helicopter porn or 
Very few, if any, mobile customers have voice mail enabled in Northeast Asia — they all txt. It was yet another strange lifestyle change that took some adjusting to (primarily because I didn’t care much for sending txt msgs in America).
A couple years ago I 
Second, the equator receives more daylight year round than any other spot on Earth. Therefore, inhabitants can use solar panels to effectively power electrical equipment including desalination machines and 
Stepping off the plane, the oddest site I saw in Taipei and now in Kaohsiung was people wearing face masks. I saw a few in Seoul last year, but they were the exception and usually only used by 
My coworkers mention that living in Bangkok is far worse, as is most of SE Asia and India. And those that grew up in LA didn’t notice a big transitional difference either (never been, so I can’t say).