Click HERE
to access my scientific papers about time
dilation, Special Relativity, etc.
Click HERE
to go to my Facebook group about Time and Time
Dilation.
My interests are writing,
books, movies, science, psychology, conspiracy
theorists,
photography,
photographic analysis, TV, travel, mysteries, jazz,
blues, and ...
just trying to figure things out.
Available
to read on Kindle. Click HERE
for details.
I
have a fascination with Time and Time Dilation.
Other interests: Movies and Science Podcasts
Click
on the above image to view a larger version.
My Latest Comments
Comments for Friday,
March 1, 2024, thru Sun., March 31, 2024:
March 30,
2024 - The
only thing I can think of
to write about is the fact
that I don't seem to have
anything new to write
about. I just need
to do my income
taxes. I keep
thinking about it, but I
haven't done them.
March 25, 2024 - I went
out for a drive to buy
groceries today.
That's definitely an
indicator that things are
getting back to normal.
March 24, 2024 - I had a
heart attack on March 18
which landed me in
hospital for nearly a
week. I returned
home yesterday, Saturday
the 23rd. I still
feel a little weak, but I
can get around my
apartment okay.
March 10, 2024
- I keep thinking about
getting back to work on my new
book. I've got a first
draft, but I need a better way
to start the book. I've
pretty much decided that
Quantum Mechanics is a religion,
not a science. But do I open
the book with that argument,
or do I close the book with
that as a conclusion? I
also think a lot about opening
the book with a lot of
information about how radar
guns work. Radar guns
very clearly demonstrate that
light consists of individual
oscillating particles, not
waves. I already make
that very clear in my
science papers, but a
book is the best way to
explain things clearly in
simple English.
March 3, 2024 - Hmm.
This started out as another
Sunday in which I seemed to
have absolutely nothing new to
write about. Then I
listened to the newest episode
of my #1 favorite podcast, "The
Infinite Monkey Cage."
The episode is about and
is titled "Asteroids."
Wow! What a terrific
episode! I'll probably listen to
it again later this afternoon, since it
contains a lot of fascinating
information.
March 1, 2024
- A few days ago, I put my list of my 10
favorite podcasts at the bottom of this
web page. It was a list I created
years ago, the "top 10" from a list of
about 70 podcasts I go through every
morning to see if they have anything
new. This morning I was pondering
removing "Making
Sense with Sam Harris" from the
list of 70, which would also remove it
from the "Top 10." In its place, I
decided I should put "Astronomy
Daily," which has always been one
of my favorites, and I had it as #13 on
the list of 70.
I really enjoy listening to Astronomy
Daily. It is hosted by Steve
Dunkley and Hallie, who is identified as
Dunkley's "AI sidekick."
But Hallie is also very funny,
and just too clever for me to accept her
as some form of Artificial Intelligence
(AI). So, I looked for transcripts
of the show, and found them on a site HERE.
However, the transcript doesn't mention
any "Hallie." Instead it has
"Twitter Employee - Mockingjay" saying
all that Hallie says on the podcast.
I think I can assume that that means
that Hallie is not really an AI.
It also means that we have a way to go
before we can have an Artificial
Intelligence robot kidding around and
issuing puns the way "Hallie" does on
Astronomy Daily.
Comments for Thursday,
February 1, 2024, thru Thurs., Feb. 29,
2024:
February
25, 2024 - My
list of my favorite
podcasts was previously
located on a separate
page. The system
change that occurred
late last year prevented
me from having any
separate pages. I
can only have the page
you are viewing
now. So, I just
added a new section at
the bottom of this page
where I list and provide
links to my ten
favorite podcasts.
Some podcasts provide
new episodes every week,
some less often than
that, and a few are
daily.
February 19, 2024 - I've
mentioned many times
before that I spend a
lot of time almost every
day listening to
podcasts. I've got
68 favorite
podcasts. I used
to have a list of them
on this site, but late
last year there was a
software change and I
could no longer have
multiple files on this
web site. I can
only have the edlake.com
file you are reading
now. All links
must go to some other
web site. Even the
pictures have to be
stored on other web
sites.
Every morning I go
through a list of my 68
favorite podcasts and
download any new
episodes that seem
worthwhile. I
download them into a
1-terrabyte portable
hard-drive. Then,
about once a week, I
copy all the newest
episodes from that
hard-drive into my MP3
player.
It's because of that
procedure that I haven't
yet listened to the Big Picture Science
episode from February 12
titled "Alien Says
What?" I'm
going to end this
comment right here and
listen to that
episode. Here's
the episode description:
Whales are aliens on
Earth; intelligent beings who have
skills for complex problem-solving and
their own language. Now in what’s
being called a breakthrough,
scientists have carried on an extended
conversation with a humpback whale.
They share the story of this
remarkable encounter, their evidence
that the creature understood them, and
how the experiment informs our Search
for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
After all, what good is it to make
contact with ET if we can’t
communicate?
It's one of the last audio books I
"borrowed" from my local library before
they changed things so that you could no
longer download a copy, you have to
listen to the library's copy as they
play it. It's an absolutely
fascinating story of the Defense
Department's most secret, most powerful,
and most controversial military science
Research & Development agency.
It's been around since 1958.
Meanwhile, while eating lunch yesterday,
I finished reading another book on my
Kindle. The book was "Robin
Williams Biography":
In paperback it is only 96 pages long,
and in audio book form it can be easily
listened to in a day. Williams was
a stand-up comedian who made it in the
movies, TV and on stage. He was
"different," and there's never been
anyone else like him.
February
17, 2024 - It
looks like
Donald Trump's
crooked
business
dealings have
finally caught
up with him.
Yesterday,
Trump was
ordered to pay
$354,868,768
in fines for
fraudulently
misrepresenting
his assets in
order to get
more favorable
loans and
interest rates
over the
course of
years.
In another
trial, Trump
was ordered to
pay 83.3
million
dollars to
writer E Jean
Carroll for
defaming
her.
Trump was also
barred from
doing business
in New York
for 3 years.
It will be
interesting to
see how Trump
will try to
delay things
by appeals and
various court
shenanigans.
That's what he
has been doing
for
decades.
But, it
definitely
seems like
he's running
out of games
he can play to
get things
delayed over
and over and
over.
February 14,
2024 - This morning I once again sat around for nearly an
hour trying to
think of
something to
write a
comment
about.
Finally, I
just gave up
and wrote this
brief comment
saying I gave
up.
February 11, 2024 -
I sat around for
nearly an hour
this morning,
trying to think of
something to write
a comment about
other than the
latest antics of
Donald
Trump. When
I couldn't think
of anything, I
tried Google,
looking for "Trump
News Today."
That produced some
news that seems
certainly worth
mentioning.
The headline is "Trump
says he would
encourage
Russia to ‘do
whatever the
hell they
want’ to any
NATO country
that doesn’t
pay enough."
What the ....?
Isn't that like
saying he would
encourage robbers
to rob the houses
of people who
don't pay any
taxes?
Should we be
encouraging
thieves and
robbers ... and
dictators who
might get some
pleasure from
attacking other
countries?
There seems no end
to the total
lunacy behind
Trump's beliefs
and politics.
February 8, 2024 - The
Supreme Court is considering
whether Trump can be removed
from the Colorado state
primary ballot because he
"engaged in an insurrection
to try to cling to power,
after he lost the 2020
election to Joe
Biden." The quote is
from an
NPR article that
appeared today. Here's
more:
The plaintiffs in the
case argue that Trump's actions in the
aftermath of the 2020 presidential
election automatically disqualify him
from office. Trump's lawyers counter
that the case against him is one of
overreach. Legal scholars say the
court's failure to act in time would
"place the nation in great peril."
It appears that singer
Taylor Swift might endorse Joe Biden in
the 2024 Presidential race.
If so, it will definitely drive the MAGA
crowd nuts. "The
Hill" had this headline:
Trump risks backlash as
MAGA world
zeroes in on Taylor Swift
The article begins with this:
Former President
Trump’s supporters are going after
Taylor Swift amid chatter about
whether the superstar could wade into
the 2024 election with a coveted
endorsement for President Biden.
Conservatives in both
traditional media and social media
have been launching conspiracy
theories against the pop superstar,
something that ramped up after The New
York Times reported that the Biden
campaign was actively hoping for her
endorsement.
Here's a TV news segment about it:
It appears that Taylor Swift hasn't said
anything about Trump, but Trump's
supporters are hysterically afraid that
she might, and they're making threats
about what they might do if Swift
endorses Biden. According to Rolling
Stone magazine:
Trump
Allies Pledge ‘Holy War’ Against Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift hasn’t
even endorsed Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign, but
Trump is already privately grousing he’s “more
popular” than her
It was an extremely interesting book,
since it questions the practicality of
creating long-term colonies anywhere
in space, i.e., on Mars, on the Moon, in
orbit, or on a ship en route to another
star.
The Moon and Mars have far less gravity
than Earth, which will produce ill
effects if a human lives in such place
for a long time. There will be ill
effects on children born into such
environments, too. The properties
of Lunar and Martian soil are also
dangerous to humans. Then there is
the issue of reproduction. Due to the
astronomical distances, it
will take hundreds of years
for a group of people to
emigrate to a planet around
some nearby star. That means you
need to start with a group of more than
4,000 people if you want to avoid birth
defects due to in-breeding.
If everyone on a space ship is in some
frozen state, there will be no one to
make decisions if something goes
wrong. And you'll need a gigantic
ship to transport 4,000 people.
The point to the book is that it is
probably not practical to plan the
colonization of some distant planet, so
we need to take better care of the
planet on which we currently live.
, b
