Friday, April 29, 2022

Star Trek: Picard Review | "Hide and Seek"

This is one of the best critical put-downs I have ever heard...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEIk5ZOd0WI&t=699s

Fact-Checking this Viral Bottle Trick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbgvQNhFDTo

A couple of decades ago there was some research into using somnolescent bubbles to try to make nuclear fusion happen.


I always assumed that there was something to this, but apparently not.  

Watch "The mathematics of weight loss | Ruben Meerman | TEDxQUT on YouTube

I was confusing this video with a similarly titled video that I saw years ago that claimed that the mathematics of weight loss was just calories out versus calories in.  Although technically true, weight loss is more complicated, with certain foods like sugar being worse than others.  Sugar actually stimulates appetite.   In addition, our gut flora send signals to our brain to stimulate our appetite for specific foods.  Those bacteria get hungry, and different bacteria prefer different types of nutrients.   Eating healthy foods adjusts your gut bacteria to that diet.

This is where probiotics might be helpful.




In addition, I just read about "obesogens", which at first sounded like a joke to me, which are chemicals in the environment that promote obesity.  https://www.ehn.org/chemicals-in-everyday-products-are-spurring-obesity-warns-a-new-review-2657191067.html

In terms of the chemistry of metabolism, this video is scientifically interesting.  However, it isn't really news that we lose mass as we breathe out carbon dioxide.


On Tue, Apr 26, 2022 at 5:07 AM Albert > wrote:
Hands down the best scientific explanation of weight loss. The bottomline: eat less and move more.



Saturday, April 9, 2022

Solving The Problem Of Human Perception | Jordan Peterson Lecture at The University of Cambridge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HgSnS-z4JU

Jordan Peterson went through at least 18 months of suffering because of illness, so he often gets emotional in his lectures when previously he was cool as a cucumber.

He talks at such a high intellectual level that it takes effort to keep up.  He covers many topics and jumps around so much that sometimes you wonder if you are listening to a crazy person.  He does a halfway good job of tying it all together, but I feel like he could be more succinct. 

He quickly gets to the point before moving on to related topics.  Then he wraps it all together with a conclusion.

His claim is that we perceive the meaning or the utility of objects rather than just the objects.  Since we are talking about automatic mental processes, it is hard to say in what order the brain processes information.  Maybe we first recognize the object and then its function.  Maybe function is so tied to our perception that we perceive it simultaneously.  Since it is hard to know, does it really matter?

If You Struggle To Find Meaning In Your Life, Watch This

Sunday, April 3, 2022

Little Cobra Gets Sips Of Water From A Sprite Bottle During His Rescue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db9MgEfHLgY

It is next to impossible for me to feel compassion for a creature that is poisonous enough to kill an elephant.  It might make sense for a snake collector, but to release this monster back into the wild is to risk the lives of others. 



Saturday, April 2, 2022

Re: 50 CAL VS TRAIN TRACK RAIL

https://youtu.be/W57EjnIJu7Q

I'm impressed.  Railroad tracks are made from hot-rolled steel and are designed to be tough.

This type of weapon must have considerable power.  I'm thinking of the third law of motion, where every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  The weapon must be able to deal with recoil.


Best wishes,

John Coffey


Re: Watch "Debunking '15 Inventions Created By Black Americans’" on YouTube

I've seen this before, but it is still interesting.

I'm sure that there is enough real history that people don't have to create fictional history.

On Sat, Apr 2, 2022 at 3:45 AM Albert wrote:
During the Black history month, this myth about Black Americans "inventing" these 15 inventions surface as facts. It's simply an exercise of rewriting history to match an agenda. It's ridiculous.