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Woo! We’re Number One!

 AARRRGH, critters, Hmm..., news, science  No Responses »
Oct 122023
 

Humanity, that is. In terms of our ability to scare the crap out of African wildlife.

Fear of the human “super predator” pervades the South African savanna

In short: cameras and speakers were set up near watering holes and a wide range of sounds, including lions and other predators, were played. Animals got the hell out of Dodge when the heard humans at a much greater rate than any other sound.

As a whole (n = 4,238 independent trials), wildlife were twice as likely to run (p < 0.001) and abandoned waterholes in 40% faster time (p < 0.001) in response to humans than to lions (or hunting sounds). Fully 95% of species ran more from humans than lions (significantly in giraffes, leopards, hyenas, zebras, kudu, warthog, and impala) or abandoned waterholes faster (significantly in rhinoceroses and elephants). Our results greatly strengthen the growing experimental evidence that wildlife worldwide fear the human “super predator” far more than other predators

Yay, I guess?

The “sounds of humans” turn out to be simple recorded conversations, male and female, in several languages. Not shouting, not angry, just “hey, how ya doin'” level chitchat. Rhinos and elephant just “nope” on out of there; other animals freak and dash. In contrast, lion sounds caused elephants to *attack* the speakers.

Yeah, I’m not sure I feel all that great about being the most terrifying thing on the planet.

 Posted by at 12:49 pm

Belton “Repeating” flintlock

 history, Hmm..., politics, weapons, youtube  No Responses »
Oct 112023
 

The idea of a repeating firearm (a gun that does not need to be manually loaded after each shot) goes back to at least the 1500’s. But more-or-less practical “repeaters” were produced in time for the American Revolutionary War. Such weapons were proposed to Congress, but even though they worked they were very expensive. As well as complex, heavy and likely unreliable in field conditions. but the important thing to note is that they existed, well in advance of the adoption of the Constitution. So anyone who suggests that the Second Amendment only supports ownership of single shot muzzle-loading muskets because that was all that was available… well, they’re (charitably) wrong, or (not unlikely) outright lying.

 Posted by at 2:00 pm

Vulcan “Starfire”

 aircraft, art, history, projects  No Responses »
Oct 102023
 

Sadly not a lot of info on this. The Vulcan Aircraft (Houston, TX) “Starfire” concept from the mid/late 1980s used lift vans and vectored thrust for VTOL. Both military and civilian uses planned. Seems kinda reasonable, if perhaps a bit light on power. The basic design seems like it might be more practical today, though of course someone would try to make it all-electric.

If anybody has anything more on this, let me know!

 Posted by at 11:01 pm

A little note about ad blockers

 AARRRGH, books, Hmm..., ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 092023
 

It seems that ad blockers nuke the Amazon links I put in my posts from time to time. The most recent blog post below (“Oh, no reason…”) had a few issues with such ads being rendered invisible and unclickable. If, like me, you have an ad blocker, you *should* be able to unblock specific pages to whole websites. I understand if you want to keep an adblocker running at full blast, but it’d be handy if you white-listed my blog. Especially if you might be interested in Amazon stuff I link to from time to time; if you order an item through that link, or anything from an Amazon search link on this blog, I receive a tiny pittance of a smidgen of compensation. So it’s a way to support the Culturally Vital Work I Do. And who doesn’t want to be a part of that?

 

Below are some links to items (mostly books) that may well be of interest. certainly of interest to *me,* though I haven’t bought any of them. if you can see the links, great! If not… they’ve been nuked by your ad blocker.

 

 Posted by at 1:48 am

Fifth Column

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., Hmm..., news, politics, religion, Worldwreckers, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 082023
 

I don’t care if you don’t want to storm the streets to protest for Israel. But if you go out to celebrate Hamas intentionally murdering civilian men, women and children, celebrating the kidnap, rape, torture of women and children… you and I can’t be friends. There is no place for you out among the stars. Go wallow in the filth.

 

Note that these protests aren’t in the third world, but in western countries like Britain and the Netherlands and Canada and Australia. They are celebrating the intentional slaughter of families not dissimilar to yours. Those who would celebrate a thing, are not far from doing a thing. So keep that in mind the next time you hear a political debate on whether or not your country should allow in yet more military-age males from cultures that don’t like yours.

 

 

 Posted by at 11:59 am

Louis CK on “2001”

 art, history, science fiction, youtube  No Responses »
Oct 082023
 

What he says is interesting… mostly because it’s not what I generally expect to hear from non-sci-fi/non-science types. Most of “those people” look at “2001” with some mix of bafflement and disdain, generally bored out of their minds.

 Posted by at 8:37 am

Magic and Occult Sciences

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., news, politics, religion, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 072023
 

One of these words is not like the others. One of these words doesn’t belong.

MA in Magic and Occult Sciences

Well, kids, here’s a degree that will surely come in handy in the economy of tomorrow…

This is a flexible degree, which provides you the freedom to design you own course of study. Led by a team of faculty members across departments (see our “members” tab), an essential aspect of this programme is its interdisciplinarity.  Thus, the University of Exeter’s MA in Magic and Occult Science allows you to explore your specific interest within the long and diverse history of esotericism, witchcraft, ritual magic, occult sciences, divination, and related topics.

They keep using the word “science.” I do not think it means what they think it means.

But here’s where it gets spectacular:

By housing this program in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, we place the Arabo-Islamic cultural heritage back where it belongs in the centre of these studies and in the history of the “West.” Decolonisation, the exploration of alternative epistemologies, feminism, and anti-racism are at the core of this programme. 

Oh yeah. I have *got* to see how this plays out. Is there any more entertaining matchup than “Islam” and “witchcraft?” Throw in “feminism,” and this looks to be *hilarious.*

 

 Posted by at 8:39 pm

Yet another war

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Gah., news, politics, religion, rockets, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 072023
 

“Palestinians” decided it would be not only a good idea to launch thousands of rockets into Israel, but to send a large number of invaders into Israel to slaughter civilians. I’m not sure what they thought they’d gain from this; it sure as hell won’t be the overthrow of Israel. Perhaps it will be the conversion of Gaza into a depopulated buffer zone.

 

Israel In ‘State Of War’ After Hamas Fires 5,000 Rockets In “First Strike”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 1:44 am
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