JJG Journal

Whenever I hear the nonsense about ‘manned space flight’ I have to cringe. Here’s why

• The budget for space exploration is finite.
• Any money spend on manned missions can not be spend on real space science.
• No science has come from any manned missions (except for studies of human space physiology).
• Manned missions cost orders or magnitude more that robotic missions but yield no scientific results.
• Manned missions have and will cost human lives.
• All hard scientific results so far have been obtained by inexpensive (compared...Continue Reading »

I’ve just put some vegetable soup on the burner (yes, I am a vegetarian, but that’s another topic) and have 20 minutes until things are cooked. ‘Thought I’d use this time to put down some thoughts on current American Drug Policy. Basically, it is irrational and counterproductive. The government has no business telling people what to do in the privacy of their own homes as long as no third party gets hurt. That’s true for the bedroom, the living room and the front porch.

For a rational discussion and alternate approach to public drug policy see the current...Continue Reading »

The observable universe began in a gigantic explosion about 13 billion years ago. This explosion created everything now known, including space which is currently in an accelerating phase of expansion.

About the major mass-energy...Continue Reading »

Let’s define a bias as a pre-conceived notion that may not have any correlation to reality. Everyone’s thinking is subject to such biases which have deleterious effect on decision making, problem solving and learning abilities. Here’s a list of biases to be aware of

The confirmation bias leads us to try to prove our existing notions and hypothesis. Rather than critically looking for evidence that contradicts our pet hypothesis, we try to confirm...Continue Reading »

A couple of thoughts about religion and superstition in general:

It is not an honor or distinction to believe in something for which there is no objective evidence. I am happy to loose any “faith contest” with anyone because I am skeptical about any proposition for which there is no verifiable evidence.The effects of religion and superstition on human society are overwhelmingly negative. This is a rather obvious fact and no deep insight. Nonetheless, if you stated this fact, it would immediately disqualify you from elected office, at least in the
U.S. of the early 21^st...Continue Reading »