• I got caught in an April Fools hoax that (as my mother would say) sounded too true to be funny: That Tesla canceled all plans to produce its Cybertruck. (Read the last sentence, as I failed to ( Read more... )

• Sandia Labs has invented a way to extract metals from coal ash, including rare-earth metals used in batteries and electronics. Furthermore, they do this using food-grade citric acid, which is relatively benign from an environmental standpoint. The treatment makes the coal ash residue much less toxic, and thus easier to dispose of.
• It took a few ( Read more... )

If you're anywhere in the greater nerd universe, you've doubtless seen recent reports of Navy pilots spotting objects zipping around the sky and sometimes diving into the ocean. The Feds have declassified three videos of unidentified thimgamajigs doing their airborne calisthenics in the vicinity of US Navy fighter pilots.

So what is a reasonably ( Read more... )

Carol was running out of cottage cheese, which she eats every ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

• Where have I been? Chasing eclipses and home improvement contractors, for the most part. We found that a lot of people will cut down ( Read more... )

Well, the bookshelves got themseves full, and I still had three ( Read more... )

John Glenn. Carrie Fisher. Debbie Reynolds. Zsa Zsa Gabor. Gene Wilder. Lots, lots more. OMG! Worst year evah!

I wonder. And because I wonder, I doubt it.

It's certainly true that a lot of famous people died in 2016. However, we didn't have any ( Read more... )

Anger literally killed my grandfather. I mean literally ( Read more... )

Note well: I don't talk about politics on Contra very much. When I do, I impose what I call heroic courtesy on myself. I suggest that you do the same in the comments. Furthermore, I demand civility. (This is not the same thing as courtesy ( Read more... )