Have you read that a new study proves that men and woman have equal ability in math and so the lack of woman in the hard sciences proves that woman are being held back? Then read this.
They all got it wrong
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Category Archives: Knowledge
Gene Logsdon on growing raspberries
The reason the wild ones survive on their own is that they move about. In the garden, humans usually want to keep raspberries corralled in permanent rows. Raspberries are like teenagers: they want to get away from their parents but maintain a connection in case they got in a jam. On black and purple varieties, the new canes that come up in the springtime grow to about five feet high, then bend over in midsummer so that the tips of the canes pierce the soil surface and root. The red and yellow ones spread by suckering, that is new canes come up from the roots moving out and away from the parent plants. By moving away from the old stand every year, the new canes usually avoid disease until they fruit in their second year and then die naturally. (Everbearing reds and yellow canes fruit in the fall of their first year and summer of their second year and then die naturally.)
Understanding this process, the successful raspberry grower sets out new plants in the spring (suckers on red raspberries and the new tip sprouts on the blacks that rooted the year before), at some distance from the old plants, same as they do for strawberries. Setting out new plants at least a hundred feet from the old row avoids diseases or delays them at least. And makes weed control a little easier. Even if you buy so-called virus-free plants, they are not really all that free because virus-free rarely last for very long and is of no help against fungal diseases like orange rust. It does help to cut out the old canes as soon as they are through fruiting, but that is very hard work since they are growing right in among the new canes.
Essay of the Week: 7/27/08–8/2/08
The report of the commission to assess the threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack is too long for most mere mortals to read. But everyone should at least make an effort to read chapter one (skip the introduction and scroll down to page 17).
The commission details how the US electrical grid has become increasingly vulnerable to all forms of disruption, not just EMP Attacks. Like the various reports that detailed the problems with the levees that held back the water around New Orleans, this report is going to be ignored. It will only receive widespread press once the grid goes down.
And as the report makes clear, the electric grid is very vulnerable and becoming more vulnerable with every passing day. Vulnerability to EMP attacks is simply the tip of the iceberg. An increasing shortage of black start capability combined with a shortage of parts means that simply blowing up a few key transformers could cause major problems.
Essay of the Week: 7/20/08 – 7/26/08
This week’s essay of the week is The Crisis of Authority by the Chieftain of Seir. Some more links need to added and the formating needs some work. But it can be read now if anyone is in a hurry.
How autistic are you?
A friend whose grandson is autistic tells me that this 50-question assessment devised by Cambridge University is considered by those in the autism community to be a pretty accurate assessment of where one falls on the autism spectrum. It’ll take you only a few minutes to complete it, but the results might startle you. It certainly did startle several readers in a thread below, which is why I’m giving it its own entry.
Essay of the week: 7/13/08 – 7/19/08
You should read this report on Russian demographics because it is scary and it goes with an upcoming Chieftain of Seir essay.
If you are intimidated by the size of the document you can just consider the executive summary to be an essay (which it practically is) and skip the rest.) Keep in mind as you are reading it that this document was put together by Russians. As such they pulled a lot of punches because they were afraid of the government.
At least, in the executive summary they did. The main body of the text is a little more hard hitting. But it still glossed over some serious issues.
How Israel Bombed Osirak
This article provided a good overview of the problems Israel faced when it was bombing Orsirak. This is why I have always been skeptical that Israel could damage Iran’s nuclear program by itself. At least, if it restricted itself to conventional air attacks. As the article hints, there may be other options under consideration.
Remember Him?
I found this story interesting mostly because I remembered the cover of the Economist so clearly. It must of been one of their better covers.
The Few, the Rich, the Doomed
It is hard to take this article too seriously–the conclusions seem too sweeping and too simple–but it is worth the amusement of this sentence alone:
“A safer environment leads to smaller families with larger offspring, but places species at greater risk of extinction, according to research.”
If that doesn’t make you smirk, you probably have never met the barbarian horde of the Ethereal Land.
FYI
Drug safety officials are calling for an urgent safety warning for Cipro and similar antibiotics.
The Food and Drug Administration is ordering the “black box” wording due to evidence the drugs may lead to tendon ruptures. They say the ruptures could result in serious injury that can leave patients incapacitated and in need of extensive surgery.