Ed Lake's web page
Time Work cover
If you want my opinion ......
you've come to the right place.
 
Welcome to Ed Lake's web site!
 
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My latest comments are near the bottom of this page.
You can go directly to them by clicking HERE.

A Crime Unlike Any Other book
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Available in paperback and Kindle.  Click HERE for details.

Available at Amazon.com

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Click HERE to access my scientific papers about time dilation, Special Relativity, etc.
Click HERE to go to my Facebook group about Time and Time Dilation.


My interests are writing, books, movies, science, psychology, conspiracy theorists,
photography, photographic analysis, TV, travel, mysteries, jazz, blues, and ...

just trying to figure things out.


Astronomy example picture big sleep
time article
Available to read on Kindle.  Click HERE for details. I have a fascination with Time and Time Dilation.
Other interests: Movies and Science Podcasts
Click on the above image to view a larger version.

My Latest Comments


Comments for Friday, March 1, 2024, thru Sun., March 31, 2024:

March 10, 2024 -  I keep thinking about getting back to work on my new book.   I've got a first draft, but I need a better way to start the book.  I've pretty much decided that Quantum Mechanics is a religion, not a science. But do I open the book with that argument, or do I close the book with that as a conclusion?  I also think a lot about opening the book with a lot of information about how radar guns work.  Radar guns very clearly demonstrate that light consists of individual oscillating particles, not waves.  I already make that very clear in my science papers, but a book is the best way to explain things clearly in simple English. 

March 3, 2024
- Hmm.  This started out as another Sunday in which I seemed to have absolutely nothing new to write about.  Then I listened to the newest episode of my #1 favorite podcast, "The Infinite Monkey Cage."
   

The Infinite Monkey Cage

The episode is about and is titled "Asteroids."  Wow!  What a terrific episode!  I'll probably listen to it again later this afternoon, since it contains a lot of fascinating information.

March 1, 2024
- A few days ago, I put my list of my 10 favorite podcasts at the bottom of this web page.  It was a list I created years ago, the "top 10" from a list of about 70 podcasts I go through every morning to see if they have anything new.  This morning I was pondering removing "Making Sense with Sam Harris" from the list of 70, which would also remove it from the "Top 10."  In its place, I decided I should put "Astronomy Daily," which has always been one of my favorites, and I had it as #13 on the list of 70.

Astronomy Daily

I really enjoy listening to Astronomy Daily.  It is hosted by Steve Dunkley and Hallie, who is identified as Dunkley's "AI sidekick."  But Hallie is also very funny, and just too clever for me to accept her as some form of Artificial Intelligence (AI).  So, I looked for transcripts of the show, and found them on a site HERE.  However, the transcript doesn't mention any "Hallie."  Instead it has "Twitter Employee - Mockingjay" saying all that Hallie says on the podcast.

I think I can assume that that means that Hallie is not really an AI.  It also means that we have a way to go before we can have an Artificial Intelligence robot kidding around and issuing puns the way "Hallie" does on Astronomy Daily.


Comments for Thursday, February 1, 2024, thru Thurs., Feb. 29, 2024:

February 25, 2024 - My list of my favorite podcasts was previously located on a separate page.  The system change that occurred late last year prevented me from having any separate pages.  I can only have the page you are viewing now.  So, I just added a new section at the bottom of this page where I list and provide links to my ten favorite podcasts.  

Some podcasts provide new episodes every week, some less often than that, and a few are daily.


February 19, 2024
- I've mentioned many times before that I spend a lot of time almost every day listening to podcasts.  I've got 68 favorite podcasts.  I used to have a list of them on this site, but late last year there was a software change and I could no longer have multiple files on this web site.  I can only have the edlake.com file you are reading now.  All links must go to some other web site.  Even the pictures have to be stored on other web sites.

Every morning I go through a list of my 68 favorite podcasts and download any new episodes that seem worthwhile.  I download them into a 1-terrabyte portable hard-drive.  Then, about once a week, I copy all the newest episodes from that hard-drive into my MP3 player.

It's because of that procedure that I haven't yet listened to the Big Picture Science episode from February 12 titled "Alien Says What?"  I'm going to end this comment right here and listen to that episode.  Here's the episode description:
Whales are aliens on Earth; intelligent beings who have skills for complex problem-solving and their own language. Now in what’s being called a breakthrough, scientists have carried on an extended conversation with a humpback whale. They share the story of this remarkable encounter, their evidence that the creature understood them, and how the experiment informs our Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. After all, what good is it to make contact with ET if we can’t communicate?
That seems very interesting.  

February 18, 2024
- While driving around doing errands yesterday, I finished listening to CD #22 in the 22-CD audio book version of "The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency."

Pentagon's Brain

It's one of the last audio books I "borrowed" from my local library before they changed things so that you could no longer download a copy, you have to listen to the library's copy as they play it.  It's an absolutely fascinating story of the Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military science Research & Development agency.  It's been around since 1958.

Meanwhile, while eating lunch yesterday, I finished reading another book on my Kindle.  The book was "Robin Williams Biography":

Robin Williams Biography 

In paperback it is only 96 pages long, and in audio book form it can be easily listened to in a day.  Williams was a stand-up comedian who made it in the movies, TV and on stage.  He was "different," and there's never been anyone else like him.


February 17, 2024 - It looks like Donald Trump's crooked business dealings have finally caught up with him.  Yesterday, Trump was ordered to pay $354,868,768 in fines for fraudulently misrepresenting his assets in order to get more favorable loans and interest rates over the course of years.  In another trial, Trump was ordered to pay 83.3 million dollars to writer E Jean Carroll for defaming her.  Trump was also barred from doing business in New York for 3 years.

It will be interesting to see how Trump will try to delay things by appeals and various court shenanigans.  That's what he has been doing for decades.  But, it definitely seems like he's running out of games he can play to get things delayed over and over and over.
  


February 14, 2024
- This morning I once again sat around for nearly an hour trying to think of something to write a comment about.  Finally, I just gave up and wrote this brief comment saying I gave up.
  

February 11, 2024
- I sat around for nearly an hour this morning, trying to think of something to write a comment about other than the latest antics of Donald Trump.  When I couldn't think of anything, I tried Google, looking for "Trump News Today."  That produced some news that seems certainly worth mentioning.  The headline is "Trump says he would encourage Russia to ‘do whatever the hell they want’ to any NATO country that doesn’t pay enough."  What the ....?

Isn't that like saying he would encourage robbers to rob the houses of people who don't pay any taxes?

Should we be encouraging thieves and robbers ... and dictators who might get some pleasure from attacking other countries?

There seems no end to the total lunacy behind Trump's beliefs and politics.
 


February 8, 2024
- The Supreme Court is considering whether Trump can be removed from the Colorado state primary ballot because he "engaged in an insurrection to try to cling to power, after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden."  The quote is from an NPR article that appeared today.  Here's more:

The plaintiffs in the case argue that Trump's actions in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election automatically disqualify him from office. Trump's lawyers counter that the case against him is one of overreach. Legal scholars say the court's failure to act in time would "place the nation in great peril."
A decision is expected in March.

February 4, 2024
- The late night talk show hosts have been talking a lot lately about an emerging conflict between Donald Trump and Taylor Swift.


Taylor Swift

It appears that singer Taylor Swift might endorse Joe Biden in the  2024 Presidential race.  If so, it will definitely drive the MAGA crowd nuts.  "The Hill" had this headline:

Trump risks backlash as MAGA
world zeroes in on Taylor Swift

The article begins with this:
Former President Trump’s supporters are going after Taylor Swift amid chatter about whether the superstar could wade into the 2024 election with a coveted endorsement for President Biden.

Conservatives in both traditional media and social media have been launching conspiracy theories against the pop superstar, something that ramped up after The New York Times reported that the Biden campaign was actively hoping for her endorsement.
Here's a TV news segment about it:

    

It appears that Taylor Swift hasn't said anything about Trump, but Trump's supporters are hysterically afraid that she might, and they're making threats about what they might do if Swift endorses Biden.  According to Rolling Stone magazine:

Trump Allies Pledge ‘Holy War’ Against Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift hasn’t even endorsed Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign, but Trump is already privately grousing he’s “more popular” than her
It makes me wonder how many of Trump's supporters might find this line of reasoning so insanely stupid that even they cannot support it.

February 1, 2024 - This morning I finished reading another book on my Kindle.  The book was "A City on Mars: Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through?" by Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith

A city on Mars

It was an extremely interesting book, since it questions the practicality of creating long-term colonies anywhere in space, i.e., on Mars, on the Moon, in orbit, or on a ship en route to another star. 

The Moon and Mars have far less gravity than Earth, which will produce ill effects if a human lives in such place for a long time.  There will be ill effects on children born into such environments, too.  The properties of Lunar and Martian soil are also dangerous to humans.  Then there is the issue of reproduction. 
Due to the astronomical distances, it will take hundreds of years for a group of people to emigrate to a planet around some nearby star. That means you need to start with a group of more than 4,000 people if you want to avoid birth defects due to in-breeding. 

If everyone on a space ship is in some frozen state, there will be no one to make decisions if something goes wrong.  And you'll need a gigantic ship to transport 4,000 people.  The point to the book is that it is probably not practical to plan the colonization of some distant planet, so we need to take better care of the planet on which we currently live.



My Favorite Podcasts:
The Infinite Monkey Cage, Everything Everywhere Daily, Big Picture Science,
Space Nuts, Astronomy Cast, Astronomy Daily,
Are We There Yet?, Planetary Radio, Something You Should Know,
You Are Not So Smart





Copies of this web site going back to September 2015 can be found at the link below:         
https://web.archive.org/web/20150914010129/http://www.ed-lake.com/


© 2024 by Ed Lake