Sunday, July 9, 2023

Austin Astro Public Star Party

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According to the registration desk, about 100 visitors came to the Austin Astronomical Society public star party at Pedernales Falls State P...
Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Bayou City Hemp Company

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I met the local sales rep at the Wheatsville Co-op last Sunday. It has been perhaps six months since any vendor was set up when I was in, so...
Sunday, June 11, 2023

INVISIBLE CHEATING AND VISIBLE RIGHTS

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How do we decide who is worthy? How do we select for competency? A recent Grammarly advertisement hinged on an application for residency. I ...
Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Globular Clusters

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Despite the shorter nights, summer is great time to pursue globular clusters. Messier objects 4 and 80 are in Scorpius. M22 is in Sagittariu...
Saturday, May 13, 2023

Springer Closes Wall of Shame

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Springer Nature publishing closed the “Wall of Shame” website that recorded the retraction of medical research which failed for lack of proc...
Saturday, May 6, 2023

BSides Austin 2023

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After a Covid hiatus, the BSides Austin computer security conference returned as an in-person event. We enjoyed meeting people we had not se...
Wednesday, April 19, 2023

My First View of Saturn

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On the Cloudy Nights discussion board for amateur astronomy the topic came up (as it does now and then), “What was your first telescope?” So...
Wednesday, March 29, 2023

The Little Black Bag: Medical Care as a Faustian Bargain

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“Every doctor tells me something different,” I said. The doctor replied, “That’s why we call them opinions.” We benefited from a daylong con...
Friday, March 17, 2023

What Color is the Orion Nebula?

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On the Cloudy Nights discussion board, the question of the nominally “true” color of Messier 42 as well as many other nebulae and stars has ...
Friday, March 3, 2023

Fake Americans

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As a contractor in information technology, I usually work for placement and consulting firms. It is easier for me to be a W-2 employee thoug...
Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Mutiny Aboard the San Antonio

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On 14 February 1842, some time before midnight, Lt. Charles Fuller, officer on deck of the Texas Navy schooner  San Antonio , met a mob of s...