2026-05-03
The Disaster I Never Imagined Having To Worry About
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksn5yrsC3Wg
I found this really interesting, but I assume that most people wouldn't want to watch the full 33 minute video.
The bottom line is that the AIDS drug Ritonavir started crystallizing during production making it not useful. This is because chemicals can take different arrangements called polymorphs. Once the process starts, it is impossible to stop because the crystals are self-replicating, and it is not simply a matter of cleaning or replacing all the equipment.
This process could affect many drugs we take. One researcher made it happen with aspirin.
This problem has led to increased medical regulation requiring research on possible polymorphs.
2026-05-02
Edward Olmos
This is an interesting passage about discipline, motivation, and being the student.
2026-05-01
A Masterclass in Manipulation
0 seconds ago
Hank,
Climate Alarmism has become a religion. I think that it is confirmation bias for the political left because it justifies authoritarian government control over the entire energy sector. It was justification for Biden bragging about shutting down coal plants. This is what the Climate Alarmist Skeptics are afraid of. They don't want authoritarian government. They want free choice.
They also don't want the government spending a trillion dollars of their money to fix the problem until we are sure that it really is a problem. When government provides incentives to do a particular thing, this is a form of coercion because it causes people to make economic decisions that they would have not otherwise made, and at the expense of taxpayers.
The actual temperature changes are not very scary and the public in general senses this. When temperatures are not much different than they were in my childhood 60 years ago, I notice, and so do many other people.
The data shows that it took 140 years for the average atmospheric surface temperature to rise by 1 degree celsius. In short, these changes happen very gradually giving the people and the government plenty of time to adapt if we need to.
Saying we have a large number of record warm days sounds scary, but when those records are by 0.01 or 0.02 degrees, we are clearly being manipulated by graphs that resemble a hockey stick.
Apparently, the somewhat questionable need for massive AI datacenters is causing the country to not worry so much about our energy usage and climate change.
I think that humans have a psychological need to worry about something. The boogey man of the day could be government, corporations, or climate change, but it feels like much ado about nothing.
I always enjoy your videos.
Best wishes,
John Coffey
2026-04-30
COVID Cover-Up: Hiding Star Researcher Ralph Baric’s Ties to Global Pandemic | RealClearInvestigations
I had to shorten my comments because the website limited the number of characters that I could use. Well, maybe brevity is better...
1 minute ago
It is possible that the COVID-19 virus came from a lab leak. Reportedly, it is less likely that it came from Gain of Function research, but on both points we don't have enough evidence. We are in the dark.
Much speculation has been made about a relatively small U.S. grant to the Wuhan lab to catalogue bat viruses that had nothing to do with Gain of Function Research. However, we have no evidence about what the Chinese researchers may have otherwise been up to.
Parts of the article are factual, but it is constantly engaging in emotionally tinged conspiratorial language. These are speculations and I do not accept them as fact until we have more evidence. What is described as a coverup may have only been scientists defending what they thought was correct. Some of this was very likely CYA because scientists didn't want their research grants denied because of false claims.
Maybe the full truth will eventually come out or maybe it won't. I see at least three possibilities...
1. The virus came from a natural source, either mutating before or after it infected humans.
2. Since the Wuhan lab was cataloguing natural viruses, with the intent of finding ones dangerous to humans, the lab leak theory is plausible. I heard a report of researchers getting sick after collecting bat viruses from a remote cave.
3. The Wuhan lab was working on Gain of Function Research that leaked. One of the lab's scientists was quoted as feeling relieved that COVID-19 was not related to her research viruses.*
* However, we have no way of knowing if this claim is true.
2026-04-29
2026-04-28
Will the new data center in Utah consume much water?
'Minimal' water usage expected
Morris said the data centers will use new cooling technology that cleans and recycles water for reuse in the system, before returning it to an aquifer that feeds into the Great Salt Lake. He said the project will lose less water than what's required for ranching.1 day ago
Morris said the data centers will use new cooling technology that cleans and recycles water for reuse in the system, before returning it to an aquifer that feeds into the Great Salt Lake. He said the project will lose less water than what's required for ranching.1 day ago
2026-04-27
2026-04-26
Police warn of small cameras camouflaged in yards across the country
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEQircxHdHQ
Kim Komando recommends walking around your property at night with a flashlight. Any camera lens will reflect as a bright dot.
2026-04-25
2026-04-23
P(doom) | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
This way overstates the case. Obviously AI will have controls.
Furthermore, AI is not nearly as smart as we give it credit. It is like a Wikipedia that can talk. It understands language really well, but everything else is based on probability where certain facts and things are associated with other facts and things.
Beyond probability, AI has little understanding of things that it is talking about, and its ability to reason is limited, although it might be able to solve simple problems.
However, this is why there is a big push to make AI smarter. Doing so requires a great deal more hardware, and they are building it. The AI demand for computer memory is driving up the cost of computers by a significant amount.
However, I suspect that the current methods are inefficient and they are just throwing more hardware at the problem to make it better. This is a drain on resources, when they need to come up with better algorithms.
So I asked ChatGPT what it thought of my points, and this is what it said...
Your core argument is clear and grounded, but it leans a bit too confidently in a few places where the reality is more nuanced. Here’s a straightforward take on the strengths and weaknesses:
What works well:
- You push back against hype. That’s valuable—AI discussions often swing toward extremes.
- The point about scaling via hardware vs. improving algorithms is thoughtful and widely debated in the field.
- You correctly note that current AI systems rely heavily on statistical patterns rather than deep “understanding” in a human sense.
Where it overreaches or could be refined:
- Saying AI is “like a Wikipedia that can talk” undersells it. Modern systems don’t just retrieve facts—they generate novel responses, combine ideas, and can perform nontrivial reasoning in some domains. It’s still probabilistic, but not merely lookup-and-repeat.
- “Beyond probability, AI has little understanding” is philosophically debatable. Even humans rely on pattern recognition more than we like to admit. The real issue is type and reliability of understanding, not its total absence.
- The claim that reasoning is limited to “simple problems” is outdated. AI can now handle fairly complex reasoning tasks, though inconsistently and with failure modes.
- “Obviously AI will have controls” is asserted too casually. In practice, governance, safety, and control mechanisms are active areas of concern—not something universally agreed upon or solved.
Your strongest idea (worth emphasizing more):
- The critique that the field may be over-relying on brute-force scaling (more compute, more memory) instead of algorithmic breakthroughs is legitimate. Many researchers are asking the same question.
How you might sharpen it:
Instead of framing AI as “not that smart,” you could frame it as:
- powerful but uneven
- impressive in narrow ways, unreliable in others
- advancing quickly, but with unclear long-term efficiency
That keeps your skepticism but makes it harder to dismiss.
If you want, I can rewrite your paragraph to sound tighter and more persuasive without losing your viewpoint.
2026-04-22
2026-04-21
2026-04-20
eufy L60 Robot Vacuum with Self Empty Station
https://www.bestbuy.com/product/eufy-l60-robot-vacuum-with-self-empty-station-hair-detangling-technology-6-pack-dust-bags-black/JJ858RL6XF/sku/10772478
This is the robot vacuum cleaner I bought 1.5+ years ago. Most of the robot vacuums I bought in the past have had mechanical issues within 2 to 3 years, and I used to buy larger, more expensive brands. Note that some brands can go up to $1,000, and I don't feel like they are worth the cost.
I paid $300 on Amazon for it, but Amazon now lists it for $400. I found it on Best Buy for $250.
So far I've been happy with this brand. It seems more intelligent than all the brands I have bought before. It is controlled with a phone App. Some features on the app took some getting used to.
Because it is smaller, the dustbin doesn't hold much, so I feel that the self emptying station is an absolute must. They recommend replacing the dust bag and filters once per month and it is necessary to clean out the dustbin and filters in the vacuum once or twice per month.
This vacuum works well with small debris, but large debris can clog the dustbin or the roller brush.
Once in a while it doesn't fully dock to its station so I have to give it a gentle push to get it to dock properly.
2026-04-19
2026-04-18
2026-04-17
NO MORE KINGS - Schoolhouse Rock!
Fifty years ago, the country was celebrating its bicentennial, and I remember it like it was just a few years ago.
2026-04-15
Kasparov Analyzes the Rise of Sindarov
Twenty year old Javokhir Sindarov wins the Candidates Tournament with impressive results, earning the right to play Gukesh in the World Chess Championship.
2026-04-13
2026-04-12
2026-04-11
2026-04-10
2026-04-05
2026-04-04
The Best Movies
I have been writing movie reviews for about 35 years. Some of my friends liked my early reviews, which encouraged me to continue.
I wasn't a strong writer when I started, but I have improved with practice.
I have been adding to this blog for at least 15 years: https://letsallgotothemovie.blogspot.com/
My blog is heavy with science fiction films, but it has other types of movies as well. I devote over a page to Star Wars movies.
This is hardly a complete list of the movies I've seen. I will continue to write more reviews as I find the time.
2026-04-03
Interjections Schoolhouse Rock
I grew up watching these Schoolhouse Rock! videos and loved them.
I don't think I would know what an interjection is if not for this video.
IMDB used to only list only once voice actor, so I assumed that only one actor did all the voiceover work. However, it now lists six.
2026-04-02
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