The Free Energy/Perpetual Motion Machine that wasn’t.

(I love the shirt. It’s so poetically ironic)

The plot is thinning in the perpetual boondoggle which was Orbo, the thermodynamics-defying energy machine from Steorn which was going to destroy the oil companies, rewrite the laws of physics and lead to a world of limitless energy… only not.

Apparently, enough people on the “Development forum” had put two and two together (and gotten four, as opposed to Steron, which got seventeen), and with the device’s public debut, a few people got a good look at the device. The results of the reverse-engineering of Obro have been posted on this website.

Here’s a diagram of the basics, which was posted on the website:

(click to enlarge)

(more…)

Most of us have been told our whole lives that it’s very rude and unsanitary to cough or sneeze without covering one’s mouth, presumably with one’s hands. After all, coughing and especially sneezing are great ways to share your germs with others. Few actions work better than sneezing for aerosoling and projecting your own saliva.

But one thing which has gone unmentioned in the past is how big a roll one’s hands play in spreading of disease. Once you sneeze into your hands, you’ve just contaminated the one part of your body which is most likely to touch common surfaces and others. Even if you don’t shake hands or hold hands, simply handing common objects or touching surfaces can spread infection to others. It’s easy to forget just how many things one touches in a day.

So what’s a cold or allergy sufferer to do? Sneeze into the air? Or go running to the restroom to scrub up after each sneeze? You could carry tissues around, but that’s not always going to entirely prevent your hands from getting contaminated, and they might not always be there.

A better plan of action: Turn your head away from others and sneeze downward, if necessary, using your upper arm, shoulder or elbow to block that nasty spray. And just the same, if you’re under the weather, wash your hands!

More info here

This is a joke, right? I mean, it has to be a joke… No. It’s not a joke.

When you want to make a point about how ridiculous something is, some of the quintessential examples of “just plain absurd” ideas in medicine, science and society come to mind. These include such things as Bloodletting, The Flat Earth Society, Tea Leaf Reading, and of course Phrenology.

Phrenology, for those who might not be familiar with the term, is often referred to as “head reading.” It’s the basic idea that one can determine a person’s personality, potential psycological issues, physical health and numerous other things by the shape of one’s head and the presence of any bumps on the scalp. A map of the head, often in the form of a bust, is then used to determine what these bumps correspond to, such as love, violence, intelligence and so on. It was first conceived by Franz Joseph Gall, in 1800, but was dubious from the start, and was already being called psuedo-science by 1843.

Despite this, it was all the rage in the Victorian Era, and had been claimed to be a means by which immoral or inferior persons could be detected, before they even commit a crime – which according to Phrenology they were likely to do, being that criminal-actions were the direct result of moral defecates, detectable by head-reading. (That’s a bit scary.) By the early 20th century, Phrenology was the domain of a few of the fringe quacks and nutters and had been rejected entirely by science. However it reared it’s ugly head (no pun intended) again in the 1930’s as a means of justifying racism and eugenics by the Nazis and others.

Needless to I don’t really need to get into all the reasons why something like Phrenology is absurd, and to most modern people it should be laughable. It’s a good example of “Oh how far we have come.” When you consider that people took it seriously.

BUT: In a prime example of how “It takes all kinds,” and that “You can find anything.. ANYTHING on the internet,” a simple search for the term turns up a few who still actually take the idea seriously. Here’s an example: www.phrenology.org

“The main aim of this page is to advocate a positive approach to scientific Phrenology which is considered a valuable and powerful instrument for: self-knowledge, self-achievement, education, human relationships, human resources, law enforcement…”

YES! They are pro-Phrenology and do indeed believe it has merit. Given how much homeopathy and astrology sites are out there, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised…