Feedback, glorious feedback

In a recent Skeptics Newsletter, I was a bit miffed about what I see as a lack of scepticism around the so-called 'energy transition'. Patrick highlighted a blog projecting that global investment in renewables would soon be more than spent on fossil fuels. And then there was the link to rewiring Aotearoa. I think it's important for us to be a bit skeptical about this so-called energy transition - which isn't happening, despite all the hype. There has indeed been addition of renewable energy, but no transition because we keep using more energy (from 2021 to 2024 fossil fuel additions still outstripped renewables 2.6:1).

I was particularly interested in some feedback from Dr Mike Joy, for whom I have the greatest respect as a scientist who is prepared to talk truth to politicians. He took me to task for being overly enthusiastic about the green energy revolution. He mentioned that the revolution is not occurring, and that with renewables we are currently only adding energy to the amount we already consume. In this he is quite correct.

I appreciated the look at plastic detox ideas and highlighting other silly things, but felt like part of the main point of concern around micro plastics was missed.

What a headline! MSN and the Daily Mail Online report that a former NASA-affiliated scientist, Ivo Busko, supports claims that unusual light flashes seen in 1950s sky photographs could indicate “non-human intelligence.” They report that his argument builds on earlier research by astronomer Beatriz Villarroel, who identified mysterious “transient” lights in archival images taken before satellites existed. This suggests the phenomenon is real and not a data error. Some of these lights appeared reflective or rotating, leading to speculation they could be objects in orbit. Because the observations predate the 1957 launch of Sputnik, proponents argue they cannot be human-made and may point to extraterrestrial technology. Here's that headline:

It all started in 1958 when Hillary and the British physiologist and mountaineer Griffith Pugh questioned whether Everest (29,031 ft or 8,848.86 m) could be climbed without supplemental oxygen, possibly achieving this by acclimatising at 20,000 ft for several months. Hillary surmised that the prolonged period required for acclimatisation meant that this trek would be far more costly than his first Everest climb. This was a fair assumption to make, as the expedition with which he made his first summit is said to have cost between £15,000 and £30,000, and took seven weeks to reach the summit, including leaving Kathmandu, and acclimatising over a period of weeks at multiple camps up the mountain. Cost was just one of several barriers to climbing Everest in the 1950s. By the time the Silver Hut Expedition set off, just 7 other people in 3 different expeditions had summited Everest between Hillary's first success and September 1960. Further, these expeditions are the only expeditions that are believed to have even occurred during this time. This time, Hillary estimated that this experiment could cost up to $120,000 USD.

Two newsletters back, I posted about Falun Gong visiting my local market and targeting children. I also posted a warning about the market on Reddit, in an NZ subreddit. The post got a lot of views, and then about two days later Falun Gong members found it and started posting all over it. Looking at the history of the accounts that were posting, most had been posted about their religion, and a number seemed to visit random subreddits to defend the group. Many of the same names popped up in similar discussions all over reddit.

Yesterday my daughter told me about a recent trend on TikTok - Scientology Runs. For those not in the know, Scientology is very much a pseudoscientific self-help cult that has ruined many people's lives and tries to legitimise itself by, amongst other things, convincing celebrities to join and then convince others in turn that it's a legitimate organisation. If you want to know what Scientology teaches, check out this primer from South Park: