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I became interested in Corona Viruses several year ago, because I was planning a novel that would include the Really Great Pandemic, and I wanted a suitable disease. I considered several candidates, including Yersinia Pestis, which causes Plague in its three forms, Influenza, which is a popular communicable disease, and a few others, but most of the other diseases didn't make it past the initial review, because they were too difficult to spread, or they were too difficult to obtain. I used Plague ...

The matter of what to do with the remains of people after they die came to mind again today. I have long thought that putting them in boxes and burying the boxes is a waste of resources and space. I realize that some people want something thing or place where they can go to recall those who have none. All of those desires can be handled in a single method. Burying allows for visiting the remains; although the remains don't notice, and cremation saves space. If we used thermaldepolymerization, we ...

I have already written about the lack of care in using laws and the constitution as the bases for governmental action, but something has to be done about it, one way or another.

It bothers me that the federal government has taken over some of the powers of the states, even though the feds are explicitly forbidden from assuming any powers that have not been granted to it. We just have to look at the federal departments to see this. Department of Education, Department of Health ...

I don't often think about inflation, but it is present whenever I buy anything, and it is not as benign as some would have us think. There are many measures of inflation, but I like to use a few things to show the change in proportion. You may not remember it, but in 1820 an ounce of gold was worth $20. That same ounce of gold would have sold for $35 in the 1960'a. But that isn't comparable, because the market for gold was highly regulated.

Another comparison is in the cost of labor ...

I have followed science news for decades, but I have become progressively less impressed with it, because of the lower quality of the reporting. Part of the reason might be that I am more knowledgeable now than I was a few decades ago, but I do think that the writers of science articles are not as familiar with the material they are writing about as was typical in the past. Some articles give me the impression that the writer had no prior knowledge of the subject at hand.

One recent ...