Published

2 years ago

November 19, 2023

Alice Rush

Really?

Where does the energy come from to spin the resort?

Someone thinks they’ll get more energy out than they put in?

I’m reminded of a business plan for generating electricity using hydrokinetics I reviewed long ago, whose author told me, “Think of it as a river in a box.”

I tried to explain that he could not get more energy out of the box than he put into to get the water moving, and that therefore this was theoretically impossible, but he wasn’t buying it. I told him I had something burning the kitchen as an excuse to politely end the call.

Qatar’s Spinning Resort and the Second Law of Thermodynamics

Renewable Energy

Is Bullying a Bad Thing? Not if We Want a Society of Brutality

Published

8 hours ago

March 28, 2026

Alice Rush

Does this guy have a solid point?

Is war a bad thing? What about rape and torture?

Do they point to weaknesses that must be strengthened?

Is Bullying a Bad Thing? Not if We Want a Society of Brutality

Renewable Energy

What Makes a President a King?

Published

11 hours ago

March 28, 2026

Alice Rush

Maybe the protestors are less concerned about length of time in office, and more with criminal authoritarianism.

What Makes a President a King?

Renewable Energy

Blaise Pascal, Renaissance Man–Literally

Published

15 hours ago

March 28, 2026

Alice Rush

I have such respect for Pascal that I considered naming our son after him. (My wife wasn’t having it. Maybe if we lived in France?)

Pascal made important contributions to both math and physics but he’s perhaps best known for his philosophic “wager,” that it makes sense to believe in God, since if He exists, you’ll be very glad you did, and if He doesn’t, you haven’t lost anything. I counter that this is not how we accept or reject religious tenets.