Discuss The Knowledge

I used to wear waxed-cotton jackets a lot. I think I gave up mostly because they tend to accumulate unsightly creases. Granted, that's unlikely to be a consideration if foraging in the rain to barely survive! Also, you can't clean them with detergents and they're relatively heavy. On the other hand,...

Cynic that I am ;) I'm reminded of a saying in engineering*: "Faster, cheaper, better; choose any 2", i.e. You can quickly design something that's cheap to make... but it won't be very good. You can quickly design something good... but it'll be expensive to make. You can design something g...

That reminds me of a book, 'The IDEAL Problem-Solver', that came 'free' with a subscription to 'Scientific American' decades ago:
Identify that there is a problem.
Define the problem.
Explore solutions.
Act.
Look back.

I've just read an interview with philosopher Daniel Dennett (in 'New Scientist'): https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23331120-800-why-your-brain-is-like-a-conscious-termite-colony/ Not particularly impressed with most of it, but I thought the folks here would like this paragraph: I don’t think p...

They mentioned the possibility of an artificial microbe causing The Apocalypse, or antibiotic resistance, but, curiously, they didn't mention natural viruses. I'm not sure we're in a better position to deal with a flu pandemic than in 1918, especially considering how many humans there are these days...

Hi, everyone. I've just read an interesting article in the Feb 2017 issue of 'BBC Focus' magazine about what might destroy human civilisation and how The Planet might recover afterwards. It reckons that 7 days after we all disappeared (assuming it was sudden), our 450 nuclear reactors would start to...

As I understand it, the alkali in wood ashes is mostly potassium carbonate. (Sodium carbonate in seaweed ashes.) Hydroxides are stronger alkalis. I've read that one can make them from the carbonates by mixing with a solution of calcium hydroxide (slaked lime); calcium carbonate precipitates out. Not...

Hi, everyone. Just finished reading 'The Knowledge'. Very interesting but there are a few things which seem dubious, confusing or just plain wrong. Is there a list of errata anywhere? If not, I'll look at parts of this forum that pertain to each chapter. Just tried making my first lump of soap (succ...