Science, how many ways do I love thee?

No - I’m not talking about HIM - Dr “I wouldn’t know what science is if it kicked me in the gonads” Fauci.

I’m talking about the stuff we used to do - back in those heady days before the WuFlu sprinkled its spikes of speciousness all over this beautiful planet.

Science post-covid has become a bit of a freak show - we all know it, we all see it, even those most in love with the covid drama can surely see the absurdities, the pantomime, even if they refuse to publicly acknowledge this.

I’m not a great scientist by any rational measure. I’ve made a few useful contributions here and there. I have had the great, good fortune to be able to interact and work with some truly spectacular individuals, though. These individuals are amazing - their intellectual gifts and abilities dwarf those of others - including mine.

It’s the same with all this covi-bollox, the new “science”. There have been some truly wonderful and amazing people speaking out - writing their insights - and they fully deserve their large followings. In a world where merely questioning the official interpretations of data can lead to permanent expulsion from either your job, and/or social media platforms, and perhaps more worryingly your friends and family - these people face a heavy price if they stray too far over the government-approved line.

But all of us can make a contribution - however small or great. And we need to keep doing it. We need to keep chipping away in whatever way we can. Ask innocent questions like “how come we’re still in a mess if these vaccines are as effective as they keep claiming? I don’t understand”. Get them to try to disentangle the “logic” for you. Play the fool and ask those thorny questions in apparent innocence.

You and I can see the contradictions, the absurdities - the trick is to lead those hypnotised by the covid mirage to see it too. That takes some swallowing of one’s own opinions and some degree of tolerance - not to mention patience. It’s no good just telling people they’re wrong - all the defences will go up - you have to guide someone to a different understanding. But however many horses you lead to water you won’t get all of them to drink - and that’s something we have to accept too.

It’s an uphill battle when the media and the whole might of a government propaganda machine are against you. But it’s a battle we must continue to make - however (temporarily) despondent we become. This pic was published by the truly excellent bad cat - one of those amazing individuals who speaks out with great insight, humour and power.

We need to be like that cat - proudly sitting on the “naughty step”.

You know the old saying “give them enough rope to hang themselves with”? It means easing off the attack for a bit and just letting the idiocy reveal itself. For all their apparent power the media and governments will often run away with themselves - as we can see in a couple of recent articles.

The one here is a claim that the rise in heart problems being seen is due to something called Post-Pandemic Stress Disorder (PPDS) - a whole new syndrome invented in an attempt to explain away the fact that people are dropping like flies from heart issues. Actual wars - the stuff that gives you actual PTSD - never managed to affect hearts this badly. Curious that isn’t it?

But in happier news, Pfizer are diversifying a little and have introduced a new table football game - just in time for Christmas.

But maybe the problems are more related to climate - maybe we’re seeing the result of a downturn in temperatures. I’m warning all my female friends to be mindful of an expected surge of “winter vagina” this year.

And blood clots of course. I lose about 50% of my female friends every year when the temperature drops - damn those clots.

In my experience, though - as a physicist and a geek and at the wrong end of the Brad Pitt spectrum - I am a leading cause of “winter vagina”

Q : what do physicists use for contraception?
A : their personalities

Science is a wonderful thing. But it’s not an institution, it’s a process. Even the greatest scientists grope blindly in the dark sometimes, throwing failed idea after failed idea out, in an attempt to shed some light on things. It’s a struggle - little by little we see flashes of illumination - and progress is made.

We can all do this - even if you don’t know one end of a test-tube from another, you have a valuable contribution to make. Follow the scientific process, the scientific method. The pursuit of truth, even if we don’t ever fully arrive at our destination, is a great, great thing.

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