Rick Beckman

Category: The Vault

  • Jet Fuel Can Catastrophically Weaken Steel Beams

    Jet Fuel Can Catastrophically Weaken Steel Beams

    "Jet fuel can't melt steel beams!" the conspiracy theorists exclaim. But why is that so hard to believe? In light of what three out of ten Americans believe about a certain ancient city, though, it's no wonder that there's a celebrated ignorance on what it takes to knock down structures men and women build.

  • Every Viewer an Editor

    What will the future of movielike entertainment look like? I picture a blending of video game role-playing customization, choose-your-own-adventure books, and modularity becoming the new entertainment norm.

  • Periodic Parties

    Idea for cel­e­brat­ing the birth­days of sci­ence lovers: For every birth­day, cel­e­brate in a man­ner which coin­cides with the match­ing ele­ment on the peri­od­ic table. Turn­ing 10? Break out the neon and par­ty like it’s the 80s/90s. Sev­en­teen coin­cides with chlo­rine, so hit the pool! At 28, rit­u­al­ly burn in effi­gy any Nick­el­back mer­chan­dise you […]

  • The Shadow of Death

    The Shadow of Death

    Oblivion. Endless... null. Death. After life, what? Every religions gives us something to imagine, but what if reality is all the more cruel? I've wondered about this since early grade school, and I'm no closer to being comfortable with my thoughts.

  • There and Back Again

    I was once a fervent Christian til a moral crisis robbed me of my faith; years have passed, but I realize now that in my unbelief, God was always faithful, waiting patiently for me to return.

  • The Ascent Begins…

    The Ascent Begins…

    A look back at my past as a religious but unfocused blogger, the journey to ascend Olympus, to challenge the claims of religion, begins now.

  • Gluten: The Facts and The Fad

    Learn a few basic facts about gluten and celiac disease; includes an infographic (along with a transcript). I learned something from it, and I hope you do too.

  • Contribute to the Frontiers of Science with Nothing but Your Smartphone

    Become a citizen scientist by donating the idle time of your smartphone to the search for cosmic rays, a search that ordinarily requires extremely expensive equipment.

  • The Hastening Sun — Ecclesiastes 1:5

    It’s hard­ly any secret that the Bible speaks of a flat Earth. [ref]…unless of course you have a bias which requires the Bible to speak of a spher­i­cal Earth.[/ref] It was writ­ten, after all, when cos­mol­o­gy was a col­or­ful array of imag­i­na­tive ideas from all over the world — Atlas car­ry­ing the Earth, the sun […]

Rick Beckman