To see the video of Nina holding the state senate accountable, click here

On April 20,2009 we tried to bring a presentation to the Tennessee House and Senate. This presentation would have explained to anyone, with a 3rd grade education, what Rayleigh waves are, how they work, why they are a problem, why we should remove the pre emption (TCA 66-105-110) rule, and much more.

Since there was an "administrative error", the truth was given a hatchet job.

In my last post to Blasting Facts, I posted an article that exposes the fact that science education is abysmal in this country. The only thing more abysmal than the education is the understanding of fundamental concepts in science by the general public.

While this is not explicitly blasting related, I feel that it is worth explaining a few basic ideas. Hopefully, this will clear up what we mean by "We need more science in blasting".

First off, what is science?
Wikipedia has a very succinct answer to this question:

"In its broadest sense, science (from the Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge") refers to any systematic knowledge or practice. In its more usual restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research."

This website attempts to bring you the best science on blasting and blast damage. We choose to use science as the instrument for understanding blasting, because it is the only system that, unless tainted by politics and corruption, produces objective, observable, repeatable data and *theories*.

With observable , reliable, and repeatable data in hand, we can then use this information to better understand our world.

So, what is a scientific theory?
This link says it best. It is worth noting that the following are actually statements from the National Academy of Sciences

"
A scientific law is a description of an observed phenomenon. Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion are a good example. Those laws describe the motions of planets. But they do not explain why they are that way. If all scientists ever did was to formulate scientific laws, then the universe would be very well-described, but still unexplained and very mysterious.

A theory is a scientific explanation of an observed phenomenon. Unlike laws, theories actually explain why things are the way they are. Theories are what science is for. If, then, a theory is a scientific explanation of a natural phenomena, ask yourself this: "What part of that definition excludes a theory from being a fact?" The answer is nothing! There is no reason a theory cannot be an actual fact as well.
"

While this has been a long article, It is worth pointing these things out in order to understand what "We need more science is blasting" actually means.