Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Is energy ‘peak shaving’ really useful or just a shell game?
New Hampshire Bulletin is a new reporting group in the state, featuring some very experienced former Concord Monitor reporters among the small staff. I figured it would be all-politics-all-the-time, because that's the easiest high-impact topic, but they're also doing...
Ransomware hits New Hampshire businesses all the time; just don’t ask for details
There’s a pretty good chance that right now, as you’re reading this, at least one business owner in New Hampshire is freaking out over ransomware. “Yeah, it’s happening daily here – weekly for sure,” said Jason Golden, a partner at Manchester cybersecurity firm...
Dartmouth cheating/not-cheating mess is another algorithm failure
Dartmouth's medical school accused 17 students of cheating during remote exams based on data from Canvas, a software package used by lots of colleges to handle online courses. Then they said oops, sorry, Canvas misinterpreted data and dropped all the claims. Expect...
In ‘landscape of fear’ bears may protect foxes from coyotes
From UNH News Service: Bears are known for being devoted to and protective of their baby cubs, but new research from UNH shows that they may also play a significant role in shielding gray fox from predators like coyotes, who compete with the fox for food and space....
Some think natural burials are unnatural
It pisses me off that if I die I have to be filled with preservatives stuck in a big expensive box inside a cement vault. What a stupid waste! That's what compost piles are for. But allowing "green" burials often faces obstacles, as this story from the Valley News...
Here a chipmunk, there a chipmunk, everywhere a chipmunk
No, you’re not imagining it: Chipmunks really are everywhere. “We have no formal monitoring of chipmunks,” said Matt Tarr, a wildlife biologist with UNH Extension, “But my observation and what I’m hearing from folks all over New Hampshire is: There’s a lot of...
Maine may shift recycling cost onto companies instead of taxpayers
From the Washington Post via Yahoo: "Lawmakers are trying to make Maine the first state to shift some of the costs of its recycling onto companies - not taxpayers. If the bipartisan bill passes, Maine will join several Canadian provinces, including neighboring Quebec,...
It’s daring, it’s jumping, it’s an official spider
New Hampshire, I'm happy to say now has an official state spider: The daring jumping spider, which is an awesome name for an awesome arachnid. The story is here; a bunch of third-graders were behind the push. South Carolina has an also-awesomely-named state spider,...
N.H. patents through June 13
By Targeted News Service The following patents were assigned in New Hampshire from June 6 to June 13. *** DEKA Products Assigned Patent for RFID System With Eddy Current Trap DEKA Products, Manchester, New Hampshire, has been assigned a patent (No. 11,031,693,...
Maine might end an odd quirk: Obscene license plates
Geeks like clever vanity license plates - e.g., FEATURE on an original Volkswagen Beetle - and while you can't exactly call FUCKU "clever", many find it amusing that this plate and similar swearing-filled plates are allowed in Maine. Not, perhaps, for long,...
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Science Cafe NHAbout Granite Geek
Dave Brooks has written a science/tech column since 1991 – yes, that long – and has written this blog since 2006, keeping an eye on topics of geekish interest in and around New Hampshire, from software to sea level rise, population dynamics to printing (3-D, of course). He moderates monthly Science Cafe NH discussions, beer in hand, and discusses the geek world regularly on WGIR-AM radio..
Brooks earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics but got lost on the way to the Ivory Tower and ended up in a newsroom. He has reported for newspapers from Tennessee to New England. Rummage through his bag of awards you’ll find oddities like three Best Blog prizes from the New Hampshire Press Association and a Writer of the Year award from the N.H. Farm and Forest Bureau, of all places. He joined the Concord Monitor in 2015.