Blog Archives - Page 593 of 629

If you float due east from New Hampshire’s coast, what country will you land in?

by David Brooks | Feb 4, 2016 | Blog

If you float due east from New Hampshire’s coast, what country will you land in? Unless you’re a geography geek, you probably guessed too far north. The answer is Spain, as shown by this map from the site relativelyinteresting.com. The Gulf Stream keeps...

America’s use of coal to produce electricity is lowest on record

by David Brooks | Feb 4, 2016 | Blog

One-third of the electricity produced in America last year came from burning coal (including from three plants in New Hampshire). That’s a lot, and it should be reduced – but on the glass-half-full side of things, it’s the lowest percentage since...

The least useful public document I’ve seen in a long time

by David Brooks | Feb 3, 2016 | Blog

I’m looking through proposals for wind and solar projects (and transmission lines) to provide “clean energy” to southern New England, seeing if any of them are near me. The proposals are redacted – a fancy legal term meaning “we hid stuff...

How the biggest prime number was found (and how you can do it, too)

by David Brooks | Feb 3, 2016 | Blog

Numberphile, an excellent video podcast about mathematics, explains how the biggest prime number was found, and how you can participate in the citizen-science project known as GIMP to find the next one. Check it out here. Bonus: Matt Parker has a great Australia...

Efficiency instead of expensive new power line for Nantucket

by David Brooks | Feb 2, 2016 | Blog

We’ve been told for ages that efficiency is the (buzzword alert) “low-hanging fruit” of energy, and that it will save us money as well as save the planet blah blah blah. Because the savings require always-suspect predictions, however, this can be...

Dutch police train eagles to take down drones – yes, eagles

by David Brooks | Feb 1, 2016 | Blog

Any news about drones is interesting. Any news about raptors is interesting. Any news about a government body approaching a difficult problem in thinking-out-of-the-box ways in interesting. So this story hits the trifecta: Dutch Police Training Eagles To Take Down...

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About Granite Geek

Dave Brooks has written a weekly science/tech newspaper column since 1991 – yes, that long – and has written this blog since 2006, keeping an eye on geekish topics in and around the Granite State. He discusses the geek world regularly on WGIR-AM radio, and moderated the monthly Science Cafe NH sessions when they were still a thing. He joined the Concord Monitor in 2015.

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, Writer of the Year award from the N.H. Farm and Forest Bureau (of all places) and his 2024 induction into the New England Newspaper Hall of Fame.