by David Brooks | Oct 26, 2016 | Newsletter
Voting reform is one of those topics that geeks just love; frustrated as all get-out by the messy human realities of legislating and politics, they’re convinced that tinkering with the inputs will improve the output, as if democracy was a signal generator. I...
by David Brooks | Oct 26, 2016 | Newsletter
Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in Grafton County, between Plymouth and Lincoln, is a research gem, the site of long-term ecology studies and, most famously, the place where acid rain was discovered (as I noted in this column back in May, which included the fact...
by David Brooks | Oct 26, 2016 | Newsletter
Last week I had a story in the Concord Monitor about New Hampshire’s optical ballot-reading machines, which are disconnected from the internet by choice to limit tampering (they even disable pins so you can’t connect a network cable). Here’s the...
by David Brooks | Oct 24, 2016 | Blog, Newsletter
The topics are set for the two – yes, two! – science cafe series in New Hampshire: In Nashua on Nov. 2 we’ll discuss the causes and effects of our drought, while in Concord on Nov. 15 we’ll discuss 3-D printing, and whether it is living up to...
by David Brooks | Oct 14, 2016 | Blog, Newsletter
NOTE: Subscribers to my free newsletter saw this last week. You can subscribe via a webform at bit.ly/monitornewsletters Don’t you just hate software licenses and the way they mean you don’t really own the things you buy? Of course you do, and you also...
by David Brooks | Oct 11, 2016 | Blog, Newsletter
I’ve done a lot of stories about biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol over the years, so my initial reaction to a press release from Keene State College saying that they were burning vegetable oil for heat was “ho hum”. But it turns out this is a...