Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Restoring oysters is part culinary economics and part science project
Cliches are annoying because they’re obvious and overused, but usually, they’re overused because they’re accurate. So I’m going to ignore my inner writing snob and tell you that today’s column concerns a win-win – in fact, a win-win-win! – for the environment, for...
Sorry, COBOL programmers, the state’s new tax-collection system is going fine
New Hampshire has entered the second of three phases in changing the way people can pay state taxes, and this time it affects a lot more people. The New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration is rolling out an online user portal and revenue management system...
This year’s drought will slow tree growth next year
From UNH News Service: Red oak and white pine trees could experience slower growth next year as a result of the severe drought in New Hampshire and most of New England that began in mid-August, according to a researcher with the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment...
Tired of reading my nonsense? Then listen to it!
Last week I was the comic relief for the annual meeting of the N.H. Joint Engineering Society, giving an hour-ish talk via Zoom about a few topics that have cropped up in Granite Geek over the years which I thought might interest a few folks: Benford's Law ("first...
Quantum time dilation. Need I say more?
Combining quantum mechanics and relativity remains the big unsolved problem in physics - it flummoxed Einstein, so I don't feel too bad about my confusion. Anything that combines the two is intriguing. New research led by Alexander Smith, who is part of not one...
Patents through Oct. 25
By Targeted News Service The following patents were assigned in New Hampshire from Oct. 18 to Oct. 25. *** BAE Systems Information & Electronic Systems Integration Assigned Patent for Spectrum Sharing System BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems...
The lockdown increased NH electricity use – wait, increased it?!?
Surprisingly (to me, anyway) New Hampshire used slightly more electricity than normal during the pandemic lockdown (April through June), with increased residential use from us work-at-homers compensating for shut factories and hotels. That's according to a study by...
It’s now or never for Concord’s crumbling gasholder building
The most interesting building in Concord - the whole state, if you're a history-of-energy wonk - is the gasholder near Exit 13 of I-89, which held and distributed gas made from coal before natural gas arrived in 1952. I have written about it many times, including...
You can’t cut your greenhouse gas emissions if you don’t know where they come from
If only greenhouse gases were fabric dyes, it would be a lot easier to limit climate change. I say that because of stories I’ve heard from old-timers who tell of the days before New England’s textile industry moved south, when you could guess what was being done in...
Our oak trees are better for booze barrels than Midwestern oaks!
OK, that headline is a bit of a stretch. What's true is that New England white oak "contains more trans-whiskey lactones and fewer tannins than Midwest white oak" which might be of interest to particular brewers or distillers looking to store their wares. So maybe...
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