Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Can you crush your aluminum cans before recycling? It’s probably OK. Probably.
This question came up recently in a newsroom discussion over our recycling setup (a cardboard box with "aluminum cans" written on the side - I take it to my town recycling when full). My understanding was that crushed cans can confuse the machinery used in...
Scrambling to save the 603 area code, again
New Hampshire loves our 603 area code, even though area codes mean less and less in this cellphone-number-portability world, and for 30 years we've been freaking out about reports that we're going to "run out of numbers" and will need a second area code. This seems...
‘Dry clothes free or die’ doesn’t have the same ring to it
New Hampshire used to have an active "Right to dry" community that wanted the legislature to say that yes, people can dry their clothes on outdoor lines in their back yard. That's necessary because many homeowners associations regard clotheslines as something that...
NH patents through Feb. 18
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through Feb. 18. *** 5G OpenRAN Controller PARALLEL WIRELESS, INC., Nashua, New...
It’s dangerous to help people along the highway (but not in northern New England)
Northern New England is a relatively safe place to work if you do roadside assistance, judging from a AAA study (which you can see here). The group found 123 roadside assistance providers - people from tow truck drivers to cops who responding to crashes or car...
The glamour of slide rules
I came of age just as calculators began to displace slide rules. I learned how to use one for simple arithmetic but even my gray-haired math teacher admitted it was more as a fun trick than a useful skill. I've written a few times about New Hampshire members of the...
Should we be able to sell our organs? NH lawmaker thinks so
I have learned to be very, very suspicious of any legislative action in New Hampshire that tosses around the word "liberty" - the term has been tainted by self-described libertarians who use it to mean "let me do whatever I want even if it hurts you" and 9 times out...
What will happen when the coal-fired power plant closes? Don’t ask us!
Merrimack Station in Bow, NH, is New England's last coal-fired power plant. It will operate as a peaker plant through at least 2026, when it stops getting automatic capacity payments from the regional grid. I assume it will shut soon after for financial reasons,...
Another bad feeback of climate change: Stronger hurricanes reduce forest carbon sequestration
From a short article in Northern Woodlands: The average hurricane downs 5 to 10 percent of aboveground forest carbon across the region, but modeled future increases in hurricane strength increase this percentage, even unprecedently inland and northward into Vermont...
Data isn’t the plural of anecdote, but what if anecdote is all you can get?
You have probably heard the phrase “data is not the plural of anecdote,” meaning that evidence which has been gathered systematically is far more valuable than a collection of individual stories. I certainly have heard it, and I have used it myself, but I didn’t...
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