Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
The purest – and best – digital-first newspaper is going broke, fast
The British newspaper The Guardian is the real newspaper (lots of full-time reporters and editors and photographers, not just commentators or aggregators) that has been most aggressive in its belief that free digital publication is the future. It has a fabulous free...
Frequency overlap is a pain: Shipyard com system messes with garage door openers
If you wonder why companies and governments squabble so much, and spend so much money, over access to the broadcast spectrum, here's why: KITTERY, Maine — If your garage door remote isn’t opening or closing the door even after changing the batteries, you’re probably...
Surprisingly, ‘Is primary season EVER going to end?’ was not a trending Google query
If you’ve ever wondered about Jeb Bush’s real name, Chris Christie’s height, how many kids Carly Fiorina has or whether Marco Rubio is Canadian (yes, Marco Rubio), then you have lots of company, according to Google Trends. This arm of the search giant crunches data...
If you float due east from New Hampshire’s coast, what country will you land in?
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 Europe a lot...
America’s use of coal to produce electricity is lowest on record
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 records were first...
The least useful public document I’ve seen in a long time
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 based on a whim, although we...
How the biggest prime number was found (and how you can do it, too)
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
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 hard to believe. But...
Dutch police train eagles to take down drones – yes, eagles
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...
If you’re going to electrify vehicles, Chicago buses are a good place to start
The Chicago Transit Authority* has tested electric buses and found that they work great, and is ordered a couple dozen with 300-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery packs, which the CTA says provides a range of 80 miles. It claims overnight charging takes just 3 to 5...
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