Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
New Hampshire commuters aren’t abandoning their alone-in-my-car habits
America may be changing its traveling habits - hipsters moving to cities so they can bicycle to work, and all that - but in public-transit-challenged New Hampshire, nothing much has changed in five years. According to the American Community Survey, a sort of...
Science Cafe about oceans was less depressing than I feared
Science Cafe New Hampshire had its first monthly discussion of the fall season last night in Nashua. the topic was fishing and fisheries, with marine fisheries experts from UNH Sea Grant and a Fish & Wildlife expert who's based at the federal fish hatchery in...
Vaccines don’t cause autism, period
I didn't watch the presidential debate last night because I was at a more interesting event - Science Cafe NH started its fall season, more about which anon - but I understand that the two physicians who are running for the office waffled on a topic where they should...
Vermont will take a state park off the power grid, because it’s cheaper
Green Mountain Power, the main utility in Vermont, plans to take an entire state park off the grid and power it with solar panels and Tesla batteries. They aren't doing it because it cool and Vermont-y, although it is. They're doing it because the power line...
Video game pioneer Ralph Baer to be honored with a plaque
True video game geeks know Ralph Baer, who led development of what became Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game, while working at Sanders Associates (now BAE Systems) in Nashua. I wrote several stories about him while working at the Nashua Telegraph, which is...
To save plant diversity, save local (*very* local) seeds
NHPR has an interesting piece today (read or listen to it here) about efforts by the New England Wildflower Society to collect seeds from local plants, in case they become endangered because, say, a huge storm destroys the coastal area where they thrive. the key, says...
W. Lebanon library turns Tor server back on, despite police questions
The Valley News reports (here) that the Kilton Public Library in West Lebanon, NH, has turned back on its Tor server, which was shut after police raised questions. It sounds like it was a polite, intelligent discussion - a rarity these days: The U.S. Department of...
Kludge-y standing desk is less kludge-y than previous standing desk
I created a standing desk at the Nashua Telegraph by nailing together three boards into a keyboard support that I could put under my desk when I wanted to sit down (ergonomic variety is key). The keyboard and monitor weren't really at the right heights, but it was...

National Grid CEO: Solar on rooftop will be ‘the new baseload’
A publication called EnergyPost has an interesting interview with the CEO of National Grid, which provides electricity and natural gas in parts of New Hampshire (as well as throughout the Northeast, and in the United Kingdom). He says that using large power plants for...
Grid 2.0 in New Hampshire needs your ideas
The boring business of generating and transmitting electricity isn't very boring any more, as technology (distributed solar and digital communication) is, in that fave phrase of the techno-biz folks, being disrupted. New Hampshire is looking for suggestions...