Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
A simple device tackles a very, very complicated problem
After spending an hour recently with Jeff Moore of Windswept Maples Farm in Loudon as he demonstrated an automated gate system for beef cattle, I came to a realization: Farming is an optimization problem. Optimization problems are common in computing and economics....
50 years from New England’s worst aviation disaster
From NH Aviation Museum: On July 31, 1973, a flight carrying 83 passengers and six crew members departed Manchester for Boston’s Logan airport, where it crashed into a seawall while attempting to land in dense fog. Of those on board, all but two died instantly. One...
N.H. patents through June 25
(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 June 25. *** System and Method for Distributed Utility Service Execution...
Why does New England like landlines? Blame (or thank) Verizon
The Washington Post has a section called Department of Data that takes a look at various questions through - well, data. Today they tackled the issue of landline phones, including the question of why landlines are more common in the Northeast. (I also pondered that...
Three dams on a small river face uncertain future
The Union-Leader has a good look at questions around three small dams on six miles of the Piscataquog River which may lose their license to exist due to questions about hydropower and fish passage. Fixing a dam is expensive! The full story is here.
New England solar is already displacing vast quantities of methane gas or fuel oil
Joe LaRusso, the manager of the Clean Grid Initiative at Acadia Center, pointed out what he called the most interesting fact presented as the recent FERC New England Gas-Electric Forum: "Every 700 MW of solar offsets 7-10 million gals. of fuel oil or 1-1.5 billion...
Maine gets more kids vaccinated by removing baloney excuses
Two years ago Maine tightened its rules for vaccination of kids entering kindergarten of child care, removing exceptions based on religious or philosophical grounds that had previously been allowed. Kids can enter public kindergarten now without a full of vaccines...
NH males gaining on females in number
From 2017 to 2021, New Hampshire's gender ratio changed in what strikes as a surprising way: We gained a lot more males than females. As the chart above shows, in 2017 women outnumbered men in New Hampshire by more than 13,000, yet by 2000 women only outnumbered men...
NH Jeep dealers, surrounded by CARB states, are in an interesting position
New Hampshire Jeep dealers are about to be in an interesting position because of the announcement by parent company Stellantis that they're not going to be sending gas-powered vehicles to states that have signed onto the California Air Resources Board emissions...
“When all else fails, there’s amateur radio”
If you want to rile up a fan of amateur radio, a.k.a. “ham radio,” here’s what to do: Say that cell phones make them unnecessary. “That is the most common misconception. People say, what do we need radio for? We have cell phones!” said Rob Farley, deputy fire chief in...
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