From SwissInfo: Telecommunications: Switzerland calls time on phone booths On the move The first box was installed in 1881 in the Fraumünster post office in Zurich. Peak booth was reached in 1995, when more than 58,000 could be found dotted around Swiss villages and cities. However, the success of mobile phones at the end of … [Read more…]
From the Washington Post, 10/31/19 – Paul Barrere, guitarist and singer-songwriter for Little Feat, dies at 71. His band confirmed the death in a statement and said he was being treated for liver disease, which forced him to miss a 50th anniversary tour that ended the day after his death. Mr. Barrere, who had battled … [Read more…]
We all know how Baseball newscasters love statistics. There are stats on most everything in the game and they make an otherwise ordinary event more colorful. One stat which they have not exploited is the stubble metric. Simply defined, the metric shows the player’s performance in contrast to the stubble on their faces, 1 day, … [Read more…]
October 9. 2019 Revealed: the 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions New data shows how fossil fuel companies have driven climate crisis despite industry knowing dangers by Matthew Taylor and Jonathan Watts “The great tragedy of the climate crisis is that seven and a half billion people must pay the price – … [Read more…]
An in-depth article in the Oct 22, 2019 Politico magazine on the emerging science of attribution: The new science fossil fuel companies fear – Researchers can now link weather events to emissions – and to the companies responsible. A string of lawsuits is about to give “attribution science” a real-life test – by ZACK COLMAN … [Read more…]
By Andrew Crane-Droesch – Washington Post – 10/21/19 … Out of the blue, in August 2018, agriculture secretary George “Sonny” Perdue announced that my agency and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture would relocate from Washington, D.C., to some yet-to-be-determined location. He claimed that this would lower costs and bring us closer to “stakeholders.” … [Read more…]
From the California Digital Newspaper Collection: Sacramento Daily Union 17 September 1868 THE FIRST FIGHT (the Kansas-Nebraska contest) A reader asks us to give some information regarding the Kansas-Nebraska contest and the opinions of the different parties thereto. That fight for liberty was so like the present one in the principles and purposes involved that … [Read more…]
Cultural Comment by Lizzie Widdicombe, New Yorker 10/21/19 For argument’s sake, let’s imagine that Trump’s tweet was wrong, and the “Civil War like fracture in this Nation” doesn’t come to pass. Instead, he and his allies lose the 2020 election. A new Administration comes in, dedicated to helping the nation “work off” its historical crimes, … [Read more…]
From IEEE Spectrum: New Alternative to Bitcoin Uses Negligible Energy 15 Oct 2019 | 15:00 GMT New Alternative to Bitcoin Uses Negligible Energy Novel algorithms are secure like blockchains, but simpler, faster, and more energy-efficient By Charles Q. Choi A nearly zero-energy alternative to Bitcoin and other blockchain-based cryptocurrencies that promises as much security but … [Read more…]
From SwissInfo: The United Nations is facing a serious cashflow crisis, as 63 states – including its largest contributor, the United States – have not paid their annual dues. In Geneva, officials at the UN’s European headquarters (UNOG) are considering ways to cut costs, while the host nation looks on anxiously. The statement by UN … [Read more…]