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 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 Mather Jones, September 26, 2019, Arctic Ice Is Melting Faster Than Expected. These Scientists Have a Radical Idea to Save It. Costly and controversial, yes. But we may be running out of choices. “We’re getting much more attention because of how dire thing are,” says inventor and engineer Leslie Field, founder of Ice911, a … [Read more…]
Guardian, 17 September, 2019: Six whistleblowers and ex-government scientists describe how the Trump administration made them bury climate science – and why they won’t stay quiet by Oliver Milman From weakening vehicle emissions to blocking warnings about how coastal parks could flood or the impact on the Arctic, the Trump administration is accused of muzzling … [Read more…]
From the Guardian, Sept 9th, 2019: “The only option will be to drain it into the sea and dilute it,” Yoshiaki Harada told a news briefing in Tokyo on Tuesday. “The whole of the government will discuss this, but I would like to offer my simple opinion.” … Six years ago during the city’s bid … [Read more…]
In the IEEE Spectrum, an essay by Maria Gallucci documents a tour she took of the B Reactor at Hanford. The front face of the B reactor.
From the Guardian, Andrew Roth in Moscow, Sat 10 Aug 2019: Rosatom says five staff died in accident that caused radiation levels to spike in Arkhangelsk. Russia’s nuclear energy agency has said an explosion that caused radiation levels to spike in the Arkhangelsk region was caused by an accident during a test of an “isotope … [Read more…]
Yet another reason why you should turn off the TV, it makes you stupid. How trashy TV made children dumber and enabled a wave of populist leaders, Washington Post, Andrew Van Dam July 20. By 1990, 49 out of 50 Italians could watch Mediaset — half of the country had gained access in just five … [Read more…]
Without us noticing, we are entering the postcapitalist era. At the heart of further change to come is information technology, new ways of working and the sharing economy. The old ways will take a long while to disappear, but it’s time to be utopian. Paul Mason Fri 17 Jul 2015
Fernando Corbató, whose work on computer time-sharing in the 1960s helped pave the way for the personal computer, as well as the computer password, died on Friday at a nursing home in Newburyport, Mass. He was 93.