rfmcdonald | Entries tagged with energy

Climate change is playing a major role in the wildfires of California. Are we now in the Fire Age? Global News considers.

The new normal of the Arctic Ocean is to be ice-free. Global News reports.

Plants first reached land through unexpected horizontal gene transfers. CBC reports.

Zebra mussels have made it to the Lake of the Woods. Global News reports.

An artificial leaf that turns carbon dioxide into usable fuel is a remarkable technology. Universe Today reports.

Earth once hosted nine human species; now it has one. What happened? National Pot considers.

Thanks to better medical care and preventative measures, people have longer healthy lifespans than ever before. Global News reports.

Carl Newport at WIRED argues that past generations have never been as suspicious of technology as we now think, here.

Anthropologist Darren Byler at The Conversation argues, based on his fieldwork in Xinjiang, how Uighurs became accustomed to the opportunities of new technologies until they were suddenly caught in a trap.

James Verini at WIRED notes how the fighting around Mosul in the fall of ISIS could be called the first smartphone war.

National Observer looks at how Québec is so far leading Canada in the development of clean technologies, including vehicles.

VICE reports on how a Christian rock LP from the 1980s also hosted a Commodore 64 computer program.

Megan Molteni at WIRED looks at a new, more precise, CRISPR technique that could be used to fix perhaps most genetic diseases.

JSTOR Daily looks at how early 20th century Americans facing underemployment and persecution under vagrancy laws organized themselves, ultimately creating the Hobo College of Chicago.

JSTOR Daily explains how the green that we think we see in the feathers of some birds actually is not really there.

JSTOR Daily looks at how the Napoleonic Wars helped transform the linen industry in Ireland, not least by drawing women into the workforce.

JSTOR Daily looks at how Frank Lloyd Wright was decidedly unhappy with the mass produced Taliesin Line of homewares made in the 1950s.

JSTOR Daily looks at the amazing potential of artificial photosynthesis, particularly as a source of fuel.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait takes a look at the German city of Nordlingen, formed in a crater created by the impact of a binary asteroid with Earth.

Centauri Dreams reports on the possibility that the farside of the Moon might bear the imprint of an ancient collision with a dwarf planet the size of Ceres.

D-Brief notes that dredging for the expansion of the port of Miami has caused terrible damage to corals there.

Dangerous Minds looks at the last appearances of David Bowie and Iggy Pop together on stage.

The Dragon's Tales notes that China is on track to launch an ambitious robotic mission to Mars in 2020.

Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog talks about what sociological research actually is.

Gizmodo reports on the discovery of a torus of cool gas circling Sagittarius A* at a distance of a hundredth of a light-year.

io9 reports about Angola Janga, an independent graphic novel by Marcelo D'Salete showing how slaves from Africa in Brazil fought for their freedom and independence.

The Island Review shares some poems of Matthew Landrum, inspired by the Faroe Islands.

Joe. My. God. looks at how creationists are mocking flat-earthers for their lack of scientific knowledge.

Language Hat looks at the observations of Mary Beard that full fluency in ancient Latin is rare even for experts, for reason I think understandable.

Melissa Byrnes wrote at Lawyers, Guns and Money about the meaning of 4 June 1989 in the political transitions of China and Poland.

Marginal Revolution notes how the New York Times has become much more aware of cutting-edge social justice in recent years.

The NYR Daily looks at how the memories and relics of the Sugar Land prison complex outside of Houston, Texas, are being preserved.

Jason C Davis at the Planetary Society Blog looks at the differences between LightSail 1 and the soon-to-be-launched LightSail 2.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer looks in detail at the high electricity prices in Argentina.

Peter Rukavina looks at the problems with electric vehicle promotion on PEI.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at when the universe will have its first black dwarf. (Not in a while.)

Window on Eurasia suggests that Belarusians are not as interested in becoming citizens of Russia as an Internet poll suggests.

Arnold Zwicky highlights a Pride Month cartoon set in Antarctica featuring the same-sex marriage of two penguins.

D-Brief reports on the abundance of plastic waste found buried in the beaches of the Cocos Islands.

Joe. My. God. notes that the US has imposed tariffs against India.

JSTOR Daily looks at the strange history of phrenology.

Lawyers, Guns and Money takes note of the Trump Administration's honouring of Arthur Laffer.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer looks at the electricity price crisis that might determine who gets to be elected president of Argentina.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains how the Pauli Exclusion Principle makes matter possible.

Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy argues against importing the principles of the Berlin Wall to the US-Mexico border.

Window on Eurasia shares concerns that Russia is trying to expand its influence in the east of Belarus.

Atlas Obscura remarks on the remarkable decades-long archive of taped television made by Marion Stokes.

Motherboard notes, rightfully, that Americans will have good reason to be upset with data caps.

Hydro-Québec is set to continue expanding its energy exports, with New York being the latest consumer. CBC reports.

The National Observer comments on the game-changing improvements of batteries.

Wired notes that home robotics company Anki is winding down, though not without leaving a good legacy for the future.

Centauri Dreams links to a paper noting that the interiors of planets play a critical role in determining planetary habitability.

Belle Waring writes at Crooked Timber about imaginative dream worlds, criticized by some as a sort of maladaptive daydreaming I don't buy that; I am interested in what she says about hers.

D-Brief notes the very recent discovery of a small tyrannosaur.

Dead Things considers the possibility that a new South African hominin, Australopithecus sediba, might actually be the ancestor of Homo sapiens.

JSTOR Daily looks at how one negative side-effect of the renewable energy boom is the mass mining of rare earth elements.

Erik Loomis writes at Lawyers, Guns and Money about the way in which not just history but history fandoms are gendered, the interests of women being neglected or downplayed.

Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen reports on how a new US-Chinese trade deal will not do much to deal with underlying issues.

The New APPS Blog notes the great profits made by the gun industry in the United States and the great death toll, too, associated with the guns produced.

The NYR Daily visits the Northern Ireland town of Carrickfergus, home to Louis MacNeice and made famous by violence as the whole province sits on the edge of something.

Drew Rowsome takes a look at the queer horror film The Skin of The Teeth.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains what the technical limits of the Hubble Space Telescope are, and why it needs a replacement.

Window on Eurasia notes changing patters of population change in the different regions of Russia.

Arnold Zwicky shares some photos of notable public art in Switzerland, starting with The Caring Hand in his ancestral canton of Glarus.

Centauri Dreams notes a strange corridor of ice beneath the surface of Titan, a possible legacy of an active cryovolcanic past.

D-Brief notes one study suggesting that, properly designed, air conditioners could convert carbon dioxide in the air into carbon fuels.

Dead Things reports on the discovery of an unusual human skull three hundred thousand years old in China, at Hualongdong in the southeast.

Gizmodo notes the identification of a jawbone 160 thousand years old, found in Tibet, with the Denisovans. That neatly explains why the Denisovans were adapted to Tibet-like environments.

JSTOR Daily examines Ruth Page, a ballerina who integrated dance with poetry.

Language Hat shares a critique of a John McWhorter comment about kidspeak.

Victor Mair at Language Log shares a well-researched video on the Mongolian language of Genghis Khan.

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how Donald Trump, in his defiance of investigative findings, is worse than Richard Nixon.

James Butler at the LRB Blog writes about the bombing of London gay bar Admiral Duncan two decades ago, relating it movingly to wider alt-right movements and to his own early coming out.

Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen notes a recent review article making the case for open borders, disproving many of the claims made by opponents.

Paul Mason at the NYR Daily explains why the critique by Hannah Arendt of totalitarianism and fascism can fall short, not least in explaining our times.

Corey S. Powell at Out There explains how, and why, the Moon is starting to get serious attention as a place for long-term settlement, even.

Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog explores the fund that she had in helping design a set of scientifically-accurate building blocks inspired by the worlds of our solar system.

Drew Rowsome reports on the new restaging of the classic queer drama Lilies at Buddies in Bad Times by Walter Borden, this one with a new racially sensitive casting.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers the massive boom of diversity at the time of the Cambrian Explosion.

Towleroad features the remarkable front cover of the new issue of Time, featuring Pete Buttigieg together with his husband Chasten.

Window on Eurasia considers if the new Russian policy of handing out passports to residents of the Donbas republics is related to a policy of trying to bolster the population of Russia, whether fictively or actually.

Arnold Zwicky considers the various flowers of May Day.

Bad Astronomy shares Hubble images of asteroid 6478 Gault, seemingly in the process of dissolving.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly writes about the experience of living in a body one knows from hard experience to be fallible.

Gizmodo notes new evidence that environmental stresses pushed at least some Neanderthals to engage in cannibalism.

Hornet Stories notes the 1967 raid by Los Angeles police against the Black Cat nightclub, a pre-Stonewall trigger of LGBTQ organization.

Imageo notes the imperfect deal wrought by Colorado Basin states to minimize the pain felt by drought in that river basin.

JSTOR Daily looks at the cinema of Claire Denis.

Language Log reports on the work of linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann, a man involved in language revival efforts in Australia after work in Israel with Hebrew.

Lawyers, Guns and Money wonders if the Iran-Contra scandal will be a precedent for the Mueller report, with the allegations being buried by studied inattention.

Marginal Revolution makes a case for NIMBYism leading to street urination.

Justin Petrone at North! looks at a theatrical performance of a modern Estonian literary classic, and what it says about gender and national identity.

Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw makes the case for a treaty with Australian Aborigines, to try to settle settler-indigenous relations in Australia.

John Quiggin looks at the factors leading to the extinction of coal as an energy source in the United Kingdom.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes that we are not yet up to the point of being able to detect exomoons of Earth-like planets comparable to our Moon.

Window on Eurasia notes the occasion of the last singer in the Ket language.

Arnold Zwicky shares some cartoon humour, around thought balloons.

The 2017 Pojang earthquake in South Korea was caused by an experimental geothermal power plant, water injected into the ground creating new instabilities. VICE reports.

Universe Today notes that, newly upgraded, LIGO will begin searching for gravitational waves anew on 1 April.

Universe Today examines the factors which making landing large masses on Mars so technically challenging.

Universe Today considers which sorts of circumstellar habitable zone are the best to search for seekers of extraterrestrial life.

Motherboard notes astronomers' study of the relatively Sun-like pre-main sequence star of DM Tauri, which may now be forming a solar system like our own.

Wired reports on the daunting scale of the Venezuela power failure, and the sheer difficulty of restoring the network.

The Inter Press Service looks at the possibility for Argentina to enjoy improved agricultural circumstances come climate change.

CBC reports on how artificial intelligences can be used to create frightfully plausible fake news.

Axios notes the sheer density of information that Google has on its users.

CityLab reports on the policies hopeful presidential candidate Pete Buttegieg would bring in relating to the automation of work.

Wired takes a look at the second reported HIV cure and what it means.

Did extraterrestrial sugars seed life on Earth? D-Brief reports.

A detailed simulation suggests how black holes can function as natural particle accelerators. D-Brief reports.

This trompe l'oeil photo seemingly combines the two Saturnian moons of Dione and Rhea. D-Brief shares this.

Evidence of methane in the atmosphere of Mars is strangely lacking. D-Brief reports.

Astronomers found, with help from a quasar, a patch of gas in deep intergalactic space apparently a pure sampling from the Big Bang. D-Brief reports.

A species of midge has become an invasive species in Antarctica. D-Brief reports.

Plants have been made to grow in space. D-Brief reports.

These remarkable images of Ultima Thule from New Horizons shows a two-lobed world. D-Brief shares them.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the effect of climate change could lead to greater electricity consumption in China. D-Brief reports.

Congratulations are due to China for the successful landing of the Chang'e-4 probe on the far side of the Moon.

Peter Rukavina shares a photo of Province House in Charlottetown now hidden by its exoskeleton for much-needed repairs.

CBC PEI reports on the bid of the PEI Film Society to take over City Cinema, the only independent cinema in Charlottetown.

CBC PEI reports on the work of Joseph Glass to document the Jewish history of Prince Edward Island.

Skinners Pond is among the locations being studied for new wind energy plants, CBC notes.

Will the Confederation Bridge fabrication yards at Borden-Carleton be turned into a solar farm, as the PCs propose? CBC goes into detail.

Vice's Motherboard reports on how we do not understand the storms of the Anthropocene era, fueled by climate change.

Vice suggests that the very sharp and continuing fall in the price of solar power might well allow the Earth to escape ecological ruin, by providing energy alternatives.

The Guardian reports on the prediction of Stephen Hawking that technological advances will lead to the emergence of a race of superhumans that might well destroy--at least, outcompete--traditional humanity.

Over at Tor, James Nicoll recently contributed an essay arguing that technological challenges and the lack of incentive mean that the human colonization of space is not going to happen for a good while yet.

Universe Today highlights a new paper suggesting that panspermia unaided by intelligence can work on a galactic scale, even across potentially intergalactic distances.

Ford and Horvath have already clashed over the question of police oversight. The Toronto Star reports.

Brian Budd at The Conversation suggests, drawing from experience elsewhere, that an effective way to deal with Ford Nation populism is for the NDP to adopt a like platform aimed towards those Ford Nation voters who want something better.

Michael Babad at The Globe and Mail notes that, for a variety of reasons both structural and contingent, the economy of Ontario will have to experience slower growth in the future.

John Ivison notes that Doug Ford's closing down on wind energy contracts sends a terrible message to businesses seeking secure long-term deals in Ontario, over at the National Post.

Doug Ford is being unclear as to what sex ed curriculum, exactly, will be in Ontario schools come September. The Toronto Star a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2018/07/24/doug-ford-stokes-further-confusion-over-tories-sex-ed-plans.html">reports.

D-Brief notes a new study examining the evolution of giant planets.

Cody Delistraty has a nice essay about the power of coincidence in the human mind.

Dead Things reports on the possible discovery of hominin remains in China dating from 2.2 million years ago.

Language Hat notes the discovery of an ancient tablet in Greece dating from the 3rd century CE containing the earliest extract of The Odyssey so far found.

Language Log notes the importance of the language skills of a multilingual teen in leading to the rescue of the boys trapped in a Thai cave.

Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution imagines what friendship would be like in a world of telepathy.

The Planetary Society Blog's Jason Davis shares images taken by the Hayabusa2 probe of the asteroid Ryugu.

At Spacing, John Lorinc notes how the Ford government's opposition to the clean energy policies of Wynne may well lead to the return of noticeable air pollution.

Window on Eurasia reports on Russian government actions intended to suppress what seems to be the spectre of separatism in Kaliningrad.

The New York city of Plattsburgh is trying to limit Bitcoin mining locally, to avoid overusing its low electricity prices. VICE reports.

The LA Review of Books shares a story of a visitor's engagement with the Montréal of Saul Bellow, here.

Lyman Stone suggests that Cincinnati, even more than Pittsburgh, is in the middle of a noteworthy renaissance, over at In A State of Migration.

Palm Springs, in the California desert, apparently is in the middle of an eye-catching renewal. The Globe and Mail reports.

Open Democracy looks at this new effort to preserve the Soviet-era architectural heritage of Almaty, Kazakhstan's old capital city, here.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at the oddly recognizable shape of the Horsehead Nebula, and the reasons for this.

Bruce Dorminey notes how exceptionally difficult it is for current astronomers to track the transformation of stardust into planets.

Gizmodo notes a new theory for the formation of the Moon suggesting that, instead of condensing from the debris left by a Mars-mass object's collision with the Earth, it condensed along with the Earth from a synestia.

JSTOR Daily notes an Indian entrepreneur who developed a generator transforming rice husks into electrical power for an entire village.

Language Hat takes a critical look at some of the claims made in a recent article suggesting Icelandic is at risk of extinction.

Elaine Showalter writes at the NYR Daily about the power of feminist fantasy and science fiction literature.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes the apparent detection of the earliest-forming stars in the universe and their relationship with dark matter.

Strange Company notes the mysterious 1885 disappearance of New York City editor Samuel Stillman Conant. What happened to him? Why did he apparently abandon a happy life?

Whatever shares an idea for a fantasy universe from Tobias Buckell, imagining a world where magic has individual benefits but a terrible cost to the world at large. How would it be used?

Arnold Zwicky notes the death of Broadway and television star Nanette Fabray.

Artsy notes a study looking at the different factors explaining why Iceland's population is so creative. Among other things, an educational system that encourages hands-on learning and experimentation and a relative lack of material insecurity help.

Reddit's mapporn forum shares a map showing where displaced Puerto Ricans are resettling. Florida is emerging as a particularly important destination.

Charlottetown's The Guardian reports on a recent presentation suggesting that, with sea level rise, Prince Edward Island could be divided into three islands. I wonder where the dividing points will be.

Wind turbine construction on Amherst Island, near Kingston, has been delayed by weather and problems with roads. Global News reports.

Ireland is now making a push to attract television stations from the United Kingdom post-Brexit, with the legal position of television networks with EU-wide audiences being uncertain after Brexit. The Guardian reports.

Hamilton, Ontario, is apparently becoming a major centre for cryptocurrency mining. CBC reports.

Hydro-Québec is considering higher electricity rates for bitcoin miners. Global News reports.

The rate at which Alberta's natural environments are disappearing in the face of development is alarming. Global News reports.

Fish habitats in Canada, happily, will receive extra protection under a new federal law. The Toronto Star reports.

Public libraries are successfully reinventing themselves as places where users can access technology generally. MacLean's reports.

Profile

rfmcdonald

My Website

Navigation

February 2021

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28

Syndicate

Page Summary

[NEWS] Seven science links
[NEWS] Six technology links
[NEWS] Five JSTOR Daily links: hobos, bird green, Ireland linen, Frank Lloyd Wright, photosynthesis
[BLOG] Some Thursday links
[BLOG] Some Sunday links
[NEWS] Five tech links: Marion Stokes TV, data caps, Hydro-Québec, batteries, Anki
[BLOG] Some Thursday links
[BLOG] Some Thursday links
[BLOG] Some Monday links
[NEWS] Five sci-tech links: Pojang, LIGO, Mars, extraterrestrial life, DM Tauri
[NEWS] Sox tech links: Venezuela power, Argentina agriculture, AI writing, Google, Buttegieg, HIV
[NEWS] Ten D-Brief links
[ISL] Five #PEI links: Province House, City Cinema, Joseph Glass &Jews, wind energy, Borden-Carleton
[NEWS] Five sci-tech links: Superstorms, solar power, superhumans, space colonies, panspermia
[NEWS] Five links on the Ontario of Doug Ford (@fordnation, #onpoli)
[BLOG] Some Thursday links
[URBAN NOTE] Five cities links: Plattsburgh, Montréal, Cincinnati, Palm Springs, Almaty
[BLOG] Some Thursday links
[ISL] Five notes on islands: Iceland, Puerto Rico, Prince Edward Island, Amherst Island, Ireland
[NEWS] Five sci-tech links: cryptocurrency in Hamilton and Québec, Alberta, fish, libraires

Style Credit

Base style: Librarian's Dream by branchandroot
Theme: Pigeon Blue by dancing_serpent

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Jun. 15th, 2025 06:02 am

A Bit More Detail

Assorted Personal Notations, Essays, and Other Jottings

Entries tagged with energy

[NEWS] Seven science links

[NEWS] Six technology links

[NEWS] Five JSTOR Daily links: hobos, bird green, Ireland linen, Frank Lloyd Wright, photosynthesis

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

[BLOG] Some Sunday links

[NEWS] Five tech links: Marion Stokes TV, data caps, Hydro-Québec, batteries, Anki

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

[BLOG] Some Monday links

[NEWS] Five sci-tech links: Pojang, LIGO, Mars, extraterrestrial life, DM Tauri

[NEWS] Sox tech links: Venezuela power, Argentina agriculture, AI writing, Google, Buttegieg, HIV

[NEWS] Ten D-Brief links

[ISL] Five #PEI links: Province House, City Cinema, Joseph Glass &Jews, wind energy, Borden-Carleton

[NEWS] Five sci-tech links: Superstorms, solar power, superhumans, space colonies, panspermia

[NEWS] Five links on the Ontario of Doug Ford (@fordnation, #onpoli)

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

[URBAN NOTE] Five cities links: Plattsburgh, Montréal, Cincinnati, Palm Springs, Almaty

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

[ISL] Five notes on islands: Iceland, Puerto Rico, Prince Edward Island, Amherst Island, Ireland

[NEWS] Five sci-tech links: cryptocurrency in Hamilton and Québec, Alberta, fish, libraires

Profile

Navigation

February 2021

Syndicate

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags