A-Bomb Tourism
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.
Science
Russian nuclear agency confirms role in rocket test explosion
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…]
Why you should KILL YOUR TELEVISION
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…]
The end of capitalism has begun – Guardian Econ 101
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 Dies at 93
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.
COSO VOLCANIC FIELD VOLCANO
600+ Earthquakes recorded in the 24 hours ending 07/06/19 at 14:00 PDT CALIFORNIA VOLCANO OBSERVATORY INFORMATION STATEMENT U.S. Geological Survey Saturday, July 6, 2019, 10:42 AM PDT (Saturday, July 6, 2019, 17:42 UTC) COSO VOLCANIC FIELD VOLCANO (VNUM #323180) 36°1’48” N 117°49’12” W, Summit Elevation 7874 ft (2400 m) Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL Current … [Read more…]
Kim Stanley Robinson Built a Moon Base in His Mind
To write his new novel, Red Moon, the sci-fi author became an expert on lunar colony tech IEEE Spectrum – By Sally Adee But for Red Moon, which is set so close to the current moment, the underlying “really” is the same thing as the explicit plot—it’s about China taking over the moon. China and … [Read more…]
Arctic permafrost thawing
Scientists shocked by Arctic permafrost thawing 70 years sooner than predicted Ice blocks frozen solid for thousands of years destabilized ‘The climate is now warmer than at any time in last 5,000 years’ Reuters Tue 18 Jun 2019 12.02 EDT Last modified on Tue 18 Jun 2019 12.58 EDT A cemetery sitting on melting permafrost … [Read more…]
Rural Cooperatives Deliver High-Speed Internet for Less
24 May 2019 – IEEE Spectrum TELCOM By Lucas Laursen “Rural Cooperatives Deliver High-Speed Internet for Less,” tired of waiting, some rural residents are funding their own Wi-Fi networks to bring broadband to their homes.
A Brain Computer Interface for Tackling ADHD in Children
24 May 2019 A IEEE Spectrum article by Anouk Wipprecht “I Built a Brain Computer Interface for Tackling ADHD in Children,” or A playful headpiece called Agent Unicorn incorporates an EEG that detects P300, the neural signature of attention.