Turning Black Coal Green
A radical new power plant aims to convert our dirtiest fossil fuel into clean-burning hydrogen [Popular Science. Read Original] Big lumps of sooty coal hardly seem like the future of energy, but that’s exactly what the U.S. Department of Energy predicts. Consumption of the fossil fuel-the main source of greenhouse gas and a major contributor…
Need a Tuneup? Become a Hacker
[New York Times] Brawn beat brains in the old days of automobiles. To make cars faster, people bolted bigger air intakes, carburetors and exhaust pipes onto giant muscle car engines. Tuning adjustments were simple, requiring only screwdrivers and wrenches. In the mid-1980’s, control of the engine slipped out of the average mechanic’s hands and into…
Get Your Daily Plague Forecast
The new Healthmap website digests information from a variety of sources ranging from the World Health Organization to Google News and plots the spread of about 50 diseases on a continually updated global map. It was developed as a side project by two staffers at the Children’s Hospital Informatics Program in Boston — physician John…
Picking a Picture
[New York Times] In the old days of digital television, a year or two ago, choices were simple. If the screen measured under 37 inches diagonally, it would be a liquid-crystal-display panel. From about 37 to 43 inches, it would probably be a plasma panel. And larger sizes would be rear- or front-projection sets. [Read…
Dell’s Quest for Cool
[Slate] Before last month, Dell had made only one attempt to look cool in its 22-year history. I don’t need to tell you that the “Dell dude” wasn’t the coolest guy on the planet. Dell’s second attempt to win street cred, its recent acquisition of the hip, gamer-friendly computer manufacturer Alienware, will probably prove more…
Is It Time to Upgrade?
[New York Times] A new study by the Consumer Electronics Association shows that American homes spent $1,250, on average, for electronics last year. Though it may sound like a lot, that is barely enough for a medium-size flat-screen TV. So even gadget-crazy Americans have to weigh priorities – deciding what older gear they can still…
Proud Bachelor Turned Marrying Man-Sort of
Helping gay couples get hitched gave me a new respect for a tradition I’ve been happy to escape [Newsweek] I’m a straight, single man, who, during Valentine’s weekend and for several days that followed, performed weddings as a deputized marriage commissioner for the city and county of San Francisco. “I’m surprised that you are doing it,”…
Jumping In to Wed the Masses
[New York Times] WHILE Carrie Bradshaw in ”Sex and the City” agonizes over settling down, at least 3,000 couples jumped at the chance to marry during the frenzied first eight days that San Francisco allowed gay marriages. And I, a straight bachelor, have happily performed about 60 of the ceremonies, in the cavernous rotunda of…
The L.C.D. Screen Wins Color-Obsessed Converts
[New York Times] IN the tech world, the slender liquid crystal display monitor has become synonymous with cool, making steady inroads against its rotund predecessor, the cathode ray tube. By the fall of 2002, sales of flat-panel L.C.D. monitors in the United States had exceeded those of C.R.T.’s in terms of dollars spent, and by…
Redneck Environmentalism
The farmers and ranchers of the Dakotas are ahead of environmentalists on preserving the prairie and fighting global warming. The first night of my visit to North Dakota Brad Crabtree fed me a hearty steak dinner-courtesy of a steer he’d recently sent to the butcher. In later days, we feasted on hamburgers, sausage, and leg…