Topics on my particular interests.
In some long-ago post, I mentioned a climate-scientist’s throw-away line about Global Warming making the deserts greener, and a reader (C-Square?) took exception to it. I can’t find the conversation now, but for that reader, here’s the proof you asked for.
It is with great sadness that I have to agree with this article. When I was growing up, we were taught that the US was the greatest nation on Earth. There was even some evidence that objectively supported it — the Manhattan project (and the fact that we were so collectively horrified at the fates …
Continue reading ‘“NSA Prism: Why I’m boycotting US cloud tech – and you should too”’ »
Has anyone mentioned recently that you should use really strong passwords — or how hard it is to come up with them? I use truly random passwords, generated (and kept track of) by LastPass, for most sites; for the ones that need to be remembered, I’ve got a pretty good password-selection algorithm (which I can’t …
Continue reading ‘“A Really Good Article on How Easy it Is to Crack Passwords”’ »
What are “grups,” you might ask? It’s from the original Star Trek: “Grups” is a nerdy reference to an old Star Trek episode in which Kirk and crew land on a planet run entirely by kids, who call grown-ups “grups.” All the adults have been killed off by a terrible virus, which also slows the …
Continue reading ‘“Up With Grups: The Ascendant Breed of Grown-Ups Who Are Redefining Adulthood”’ »
In the two years since I discovered that my condition had a name, I’ve learned a lot about autism. This article, from the blog that originally drew my attention to it, has a very good summary of it — and indirectly points out that, despite the challenges that it creates, a little autism can be …
Continue reading ‘“An Autistic Mind Opens Mine (Can It Open Yours?)”’ »
I didn’t realize that we had the technology needed for fusion engines yet! A common theme on this blog is science advances that were anticipated or inspired by science fiction, and this one is no exception. This fusion engine sounds very much like the fictional Lyle Drive mentioned at the beginning of Robert Heinlein’s famous …
Continue reading ‘“NASA-backed fusion engine could cut Mars trip down to 30 days”’ »
I’ve mentioned a couple times before that machines just seem to like me. Apparently I’m not alone: The one thing I do have in my favour is fairy dust: I have the innate ability to correct computer problems, especially software issues, by magic. Allow me to explain. Have you read in the more fantastical papers …
I’ve talked about 3D printers before, and how they’re destined to revolutionize everything from medicine to construction, but this is an application I’d never considered.
Bruce Schneier, the well-known security expert (warning: that’s an extremely tongue-in-cheek encryption-geekery fan-site), has a new essay on his (real) site today, and it touches on a subject that I’ve talked about before: how at some point in the near future, technology will make it possible for single individuals or small groups to cause destruction …
If this works as advertised, it could be the solution to all our power problems. I can’t see how or whether it could work (I don’t follow the bit that says “the fluid is then pumped into a graphite core to induce a reaction and generate heat,” given that the fuel is basically radioactive waste …
Continue reading ‘“New nuke could POWER WORLD UNTIL 2083”’ »