UNH provides some 'Food for Thought'

Posted by Andrew Toland    |    Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Probably now more than ever, we're deeply interested in the foods we put in our body. That said, we still end up chowing down on processed products and non-organic fruits and veggies. If you want to learn more about the food we eat, you can check out a new lecture series at UNH Manchester dubbed "Food for Thought: An exploration of what we eat, and the impact on people and our planet."

The series has already started with a presentation on gluten (I'm a bit slow on the draw ... I'd hoped to alert you loyal Granite Geek readers ahead of the first lecture), but continues in a few weeks on March 8 with a lecture on genetically modified foods.

Other topics include a talk on local food with Ben Hewitt, who coincidentally took part in a Science Cafe last summer that was moderated by my colleague David Brooks, and a screening of the film "Forks Over Knives" (medical knives, or scalples, that is).

Planning on attending the series? Let us know in the comments below.

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A pause in Granite Geek while I go on vacation - to Pakistan

Posted by David Brooks    |    Saturday, February 18, 2012

I'm going to be posting little or nothing in Granite Geek for the next two weeks because I'm going to Pakistan on vacation.

Don't be too impressed with my daring, however: I'm tagging along with the Milford Rotary Club, and the visit will include local Rotary Club meetings. I even had to pack a suit - I've never taken a suit on a vacation in my life! We'll visit hospitals and other local Rotary projects in the big cities of Lahore and Islamabad, and will try to establish some new ones, such as a children's library (I wrote about it in the Telegraph.)

Rotary International is big on its members visiting each other across the globe, to build trust and understanding. New Hampshire and northern Pakistan Rotoarians are developing a pretty good connection, surprisingly - there isn't exactly a huge Pakistani presence in the Granite State.

A colleague, Andrew Toland, will try to post here occasionally and may put up a few pieces from Earle Rich, if all goes well.

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Advice for today: Trees don't grow the way that people do

Posted by Earle Rich    |    Friday, February 17, 2012

I was just reading a book on my Nook tablet ( 1632 by Eric Flint ) where a section of West Virginia was transported to 15th century Germany. In one chapter, they were running telephone lines to another city, reinventing a communications system practically from scratch. The statement was made that they couldn't use trees to run the lines since thy would grow at different rates and so would carry the wires upward at different rates.

I've run into this before when someone was installing lights in a tree but figured that they would have to leave a lot of slack in the power line because the tree would grow, stretching the cable.

The misconception is that trees grow like people, with everything moving up in proportion. Actually new growth is just added to the top (or end of branches). As soon as the question is asked "Do you think that the wood inside the tree actually stretches?" then it becomes clear. Branches don't get any higher in the tree as they age, they just get bigger as the tree adds to height at the top.

A simple thing, but surprising how many people don't think it through.

(Note from David: I've seen the brain-teaser along the lines of: if so-and-so carved his initials in a 20-year-old oak tree, 6 feet from the ground, how far off the ground will the initials be in another 20 years? Trick question!)

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Former NH legislator from Nashua says Eisenhower met with space aliens! (Honest)

Posted by David Brooks    |    Friday, February 17, 2012

An article in a publication called The Inquisitor quotes a former Nashua state legislator as saying that he "videotaped a document which had informed (then-President) Eisenhower that the aliens were available to meet with him and were in America."

The article, with a video that you can find on YouTube, is at http://www.inquisitr.com/194478/report-eisenhower-met-with-aliens-video/#etvmDLUdS9v3Bs6X.99

I'm not sure what else to say. Huffington Post has a more detailed article here.

The ex-lawmaker is named Henry McElroy Jr. I don't know was a legislator or where he represented (the House is so huge that there is, so far as I know, no list anywhere of all past lawmakers). (UPDATE: A reader tells me McElroy was a rep from Nashua's Ward 1 in 2003-04, and I've added Nashua references above.)

(FURTHER UPDATE: Looking through Telegraph archives, I find McElroy mentioned because (a) he sponsored a bill to repeal the 16th amendment and exempt New Hampshire residents from paying federal income taxes, and another to put us back on the gold standard (shades of Ron Paul), and (b) he was booted off a jury in a murder trial of a man named Andrew Sullivan because the judge said he was dozing, which McElroy denied. This led Sullivan to appeal his conviction, successfully, although the state Supreme Court later reversed that decision.)

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NH-based "stealth ship" gets $9.6 million in funding

Posted by David Brooks    |    Friday, February 17, 2012

The coolest vehicle under development by a New Hampshire firm, a "stealth ship" designed for defense work in shallow waters, has gotten $9.67 million in funding in the first institutional funding round by the maker, Juliet Marine Systems Inc. of Portsmouth. So reports Mass High Tech, which loves this ship parly because of its acronym, GHOST. (Hot links aren't working this morning, for some reason - the story's at http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2012/02/13/daily44-GHOST-ship-maker-Juliet-gets-967M.html) The ship allegedly uses "supercavitation" - using water bubbles to reduce underwater drag - to make it travel faster and quiet on waterfoils.

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Do lobsters really mate for life? Let's ask Snopes ...

Posted by David Brooks    |    Thursday, February 16, 2012

Apparently there is a common belief that lobsters mate for life. Snopes, the couple that has been examining urban legends for many, many years, looked at this thought and produced a typically interesting response. And the answer is ... well, you should read the whole thing.

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Is 'sage on a stage' the best way to teach math and science in college?

Posted by David Brooks    |    Thursday, February 16, 2012

For as long as I can remember, schools have been advocating ways of teaching other than lectures - hands-on, interactive, with models, computers, groups sessions, board games, whatever. I hated them all: I like lectures. The teacher knows stuff that I don't - just tell it to me and I'll learn it. If I need to discuss it with my peers or do drawings or whatever, I'll do it outside of class.

However, as the Washington Post notes, many colleges are beginning to think that a long, slow shift away from math/science classes is being worsened by a dependence on lectures. The story is here - a snippet:

Active learning - ugh. Just hand me the information and I'll make use of it.

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Wood pellets are a real heating fuel: Their price is now officially tracked alongside oil, gas, propane

Posted by David Brooks    |    Wednesday, February 15, 2012

CONCORD – In a sign of continuing inroads made by wood pellets in the state, their price is now being tracked by the New Hampshire State Office of Energy and Planning, alongside traditional heating fuel sources such as oil, natural gas and propane.

The information about average statewide costs for bulk-delivered fuels is derived from a survey of five companies providing bulk pellet delivery service in New Hampshire. It shows that wood pellets are far cheaper than heating by heating oil or propane, although more expensive than natural gas.

This week, one million BTU’s of heat cost: natural gas ($13.50), cord wood ($17.50), wood pellets ($18.03), No. 2 heating oil ($34.97), kerosene ($39.56), electricity ($41.50) and propane ($46.86).

Pellets are made from compressed sawdust. Their uniform size and shape allows their delivery into a furnace to be automated, as compared to logs, so that heating can be controlled by thermostats, as with fossil fuels.

Although best known as a source for individual stoves, pellets or a similar product, wood chips, can be fed by augers into whole-house boilers or industrial-sized machines that can heat schools or factories.

The region’s biomass producers say pellets and wood chips could ultimately provide up to 20 percent of New Hampshire’s heat, compared to the current figure of about four percent.

The industry claims that nearly 5 percent of New Hampshire homes heat with wood pellets or other renewable energy. Heating uses nearly 40 percent of New Hampshire’s energy.

The federal Stimulus Funds Rebate Program is kick-starting the switch to wood pellet central heating in homes by offering rebates of up to 30 percent or up to $6,000 of installed cost for systems for primary residences.

Information about the residential wood pellet rebate program is on the Public Utilities Commission web site: www.puc.nh.gov.

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Concern about GPS interference probably kills Lightsquared proposal

Posted by David Brooks    |    Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The Federal Communication Commission has said that LightSquared, a proposed wireless broadband network, should be shelved because it interferes with the spectrum used by Global Positioning Software. (NY Times story here)

I wrote about this issue last June (here's somebody else's copy of my story, which is easier to link to than our owm archive) when U.S. Rep. Charlie Bass held a press conference expressing concern about Lightsquared. Bass is a private pilot and pilots use GPS these days: When I got my private pilot's license, three decades ago, that was still science fiction.

I learned to fly at a small Tennessee airport that didn't even have lights. When landing after sunset I had to buzz the runway once before landing, in order to scare off the deer that came out to enjoy the latent heat coming up from the pavement. I haven't flown since I moved to N.H. - something about having kids made the cost hard to justify, oddly enough.</

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"Teach evolution as a theory" bill looks dead on arrival, despite all those atheists and Communists

Posted by David Brooks    |    Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The second of two proposed bills targeting the teaching of evolution in school was heard today, as reported by a Telegraph colleague, Cameron Kittle (story is here). This is the one that questions the viewpoint on atheism by "supporters of evolution," whatever that means. The sponsor, Jerry Bergevin, R-Manchester, has some (shall we say) extreme views, linking evolutionary theory to Communism and Planned Parenthead and various other bugaboos. He didn't mention precious bodily fluids, but it was close.

This one seems pretty dead on arrival, I'm happy to say. The Education Committee will decide Thursday what to do with the other anti-evolution bill they heard last week, which I wrote about here. It's more subtle, being presented as an "academic freedom" bill.

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Portland decides it's better to be prepared for the climate-change worst, uncertainty or no

Posted by David Brooks    |    Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Even though it's clear that burning fossil fuels and other human activities, such as deforestation, is altering the globe's climate, there is much uncertainty about how this change will affect us. Sea levels, for example, are almost certain to rise, but it's far from clear by how much and how quickly.

In a startling sign of maturity, however, Portland Maine has decided that it's better to at least think about the worst rather than to take solace in uncertainty and do nothing. As the Press-Herald reports:

Interfering with personal property rights based on climate change predictions? That should be fun to push through.

On a semi-related note, Vermont's Agency of Natural Resources is urging planners to assume that more "extreme rain events" will happen in the future. (Story here)

This idea came up at the very first Science Cafe, almost a year ago, discussing climate change. The town planner for Keene said one of the issues under debate is culverts, those artificial tunnels under roads, which have been sized according to historic water flows. If those flows are going to start being much larger much more often, roads are going to wash out more often - so maybe we should be installing bigger culverts as a matter of course.

But that's expensive, and it's not clear how much bigger they should be. It's not an easy question to answer.

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Science Cafe coming Wednesday (Feb. 15): The science of the "winter blues"

Posted by David Brooks    |    Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The next Science Cafe New Hampshire comes up Wednesday, discussing Seasonal Affective Disorder - the "winter blues" if you will. A psychologist and psychiatrist will be there as the experts to be peppered by your questions.

It should be of interest whether you're affected by SAD, know somebody who might be affected, are completely ignorant of the topic, or even doubt that "winter blues" is a real disorder. Judging from the high quality of the previous Science Cafes, even if you don't particularly care one way or the other it will be worthwhile: There's something so invigorating about having a good beer and burger while listening to intelligent people discuss a topic that they actually know something about - instead of merely ranting along based on casual heresay, which tends to be the level of public discourse these days.

I will miss this one - it's the first Science Cafe that I haven't been able to moderate - but you shouldn't.

More details are here, sciencecafenh.org

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Another anti-evolution bill comes up in Concord tomorrow (Tuesday)

Posted by David Brooks    |    Monday, February 13, 2012

Lawmakers will hold a hearing tomorrow (Tuesday) on a second anti-evolution bill: this one would require that it be "taught as a theory." (UPDATE: Unfortunately I won't be able to cover it; there's no much else happening in the state/region at the moment that I just can't spend half a day traveling up to Concord and back for a hearing. We will try to cover it some other way.)

I wrote about the first bill last week: It's more convoluted, since it doesn't mention evolution although that's the reason for its existence. Here's my story.

The Guardian, a well-respected, politically liberal national newspaper in Britain, had a column recently chiding us for the bills, as well as other anti-evolution bill in the U.S. It's titled "The new anti-science assault on US schools."

Indiana is facing a bill that would require teaching "creation science", which is patently illegal. Anti-evolutionists have learned to avoid any variant of the word "creation" because of the religious overtones. "Intelligent design" is the preferred designation.

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N.E. has some surprising dark spots on FCC's map of 3G coverage (or lack of it)

Posted by David Brooks    |    Saturday, February 11, 2012

A portion of an FCC map showing US Census blocks that lack 3G or better mobile coverage according to January 2012 American Roamer data.

The FCC has released an excellent map showing 3G coverage around the country (you can see it here). Above is a screenshot of northern New England: the black places are elegible for the Mobility Fund Phase 1 - federal subsidies to get coverage in uncovered areas.

Most of the dark areas are unsurprising: northern Maine, Coos County, the center of the White Mountains, Hogback Mountain in southern Vermont - places where terrain blocks signals and makes it expensive to build towers, and there aren't many potential customers to lure phone companies.

But notice to archipelago of black in northwestern Hillsborough County and neighboring counties of N.H. That's roughly around Pillsbury State Park, part of a low ridgeline which holds Lempster Mountain Wind Farm; it appears to cover a number of small towns, like Goshen, Marlow and Windsor. This is an also an area that lacks wired broadband, one of the target locations for the Network New Hampshire Now project.

Considering that the location is barely an hour's drive from Manchester and has terrain which isn't exactly mountainous - Mount Sunapee is about as rugged as it gets - it's a little surprising how overlooked it is.

If we start feeling sorry for ourselves, however, we can go back to the FCC map and check the Rocky Mountain states. At least half of Idaho lacks 3G coverage.

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It's not an anti-evolution bill, it's an 'academic freedom' bill

Posted by David Brooks    |    Friday, February 10, 2012

As I write in today's Telegraph, a bill aimed at getting creationism, in its "intelligent design" costume, mentioned in science classrooms got a hearing Thursday - and if you thought it wasn't a big deal, the appearance of a supporting speaker from the west coast-based Discovery Institute (the biggest creation - er, I.D. supporter in the country) was a sign.

The Discovery Institute says it is concerned about "academic freedom" for teachers facing unwavering supporters of evolution.

They are unwavering, of course, because evolution is the only scientific explanation - as compared to semi-theological and/or wildly speculative - out there, and science classes are supposed to teach science. Having legislators force teachers to allow non-science into science classes is not a good idea.

Here's my story.

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Making buildings energy-efficient is harder than we think, for reasons that are unclear

Posted by David Brooks    |    Thursday, February 9, 2012

A reader (hi, Pete!) pointed me to a story from LawandEnvironment.com about a study which found that making buildings more energy efficient is harder than we think, even when factoring in the fact that it's harder than we think:

Over the past 20 to 30 years, every important building component has improved in energy performance. From air conditioners to lighting to windows, construction crews today have an array of green technologies at their disposal.

Once they're put together, though, the finished building performs no better than its predecessors of two or three decades ago. The parts have gotten better, but not the whole.

The whole story is here. It references a longer piece that's behind a paywall, which in turn references a study by Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster for Energy-Efficient Building, a DOE "energy hub" connected with Penn State.

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Bill targeting teaching of evolution gets a hearing tomorrow (Wednesday)

Posted by David Brooks    |    Wednesday, February 8, 2012

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Maybe Vermont Yankee didn't contaminate Connecticut River fish, after all

Posted by David Brooks    |    Wednesday, February 8, 2012

In recent years Vermont Yankee has had problems with radiation leaking into groundwater wells. Particularly alarming was a report that said elevated levels of strontium 90 were found in a few fish in the Connecticut River. (The nuclear plant adjoins the river, which it uses for cooling.) The concern was that radiation had gotten into the groundwater, which then leaked into the river.

The finding was never really confirmed, however, and now the Burlington Free-Press reports that Vermont officials have found fish with similar levels of radiation in parts of the state where Vermont Yankee couldn't possibly have any effect.

As the paper puts it in the lede: "Fish in the Connecticut River near the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant are no more radioactive than fish far across the state, according to recent study results from the state Health Department." Here's the whole story.

New Hampshire regularly tests for radiation in the water, soil and air within 50 miles or so of the plant, including the Connecticut River (which New Hampshire owns; oddly, the state boundary is not in the middle but on the Vermont bank.) They haven't reported anything notable.

The legal status of the plant remains a little murky, although it seems like it will continue operating even after its original license expires next month. Here's the Free-Press summary.

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MakeItLabs, Nashua's hackerspace, is ready to open again

Posted by David Brooks    |    Tuesday, February 7, 2012

This is all I know, posted this evening on MakeItLabs' website:

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Mass. flywheel power-storage system gets a post-bankruptcy buyer

Posted by David Brooks    |    Tuesday, February 7, 2012

From CNet (whole article here): "Beacon Power of Tyngsborough, Mass. says it has reached a deal with private equity firm Rockland Capital to buy most of its assets for $30.5 million. That includes Beacon Power's intellectual property around flywheel grid storage and a New York energy storage project partially financed by a Department of Energy loan guarantee."

It's unclear what will happen to its Tyngoborough headquarters, where the 7-foot-tall flywheel "batteries" were made.

Here's my last story about them, after the bankruptcy.

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If mountain lions exist in N.H., can they purr or can they roar? (Check the hyoid bone)

Posted by David Brooks    |    Monday, February 6, 2012

A screenshot from BigCatRescue.org's excellent video about whether "big cats" can purr. (It's just a screenshot, so stop clicking on it!)

Did you know that the "big four" cats - lions, tigers, jaguars, cougars (aka mountain lions) - can roar but they can't purr, whereas smaller cats, from ocelots down to the cat in your lap, can purr but not roar?

I didn't either, but a terrific video on BigCatRescue.org (spotted via Boston.com's intriguing Braniac blog) provides the scoop: The secret is the hyoid bone, in the back of the throat. If it's connected one way they can roar, if it's connected another they can purr. There's considerable debate about the details, however, including uncertainty whether mid-sized to big cats can semi-purr - that is, purr only when exhaling.

It's good stuff: Check it out here. They also have a video about whether lions etc. like to chase laser pointer lights.

As for whether there are mountain lions in New Hampshire, here's a story I did last year. (Answer: Certainly no breeding pairs, maybe a single individual, although probably not. (The story was written before a mountain lion was killed in Connecticut after walking here from Wisconsin.)

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