Disqus - Latest Comments for Dave Brooks

Re: Nashua Telegraph Blogs

Dave Brooks — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 06:34:52 -0000

Nick Parks very first short, "Creature Comforts" (1989), used this technique: he recorded ordinary Britons talking about zoos and then gave the voices to claymation zoo animals. For some reason, it's hilarious.

Re: NashuaTelegraph.com: Blogs

Dave Brooks — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 14:02:45 -0000

Boy, as soon as the Wall Street Journal gets skinny, people start confusing it with other papers - let's hope the Coos County Democrat never shrinks, or folks'll call it the Nashua Telegraph!

Re: Nashua Telegraph Blogs

Dave Brooks — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 06:38:50 -0000

Watching the video, I'm surprised to see that Reagan says "I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green" (as Nick quoted correctly) instead of "I paid for this microphone ..." as it is usually given. Funny how many famous quotes are slightly wrong - call it the "Elementary, my dear Watson" syndrome.

Re: What’s In A Name? You Have No Idea …

Dave Brooks — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:28:01 -0000

This must be a real problem in China, where the large majority of people share fewer than 100 different family names.

"According to the Ministry of Public Security, China has nearly 300,000 people named Zhang Wei (wei meaning “great”) and more than 280,000 share the name Wang Wei. One percent of the Chinese population, or 1.3 million people, are named Liu Bo, meaning Liu the waves."

Click here to read that article.

Re: What’s In A Name? You Have No Idea …

Dave Brooks — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:32:41 -0000

Our hot linking doesn't seem to be working; the article quoted above comes from the publication Beijing This Month. URL:

http://www.btmbeijing.com/contents/en/business/...>

Re: Forget invasive species - what about invasive climate?

Dave Brooks — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 04:45:07 -0000

About 30 years - before that, the amount of data isn't great enough to test the model well. Yes, there might be long-term trends that we don't know about which will affect this, but the fact that CO2 buildup over these three decades is mind-bogglingly greater than anything recorded over a similar period (in ice cores) is such an overwhelming piece of evidence that it is more than reasonable to base upcoming predictions on that buildup alone.

Re: More moose than they know what to do with

Dave Brooks — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:03:35 -0000

Just an observation: Lacking natural predators, they're notoriously bad hunting sport compared to deer or turkeys - even squirrels.

Re: Let it snow (artificially) let it snow, let it snow …

Dave Brooks — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 00:06:53 -0000

Killington certainly tries to; that's part of their advertising push. I checked their Web site yesterday, but it had no set opening date.

Re: Our world record trebuchet

Dave Brooks — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 10:09:24 -0000

They take it apart and truck it down on a flatbed or two. Quite a process; the wheels alone are 10 feet tall - cut out from huge steel oil storage tanks.

Re: The snarling fisher returns to western Mass.

Dave Brooks — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 04:46:14 -0000

If that's maniless, I hereby embrace my feminine side.

The thing I like best about pet ferrets is rolling them into a ball and sliding them along polished floors - if the ferret's playful, they think it's a blast and come scampering back for more. Of course, if they're not playful, they bite you.

Re: Editor’s note to the eagle-eyed

Dave Brooks — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 06:45:59 -0000

Those Who Know More Than Me In The Company (a large and diverse group) say it should help spidering. I nod and say "uh-huh" in an attempt to sound wise and all-knowing.

Re: Development drains rivers even in water-rich New England

Dave Brooks — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 22:47:19 -0000

Nothing is wrong from the "total amount of liquid water on the planet" point of view; the problem is the "total amount of liquid water usable by humans" point of view. Once water flows to the ocean - after Nashua pulls it out of the Pennichuck pond, processes it through the system and dumps it into the Merrimack River, where it flows south and east - it's not usable again until it evaporates, forms clouds, and rains back down here. The latter takes longer than the former, so humanity is processing the saved-up water (surface and underground) into unusable water faster than it's being regenerated.

Re: Development drains rivers even in water-rich New England

Dave Brooks — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 03:59:01 -0000

No, I don't; interesting question. Part of the difference may exist in the time element - for example, I have a drilled well and a septic field, like many NH homes. Most of the water I use returns directly to the ground out of my septic drainage pipes; in a way, I don't need to save water because I'm in the middle of a closed loop - the more I use, the more gets returned, to be used again. But the water takes many many years to get down into the bedrock where my well exists - assuming it even goes there, because underground drainage pattersn are hard to predict (despite what dowsers say). I could drain my well, maybe even the whole local aquifer, before the water got back down to replenish it. So it may be "piling up" under me, but there's no advantage.

Re: NH bald eagle count was good

Dave Brooks — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 08:48:32 -0000

Whoa - cool. Er, I mean, whoa - scary! You live in a neat place.

I've never heard of bald eagles feeding on anything except fish or carrion. They're basically scavengers, not hunters: They don't hunt much in the way of land animals. This page (http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/eagle3.html) says they can life four pounds, so they certainly couldn't carry off your dog. Would they attack her? I would guess not.

Re: Rising sea levels and NH - a Google map

Dave Brooks — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 03:23:44 -0000

Yes, well, this is America so you're allowed your opinion. Just as I'm allowed to roll my eyes at it.

Re: Rising sea levels and NH - a Google map

Dave Brooks — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 06:04:04 -0000

Good point. I've made an update in the article.

Re: A real break-through: Making high heels comfortable

Dave Brooks — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 07:58:34 -0000

Speaking as the husband of a sensible-shoed woman, I have to agree with you. But at least I resisted the urge to illustrate this with a really sexy picture.

Re: Copying the mega-selling geeky book

Dave Brooks — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 01:35:49 -0000

Here's what the Times said:
"(Brown's) next book (possibly to be called "The Solomon Key," arrival date unknown) is ... so hotly anticipated that it has prompted a not-half-bad "Guide to Dan Brown

Re: I’m freezing in my office, but it was the warmest January on record

Dave Brooks — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 04:23:38 -0000

Yesterday was the first day my home broke freezing in about two weeks -most of the month, if not all of it. I would guess the state (and probably the country) will be under the long-term average for February, although there's still 10 days to go.

Re: The drawback of popularizing science - and how come some folks are flummoxed by math?

Dave Brooks — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 01:34:42 -0000

Think of the number line going left-to-right, as you always have. "Imaginary" numbers don't fit anywhere on that line. They have their own line - think of it as being at right angles to the traditional number line, and intersecting it. Just as you can't say whether a point at (1,1) on a grid is "bigger" than a point at (-1,1), you can't say that sqrt of -1 is "bigger" than plain old -1; it's just different. In fact, depicting complex numbers - which are part real and and part imaginary - as points on a 2-dimensional grid was one of the key breakthroughs in the field.

Re: No charges against MIT ‘hackers’

Dave Brooks — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 06:47:20 -0000

Oops - thanks

Re: Up, up and away

Dave Brooks — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 02:04:21 -0000

Yes, I have noticed it - and I hate it: I'm always aimlessly double-clicking while I read, so I'm constantly opening windows I don't want to open. On the other hand, my clickety-click habit drives my wife crazy, so she'll be ecstatic if the Times breaks me of it.

Re: Tidal power for the Seacoast?

Dave Brooks — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 11:32:40 -0000

Following that link, I have to wonder: Is wikipedia in French more reliable than wikipedia in English?

Re: fishwrap from an MIT Fishwrap originator

Dave Brooks — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 00:57:56 -0000

When you think about it, the century-old model of newspapers isn't entirely rational: Subjective information (ads) piggy-backing on, and as a result paying for, objective information (news) because the latter is the only way ads could get people to look at them. Separating them makes sense logically, even if it's painful.

Re: Biofuel, shmiofuel …

Dave Brooks — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 13:33:43 -0000

Land is too expensive in southern NH - and the rest of the state, I imagine - to grow enough hay to feed any kind of cattle herd. (That's why hay is so expensive here - it's not just because horse owners are willing to pay more than farmers.) Corn carries a lot more calories per square foot of land.

Re: Warm winter? You bet.

Dave Brooks — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 02:17:57 -0000

I'd vote for "manipulate lots of data enough ways and you eventually find some odd results" - but only because there are so many knowledgeable folks who have reached opposite conclusions.

Re: Google’s “sewer ISP” joke almost appeared in Milford

Dave Brooks — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 11:36:57 -0000

and IPv6 actually stands for ... well, never mind

Re: Maybe it’s the fault of Microsoft Flight Simulator

Dave Brooks — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 09:35:39 -0000

I've never seen the appeal of flight sims, which have all the annoying parts of flying (weight-and-balance worries, keeping an eye on gauges, worrying about a billion piddly details that can kill you) without the fun parts (trying to make your brother airsick, buzzing friends' houses, trying to go faster than cars on the interstate).

Re: That Einstein quote about humanity dying off, if all bees go …

Dave Brooks — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 00:22:55 -0000

For those confused by the above reference to the Mayans, their "long calendar" ends in 2012, which has some people worried.
http://www.levity.com/eschaton/Why2012.html

Re: Of triangles, circular manhole covers, and Reuleaux polygons

Dave Brooks — Tue, 08 May 2007 12:54:43 -0000

The Telegraph doesn't include photos with its archived stories, alas. There was a picture in the paper. But I found a site that has an old story of mine about the subject, with a photo:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://w...

Re: U.S. House moves to Cannon Mountain

Dave Brooks — Mon, 28 May 2007 01:08:39 -0000

Dammit, you'll take away my RV when you pry it from my cold, clammy fingers!

Re: Alternative vehicles on the Mt. Washington Auto Road

Dave Brooks — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 11:38:23 -0000

It's combined with oxygen to make a fuel cell produce electricity. I don't know the best way to carry it - compressed as a gas to 3000 psi in one scenario; stored in liquid at -400-and-something degrees in another.

Re: An all-prime-digit phone number

Dave Brooks — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 01:15:57 -0000

I once pondered moving to central Missouri (area code 314, phone suffix 159) so I could buy the phone number ending in 2653 ...

Re: Warmer weather = more pests

Dave Brooks — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 23:15:33 -0000

Darn complicated thing, the environment!

To me, the overall story is that the ecosystems we regard as "normal" grew up in a certain climate, but that climate is changing very rapidly. This favors the species that can adapt the fastest. For some reason, those tend to be "weed species" which we don't like (starlings, kudzu, Dutch Elm fungus in the past - who knows what in the future). There's nothing "wrong" with an environment where adelgids have killed off most hemlocks - it's just not the environment we have grown to like.

Re: Warmer weather = more pests

Dave Brooks — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 23:16:07 -0000

Oops ... did "bold" instead of "break"

Re: Highest ozone-precursor “sniffer” is on Pack Monadnock

Dave Brooks — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 00:20:06 -0000

Hey - it's been *decades* since I got my math degree; you can't expect me to get numbers right any more! 2300 feet is correct.

Re: Homebuilt helicopters? - who knew?

Dave Brooks — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 07:17:23 -0000

The link is working at the moment - it goes to the main page of the New Ipswich police department.

Re: N.H. loon numbers falling

Dave Brooks — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 06:38:12 -0000

That's ''loony''. (Not Loonie, or Canadian readers will be indignant)

Re: The joys of domain names

Dave Brooks — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 06:01:48 -0000

There are drawbacks to having long-time readers, I see.

Re: Joe English Tracking Station

Dave Brooks — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 10:44:31 -0000

It's officially the New Boston Air Force Station - the unexplained NBAFS acronym on small signs pointing from Route 101 in Amherst is a real puzzlement to newcomers. I started a wikipedia article on it ages ago, and it has been quite expanded by others:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Boston_Air_For...

Re: Are commercials really louder?

Dave Brooks — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 02:23:22 -0000

I've been thinking of trying that myself ... TURNING ON THE CAPS LOCK KEY every now and then ...

Re: So what’s new?

Dave Brooks — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:46:15 -0000

20 shillings - ah, you're right. 12 pence in a shilling, I believe.

Re: Rooftop solar - but not photovoltaic

Dave Brooks — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 06:53:12 -0000

I agree with you, Earle - a smart move, since you know a bazillion times as much as I do on this topic. That's why I linked to the story; I thought it was intriguing, even if it doesn't pan out.

Re: i, robot review

Dave Brooks — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 10:30:54 -0000

I was a huge fan of Old Mutton Chops as a teen. I though the "I, Robot" story collection was one of his best, and reread it often.

I have to admit, however, that I can hardly read his stuff any more because ... well, to be blunt, he's a crummy writer. Wooden characters and cheesy dialog don't compensate for interesting plot twists, when the twists are old hat.

Re: No New Hampshire winners at the Ig Nobles

Dave Brooks — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 07:06:56 -0000

The "gay bomb" award was the only one of the 10 this year that was critical of the recipient, albeit humorously. In early years, more of the Igs were like that - given to things like homeopathy research or dumb government programs - but nowadays almost all of them are real research with funny angles. Also, almost all of them are embraced by the people getting the award. They've become virtually mainstream!

Re: Vermont Yankee nuclear plant faces fans and foes

Dave Brooks — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 13:01:10 -0000

According to the web site (http://www.yankeerowe.com/) "structural decommissioning" is complete at Yankee Rowe, but it doesn't say if there are further decommissioning steps beyond that. And I can't quite figure out its connection to the other "Yankee" plants (Maine, Vermont) Rowe was, however, the third nuclear plant opened in the U.S.!

Re: Eco Thrillers

Dave Brooks — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 07:18:06 -0000

I once read a short story by - I believe - H.G. Wells that started with a huge volcano in Nicaragua that blew a hole through the Central American isthmus. The resulting change in ocean currents shut down the Gulf Stream, resulting in Europe freezing, which of course was what Wells was interested in. But I can't find a reference to it online, so maybe I'm hallucinating ...

Re: Techno-Babble (Electric Heaters)

Dave Brooks — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 10:56:03 -0000

My fuel oil powers forced hot air, so such energy calculations need to incorporate the electricity used to power the fan (a surprisingly large amount, as I discovered one summer when I used that fan to push cool air from the basement around the house; my electric bill leaped). Do you need to make a similar adjustment?

Re: Techno-Babble (Electric Heaters)

Dave Brooks — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 11:39:24 -0000

OK, here's a probably stupid question: Since air is less dense, and therefore (I would think) easier to move, than water, why do forced-air motors have to be stronger than forced-water pumps? Is it because so much more air has to be moved to carry an equal amount of heat? I know water has more thermal inertia than air (it's harder to heat up or cool down a given volume of water); I would guess this is the vital variable - water's thermal inertia is greater than (or is it less than?) its physical inertia.

Re: Fight global warming with a four-on-the-floor!

Dave Brooks — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:51:03 -0000

An addendum: Learning to drive a stick-shift in a hybrid is extra complicated, due to the engine turning off when you stop. It's hard enough for a beginner to know when to apply how much gas and let up the clutch, but when the engine cuts in and out, it's much harder.

Re: Health care? War? Immigration? Sure, but what about UFOs?!?

Dave Brooks — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 01:36:59 -0000

You doubt the Hills?!?!?!?!?!

Re: A little distraction after driveway shoveling

Dave Brooks — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 03:02:04 -0000

I would guess he doesn't really want to become a comic artist - maybe a stand-up comic or a geeky Dave Barry.

Re: Eco-snobbery on display

Dave Brooks — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:39:25 -0000

I linked to this line myself, in a newer post! Great minds etc. etc.

Re: What are you doing on the Internet?

Dave Brooks — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 10:10:48 -0000

On Christmas, all humanity is our friend and family.

Re: Putting local government on streaming video

Dave Brooks — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 12:02:35 -0000

When I covered Milford, there was a debate among the selectmen among whether to spend money on local-access TV or the Web site. The non-geeks won, but it was close.

Re: How fair is our lottery? So-so, says one professor

Dave Brooks — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 00:33:34 -0000

I used to think that, and I still feel that gambling (including lotteries) preys on ignorance - but I've come to think that I underestimated the benefits of the "thrill" factor of anticipated possibilities. The cost-benefit ratio doesn't make sense mathematically, but it might psychologically for some people.

Re: Why can’t we vote for more than one candidate?

Dave Brooks — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 23:42:07 -0000

You, sir, are a cynic!

Or realist.

But I repeat myself ....

Re: Can theism and science mix?

Dave Brooks — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 01:13:14 -0000

I am roughly familiar with his arguments: Basically, that the idea of an invisible superman lurking above the clouds has proved so pernicious throughout history that allowing it to exist in any form is like saying "I just want a little bit of cancer" - it will always go bad. But the need/wish in humanity for answers to deep questions can't be denied; it has existed in every culture and will, I think, exist in all cultures to come. "Faith beyond reason" will never be vanquished by reason. As long as it stays out of science, then it's fine by me.

Re: How many moose does Maine have, really?

Dave Brooks — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:33:34 -0000

Wow - still rare that late! I didn't realize. The NH Fish & Game Web site says the numer of mosse in the state was down to double digits in the late 19th century.

Re: Florida Impressions

Dave Brooks — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:30:04 -0000

And you haven't even escaped the primary - the candidates are headed to Florida!

Re: Fiber optic loop for Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom

Dave Brooks — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:57:42 -0000

Oh, stop whining! (translation: Oops. I fixed it)

Re: Ice cores, ancient climate, and UNH

Dave Brooks — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 07:54:01 -0000

Ha: I hadn't noticed that! Antarctica is a desert by the usual definition - amount of precipitation per annum - so I guess that's the connection.

Re: Cog Railway Conversion to Biodiesel

Dave Brooks — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 01:27:43 -0000

Does this mean you'll get really hungry as you're hiking up Mount Washington, from the scent of old french fries wafting over the trails?

Re: U.S. Fish and Wildlife: Save Peter Rabbit

Dave Brooks — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 02:09:48 -0000

I have never heard of one - but that's far from definitive. I would suggest calling Vermont's equivalent of the cooperative extension service, probably run through the university. They would know.

Re: Old argument, digital vs. film

Dave Brooks — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 09:50:18 -0000

Come on - aren't there any analog snobs out there to rush in and say digital is inferior to those in the know (like the argument that has been put forward by vinyl-heads for a decade)?

Perhaps the great inconvenience of film photography (stained fingers and funny darkroom smells and all those film canisters!) swamps it ...

Re: Google Map “Street View” come to southern New Hampshire

Dave Brooks — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:17:22 -0000

How did you know they were Google cars - just from the camera setup?

Re: Tidbits from the AAAS in Boston

Dave Brooks — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 11:43:50 -0000

And I thought anonymous comments would lower the intelligence level of political discourse ...

Re: Faith and begorrah - no plastic bags

Dave Brooks — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 05:46:47 -0000

Remembering to haul the cloth bags with you when you go shopping is one of those lifestyle changes that prove surprisingly hard to make. But we've only got four people; a 50 percent family expansion would make it a lot harder!

Re: FiOS expanding in Mass.

Dave Brooks — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:42:53 -0000

It won't happen in NH, at least not for years, from what FairPoint told us; they have vague plans to eventually expand fiber optic ... but very vague

Re: Geek Sports: Go, chess, LAN gaming, FIRST, Lego, skepticism

Dave Brooks — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:35:17 -0000

I blogged about it a while ago - it's at the same time as the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing, includes Go, chess, bridge and checkers.

Re: This is why Charlie’s wife didn’t hand him a nickle as he went rumbling through the Scollay Square station!

Dave Brooks — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:15:14 -0000

Yes, it's now Government Center - as I should know because I have helped edit the wikipedia article about the song, which talks about Scollay Square.

Re: Overcome by logic

Dave Brooks — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:57:25 -0000

... water must shoot straight upward, right?

(I visited Australia many years ago, and one of the first things I did was flush the toilet and watch intently. Another fun fact debunked.)

Re: Powerspan chosen for big carbon-capture project in North Dakota

Dave Brooks — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:16:03 -0000

But some prominent researchers in the field say carbon sequestration needs to be part of the mix, because the situation is so bad. As you note, the real problem is if it makes people think "They're taking the carbon out anyway, so I don't need to conserve."

Re: Dean Kamen’s amazing (allegedly) water purifier

Dave Brooks — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:44:29 -0000

Kamen has been talking about the Stirling engine for years and years; the hope has always been that he'll figure out the tweaks to make it feasible. If he does/did then maybe this has a shot.

Re: In tech-laden southern NH, little interest in high school Science Olympiad

Dave Brooks — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 08:45:17 -0000

I'd never thought of checkers as a high-aerobic-use activity ... perhaps the error is mine.

Re: How a woman’s brain works

Dave Brooks — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:28:34 -0000

I fixed the link ... I hope!

Re: N.H. story on Maine law leads to Internet brouhaha

Dave Brooks — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:26:24 -0000

The link is fixed now

Re: Pessimism about alternative energy

Dave Brooks — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:35:24 -0000

Well, I still have that Google Map showing alternative-power plants in and around New Hampshire (see the left rail) ... so I guess I'm not totally a Gloomy Gus

Re: Alternative energy in New Hampshire: Not so great

Dave Brooks — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:25:19 -0000

This article strictly concerns electricity production, not electricity-use reduction - for many people, insulation will do more to reduce "carbon footprint" than all the gee-whiz machines in the world.

Re: Connection Problems

Dave Brooks — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:11:25 -0000

Try the user help forums for LifeType, which is the open source platform used for this blog.

http://forums.lifetype.net/

Re: U.S. Fish and Wildlife: Save Peter Rabbit

Dave Brooks — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:24:36 -0000

Vermont, Fish & Wildlife - 802-241-3700 or email at fwinformation@state.vt.us

Re: Prius ownership as profitable as a $56,738 investment?

Dave Brooks — Mon, 05 May 2008 02:36:11 -0000

You, sir, are exempt from all look-down-our-noses-at-big-vehicles snootiness! (Reminds me of my seven cousins; in the '60s, long before minivans, their family bought an airport taxi, a sedan with three doors on each side. It was *wicked* cool.)

Re: Expensive gas equals more transit riders … what a surprise!

Dave Brooks — Wed, 07 May 2008 02:10:16 -0000

If we could only tap all the underground explosions happening in East Coast cities with aginging sewer lines, we could power 5 billion homes for a day!

Re: “Alternative” power plants in and near N.H.

Dave Brooks — Sat, 10 May 2008 05:53:16 -0000

I've got a green undotted pin for the Berlin proposal, which is still in the works as of May 2008. The Busch-plant biomass project is slightly smaller than the 12-MW limit that I set myself, at 11 MW. (I had to draw the line somewhere! It was originally 25 MW, then 15, then 12 to fit in some wood-burning plants up north.)

Re: Good to be recognized

Dave Brooks — Wed, 21 May 2008 11:49:43 -0000

It just means that computers and software operate in an alternative universe that follows a different causality ...

Re: Nuclear debate in Vermont

Dave Brooks — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:32:03 -0000

My previous post (the one that I linked to) mentions this publication - it came from a conference based around the book.

Re: Photos from Space

Dave Brooks — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:17:34 -0000

Could be worse: the closest I got to the space program was living next door to a NASA engineer as a kid. I remember him showing close-up photos of the moon taken by Ranger 8* after it crash-landed with the cameras firing away.

*yes, I'm old

Re: Do you have broadband?

Dave Brooks — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:06:37 -0000

I live on the west side of town - last time I checked, it wasn't available there, but was available on the Amherst side. What part of town do you live in?

Re: Do you have broadband?

Dave Brooks — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:58:12 -0000

You're right, they say it's available. Maybe it from Veriz - er, Fairpoit as well, and I just hadn't noticed it. The company must have put in one of those remote offices between us and Milford.

Re: Dartmouth researcher tackles fake photos

Dave Brooks — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:24:10 -0000

It's also about five years old now ...

Re: Talking about new energy, climate change

Dave Brooks — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 09:40:41 -0000

Alas, as my "update" notes, I was unable to go because of a sudden change in my schedule at work ..

Re: Digital TV conversion woes

Dave Brooks — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:08:41 -0000

I agree that logically it would make no sense to have another delay. Human behavior is not a logical entity, however.

Re: “Rock Snot” in the Lake Champlain basin.

Dave Brooks — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:59:38 -0000

Excellent thought - I hadn't considered that birds could spread it.

Re: Solar panels atop a Prius - ho hum

Dave Brooks — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:10:56 -0000

Looks to me like marketing went off without checking with the engineering department.

Now Earle, you know that *never* happens ...

Re: Pay-off from solar hot water

Dave Brooks — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:41:18 -0000

Yes. I'll make that clear.

Re: Alternative power needs power lines

Dave Brooks — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:32:44 -0000

The Hull, Mass., plan is one of the "pins" on my alternative energy map, with links in the bubble. The reality, however, is that most places do not have the alternative energy sources to meet their own needs. Moving lots of power from places that have excess (wind in the Midwest, solar power in the Southwest, tidal power in the Bay of Fundy, wood power in Coos County, geothermal in Iceland, whatever) will always be a big part of the picture.

Re: Alternative power needs power lines

Dave Brooks — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:20:14 -0000

Good point - reducing the need for large-scale projects, by using small, local projects (or increasing local efficiency) is important. When I asked for the data last year, there were fewer than 100 small-scale projects (1 kW or so) in the entire state that fed power back into the grid. That has to change.

Re: When does Kamen get his Telsa?

Dave Brooks — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:57:43 -0000

Only a handful have been delivered so far - I would be very surprised if Kamen has gotten his yet. (And doesn't every designed-by-man-thinking-like- teenage-boy sports car look the same when they zip by on the highway?)

Re: We survived Plan 9 From Hacker Space

Dave Brooks — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 06:55:32 -0000

It'll cost you a million billion kajillion dollars! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Re: Apocalypse arrives: Computer beats human in Go

Dave Brooks — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:40:51 -0000

I missed the 9-stone handicap aspect. That does ramp back my panic mode. Still - beating an 8 dan is a huge jump over anything software has done before.

Re: Web site “editors” - are they employees or not?

Dave Brooks — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:00:45 -0000

Both sides have had comment and rebuttal, so this conversation need not be continued.

Re: Sea turtles off New England?

Dave Brooks — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:15:01 -0000

The idea that turtles end up this far north by semi-accident (as you said, and has long been believed) is being questioned by researchers. It seems that coming up here on the Gulf Stream is a normal part of their routine.

Re: Construction nears at Lempster Mountain Wind

Dave Brooks — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:53:46 -0000

Excellent point - I always wrestle with this, how to describe alt-power plants that aren't always on. I've toyed with developing a new unit of electric power production called The Seabrook, in which one Seabrook would be the amount of mwh that the nuke-power plant produces in an average year. So I believe Lempster would be roughly .01 Seabrooks; I'll have to crunch the numbers a bit more, though. (I hadn't noticed the mwh designation by Lempster - very foirthright of them!)

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