Category Archives: Uncategorized

A Wasted Genius: Nigel Richards

Posted on February 25, 2014 by jlredford

I recently saw a nice documentary, “Word Wars”, on an odd subject,  professional Scrabble players.   It followed four of them as they made their way around the circuit, aiming for the national tournament in 2002.  The first prize there was … Continue reading →

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Corrupting Science – Hayes, Syngenta and Atrazine

Posted on February 8, 2014 by jlredford

In the last Gilded Age, the railroad baron Jay Gould is supposed to have said about union sympathizers “I can hire one-half of the working class to kill the other half”.   In the current age, the same can be said … Continue reading →

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Pete Seeger, Almost Entirely Right

Posted on January 29, 2014 by jlredford

Pete Seeger’s recent death reminded me of the only time I got to hear him.  I happened to be walking through MIT one afternoon in 2000 when I saw a poster advertising a concert of his.   It was over at … Continue reading →

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The Future Is Living Around You

Posted on January 27, 2014 by jlredford

A while ago the SF site io9.com asked What’s the Most Futuristic Thing About You?.    They were wondering if their readership was part of that unequally distributed future that William Gibson writes so memorably about.   The replies described the amazing … Continue reading →

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Criminal Inventors

Posted on December 30, 2013 by jlredford

So the “Breaking Bad” TV series has ended, and with it the career of the chemist and criminal mastermind Walter White.   It was nice in a macabre way to see a technical person portrayed as dangerous and alluring, rather than … Continue reading →

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Antarctica Will Save Us All, Maybe

Posted on December 12, 2013 by jlredford

Just in time for the start of winter, NASA scientists have identified the coldest place on Earth: -93.2 C (-136 F) on a high ridge in Antarctica.  Full story here.  That beats the previous record of -89.2 C (-128.6 F) … Continue reading →

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The Lost Engineering Paradise of DEC

Posted on November 12, 2013 by jlredford

I was saddened to hear the recent news that Intel is closing its Hudson MA semiconductor fab.  It’s 35 years old, and couldn’t be upgraded to the latest process nodes.  It’s still using 200 mm diameter wafers and a 130 … Continue reading →

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“Gravity” and Retreating From Space

Posted on October 6, 2013 by jlredford

I was once surfing around the cable channels when I came upon a screen that was almost completely white. Almost, but not quite – slight ripples and whorls were moving slowly across it. There was hardly any sound, just a … Continue reading →

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Where Are Movies Made?

Posted on June 29, 2013 by jlredford

Mainly the US, as one would expect.  As in the post What Are Movies About, I looked at the IMDB databases to find out in what countries movies get made.  I took their list of titles and removed works marked … Continue reading →

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Adding Glitz to NASA: the Interstellar Probe

Posted on May 31, 2013 by jlredford

Hmm, what should NASA do next after the spectacular Curiosity mission?  A solar observer?  Seen that.  A lunar orbiter?  Like the ones China and India already did?  A Mars orbiter?  Like the several that are already there?    Even I … Continue reading →

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