Category Archives: Technology, science, and math

You hate mosquitoes, right? Of course you do – everybody does. So do I, but like most people I also hate having to apply mosquito repellant. It’s unplesant stuff that smells bad, but it’s a necessity of life in places … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Another top ten list, though I don’t feel as strongly about this one’s contents. It feels a bit too oriented towards modern phenomena, as such lists often are, but I’d have to do a little research before I could do … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Alas. Question: What ever happened to municipal Wi-Fi? Answer: Not much. Unless you want to count Earthlink’s announcement today that it will discontinue its municipal wireless network in Philadelphia, an experiment once touted as a new model of low-cost, public … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Via JK On the Phone, here’s a story that’s close to my heart. CANADIAN bureaucrats’ use of BlackBerry mobile devices and similar gadgets has become so prevalent that their union today called for extra wages for workers connected 24/7 to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’ve spent a lot of time cheering for the expansion of wind energy in Texas, but that’s far from the only renewable energy source out there. There’s other forms out there, and they deserve support as well. The HMNS blog … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This is good news. Saying that a belief in creationism — the theory that God created the Earth in six literal days, as recounted in the Bible — falls outside the realm of science, the state’s commissioner for higher education … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There is a fascinating op-ed in today’s Chron. It’s about the exponential growth of technology and how that will impact future energy options (the example given is solar which is very encouraging), medicine, life expectancy and prosperity. The life expectancy … Continue reading → Continue reading →

As SciGuy put it, we’re number one in carbon emissions here in Harris County. The first-ever analysis of county-by-county carbon dioxide emissions in the United States found that Harris County, which emits 18.6 million tons of CO2 per year, narrowly … Continue reading → Continue reading →

What do you do when you think someone may bring about the ultimate destruction of the earth and possibly the universe as we know it? File suit and hope for the best. More fighting in Iraq. Somalia in chaos. People … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Missed this over the weekend: The passage of Prop 15 last year meant the creation of an advisory board to determine how $3 billion in funds for cancer research will be spent. That board is being put together now and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Nothing like an advisory panel report to brighten up the weekend. A presidential panel Thursday said America’s math education system is “broken” and called on schools to focus lessons to ensure children from preschool to middle school master key skills. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It’s been too long since I’ve seen one of these stories. It kind of takes me back. For months there has been a rising chorus of alarm about the surging growth in the amount of data flying across the Internet. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

While the Harris County Sheriff’s Office has shown itself to be quite proficient at inappropriately deleting emails, for a real lesson in how it’s done you’ve got to turn to the White House. For President Bush, who expresses disdain for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The city of San Marcos is having second thoughts about a citywide WiFi plan due to the potential cost. Two years ago, San Marcos city leaders were eager to get a wireless network started. Like leaders of other cities, they … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It’s a known scientific fact that any article about science-y things that starts off with a quote from This Is Spinal Tap is worth reading. A scientist at Rice University has created the darkest material known to man, a carpet … Continue reading → Continue reading →

What were the big technology stories from last year? Dwight surveys his readers, while Houstonist looks at the local angle. I’d probably go with the iPhone followed by Windows Vista for the top story of the year, with the turmoil … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The best thing about this problem is that there’s a pretty clear solution, so dealing with it is hopefully just a matter of implementation: Because of rising demand for ethanol, American farmers are growing more corn than at any time … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Last week, the Chron published a characteristic piece of tripe from Charles Krauthammer, in which he claimed that the recent breakthrough by American scientist James A. Thomson and his Japanese colleague Shinya Yamanaka on an embryo-free way to produce genetically … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So we know that EarthLink is basically abandoning the municipal WiFi market, and we know that the original deal the city had with EarthLink is more or less kaput, in spirit if not yet in legal terms. Where do we … Continue reading → Continue reading →

From last week, more signs from EarthLink that they are done with the municipal WiFi business. Three years after Mayor John Street announced that Philadelphia would be the first major U.S. city to have its own wireless Internet network, the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I just have one question regarding this article about the hip, trendy, environmentally-conscious email sig making the rounds these days: Stephanie Fessler doesn’t drive a hybrid car, compost her orange peels or bring her own reusable cloth bags to the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So, how did you and your supposedly auto-adjusting timepieces do with the later-than-before end to Daylight Savings Time this weekend? Here’s my report: 1. Spiffy new alarm clock, which supposedly tracks DST information: Did not auto-adjust. So I figure either … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Is one of your timekeeping gadgets off by an hour this week? If so, you’re not alone. It might be silly to talk about the duplicitous hands of time or tick-tock treachery. But the fact remains that at least some … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Interesting article from CNet on the current state of citywide WiFi projects. Despite the recent onslaught of bad press, citywide and regional Wi-Fi networks are not dead. In fact, cities, such as Corpus Christi, Texas; Minneapolis, Minn.; and Philadelphia, are … Continue reading → Continue reading →

When I read this story, I had to check to make sure I wasn’t reading The Onion. Many mobile phone addicts and BlackBerry junkies report feeling vibrations when there are none, or feeling as if they’re wearing a cell phone … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Step one: If you receive an email claiming to have nekkid pictures of famous women contained within, do not open it, and for God’s sake do not click on any links or open any attachments. Just delete it unread. Step … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In a 100 years (give or take), oceans are expected to rise one meter (39 inches) and will wipe out the Jamestown settlement area, the lauch pad in Florida that sent man to the moon, Bush’s Kennebunkport home, John Edwards … Continue reading → Continue reading →

No doubt NASA administrator Mike Griffin wishes that the tale of a diaper-wearing astronaut who drove to Florida with black gloves, a wig, a BB pistol and ammunition, pepper spray, a 2-pound drilling hammer, rubber tubing, plastic garbage bags, an … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The future of the city’s ambitious wi-fi plan is questionable right now. From a Chron story by Carrie Feibel: Following months of delay, an ambitious plan to blanket Houston with wireless Internet signals now is in serious jeopardy. The city’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

All things considered, I’d have to say that this counts as pretty good news. For now, anyway. Should “intelligent design” – the cousin of creationism – be taught in science classes in Texas alongside evolution? A solid majority of the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Looks like EarthLink might be getting some cold feet over the WiFi deal they’ve inked with the City of Houston. Months after the City Council approved a contract to allow EarthLink Inc. to blanket Houston with a wireless network, the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Today’s the day that the city of Corpus Christi celebrates the end of its citywide WiFi installation. The city’s wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, network was sold in March to EarthLink for $5.5 million and an additional $340,000 during the first … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A comprehensive study of electronic voting machines used in California has exposed some security weaknesses in machines used here in Houston. The tests, administered by the University of California at Davis, found that absent tighter procedures, hackers could alter vote … Continue reading → Continue reading →