Everyone is staking their claim to Antarctica these days; China just built its fourth research base there, which is shaped like a lantern. China’s now spending about $55 million per year on the Antarctic; 15-20 years ago, they were spending $20… Continue Reading
The above clip is from CBS Evening News last night; it deals with drought levels in the Western U.S., specifically in Lake Mead, which is the primary water source for about 20 million people in southern Nevada and southern California. They currently… Continue Reading
Apple’s new patent — U.S. number 8,638,549 — concerns a rear plate for the MacBook. It could be used to house solar cells. (The correct term is photovoltaic, but I’m trying to keep things relatively clean here.) From Apple Insider: Finally, Apple… Continue Reading
Niger Innis is running for Congress in Nevada on the tea party side of the GOP nomination process; ultimately, he’d face Steven Horsford in a general election (if he gets that far). This is for the Nevada 4th District, a new… Continue Reading
In 2013, we saw a shift in marijuana legalization viewpoint — more people approved it than not. That led to legalization in Colorado, which led to the first person ever to buy it legally in Colorado, which led to this epic… Continue Reading
You can find pretty good summaries all over the Internet (including here, here, and here), but the basic situation is this: a company called Freedom Industries — which actually works with water treatment chemicals — spilled 7,500 gallons of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, or… Continue Reading
A couple of days ago in The Washington Post, they ran an article about the Koch Brothers’ impact on the 2012 elections. In short, it was about $400 million through various “dark money” groups that they work with (one of the… Continue Reading
Cool fact: every hour, the Sun provides the Earth with enough energy to power civilization for a year. Uncool fact: only about 34 percent of all sunlight hitting a solar cell can actually be converted to electricity at this point, meaning it’s not… Continue Reading