Category Archives: Technology and Society

General Science, Humor, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Space, Space Science, Technology and Society

The Eclipse In Southern California

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Would have liked to see totality (guess it remains on the bucket list, maybe 2024 or somewhere else sooner), but we got about sixty percent coverage here. There was a thick marine layer when we awoke, but the clouds broke up in time for us to watch the whole thing. As I saw the moon slice along the left side of the sun, it was easy to imagine it projecting the full shadow a thousand miles north. I took a picture of a natural pinhole camera with hundreds of crescents in our driveway.

A few of my eclipse jokes on Twitter:

Business, Technology and Society

Upgrading My Phone

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I’ve sworn that I’ll give up my mechanical keyboard when they take it from my cold, dead hands, but my Droid 4 is on its last legs, with an OS that’s becoming incompatible with too many apps. I’ve given up hope of continuing to have one, and am shopping for a new (used) phone. I’m not a power user, and can’t see spending $500+ on the latest and greatest, but I would like to get an older high-end machine. I was looking at the Moto G4+, but when I asked Verizon if the network supports it, they said no (which surprised me). They have a web page that says “Bring your own device,” but in order to check compatibility, you have to enter the device ID, which is kind of hard when one doesn’t actually have a device.

Anyway, I had a chat session with someone else at Verizon, who finally came up with a list of compatible devices for the past few years. I don’t know why it should be this hard, though.

Business, Culinary, General Science, Health, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Social Commentary, Technology and Society

The Lancet

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…has reviewed Nina Teichholz’s book:

Many readers will be incensed by this book. If you think saturated fats and cholesterol are bad for you, you’ll be incensed. If you think the fat story is exaggerated, you’ll be incensed. If you trust in the objectivity of science to inform health policy, you’ll be incensed. Stories of shocking scientific corruption and culpability by government agencies are all to be found in Nina Teicholz’s bestseller The Big Fat Surprise. This is a disquieting book about scientific incompetence, evangelical ambition, and ruthless silencing of dissent that has shaped our lives for decades.

Good for her.

Business, Space, Technology and Society

TDRS

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Today’s Atlas launch heralded an end of an era:

Younes suggested that those future data relay satellites might be owned and operated by commercial entities rather than NASA. “NASA’s optimum goal is to push the technology to enable the commercial sector such that these services can be provided by commercial providers, and NASA will not need in the future to build these kinds of capabilities,” he said. “They can become a user, like any other user.”

In general, NASA needs to move to procuring services, rather than hardware.