Granite Geek NH @granitegeeknh.bsky.social

Daily newspaper reporter for 48 years & counting. Concord Monitor (New Hampshire, the Granite State). Sci/tech, business, energy, environment. Granite Geek blog & newsletter since 2006: granitegeek.org. dbrooks@cmonitor.com. he/him

forgot the link

www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/12/metro/nh-mustard-company-river-pollution-sentence/?event=event12
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I wrote about this company's troubles many, many years ago, back when the Nashua Telegraph thought it had staff to expand into the Mascenic Valley.

It didn't, not even back in the 90s heyday of small-city newspapers
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A 5-parter from SMBC and a brainy pal giving an example of pure mathematics becoming useful in everyday life.

www.smbc-comics.com/comic/spheres-part-1
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7 GW equal to the output of 6 Seabrook Station nuclear power plants, to give a New Hampshire-oriented measurement.
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Estimated rooftop solar in New England topped 7 GW yesterday for the first time, one year after it topped 6 GW for the first time. Utility solar is creeping up toward 1 GW.

www.gridstatus.io/records/isone?record=Maximum%20BTM%20Solar
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About 3.6 million babies were born in the US in 2025, about 53 births for every 1,000 women of reproductive age. That rate is down about 1% from 2024 and nearly 20% lower than two decades ago.

edition.cnn.com/2026/04/09/health/fertility-rate-record-low-2025
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I'm not a fan of the British monarchy but he's right on the money with this statement.

"The increasingly catastrophic effects of climate change are surely a siren-call to the world for more urgent action."
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There's a daycare on the ground floor of our building. The 3-year-olds (I'd guess) are outside playing tag and the cacophony of squeals is something to behold.

How do those tiny lungs produce so much noise?
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This is an excellent, thought-provoking interview. It's worth a read. Some of the conclusions are not what I would like to believe about how the world works but it is very compelling.
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Why is it when you're trying to think of a word - "it's on the tip of my tongue!" - it helps to walk around? Do our neurons need to be jiggled to work, like a bad light switch?
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Reposted by Granite Geek NH
sictransitphl.bsky.social's profile picture
Sic Transit PHL @sictransitphl.bsky.social
5d
This is the space program functioning as intended.
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New nukes would be great but renewables (and batteries, lots of batteries!) are here already

www.concordmonitor.com/2026/04/06/nuclear-power-new-hampshire/
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An important analysis that, among other things, tells us that Moby-Dick is funnier than the latest FERC decisions about utility's return on investment.

www.concordmonitor.com/2026/04/07/my-turn-eversource-roe-challenge-ferc/
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Decades of self-branding works - confirmed in snail mail.
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EVs are great but they do have drawbacks. Batteries that re-ignite days after an accident damaged them - that's probably the biggest drawback.
www.concordmonitor.com/2026/04/06/firefighters-ev-battery-blaze-nh/
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Ogden Nash was my favorite poet as a kid and he's still right up there.
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Munching on my mid-morning snack, I am reminded of Ogden Nash's contribution to gastronomic poetry:

Celery raw / is good for the jaw
but celery stewed / is more quietly chewed
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Ouch.
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This is the sort of entry-level conspiracy thinking that college sophomores spout and mid-career adults reject as simplistic - but which the last decade has made me realize that it's absolutely correct.
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Freedom (to buy whatever you want) carries responsibility (to cover any resulting costs to society)
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Reposted by Granite Geek NH
arstechnica.com's profile picture
Ars Technica @arstechnica.com
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A perfectly balanced electricity market!
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The result of institutional lies "has not been better skepticism. It has been the migration of trust from one set of financially motivated actors to another."
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If you don't test a medicine you won't find anything bad that people can point to.
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have you played with the new "modes" on XKCD? They are as clever as you'd expect: Airplane mode! Stained Glass mode! Modem mode (be careful with that one)! Antipodes mode!
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Growing crops (mostly leafy greens) indoors sounds great but making it work financially is tough. This northern New Hampshire project can't meet payroll.

www.conwaydailysun.com/berlin_sun/business/local/north-country-growers-suspends-operations-pending-new-financing/article_747e4d8f-a693-4890-bbe8-426e4551503d.html
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Nice story. No particular news hook (i.e., why is is being written today?) but that doesn't matter. Good background information on a part of life often overlooked.

I love this kind of story.

www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/03/metro/fire-alarm-boxes/
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Reposted by Granite Geek NH
tamarhaspel.bsky.social's profile picture
Tamar Haspel @tamarhaspel.bsky.social
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An acre of solar panels produces 50-200x more energy than an acre of crops for fuel.

That's why growing fuel on farmland is nuts.
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Reposted by Granite Geek NH
commercialsolarguy.com's profile picture
Commercial Solar Guy @commercialsolarguy.com
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Stock-flow border being crossed. That’s really cool. Wonder what infrastructure nuances have arisen.

Norway has low electricity pricing. Will dream of cheap clean movement arise? Automated electric buses that runs 24/7 and can charge anywhere.
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This story isn't a direct "Trump/RFK are a disaster" story but every paragraph indirectly reminds us that Trump/RFK are a disaster.
newhampshirebulletin.com/2026/04/03/us-scientists-sequence-1000-genomes-from-measles-a-disease-long-eliminated-with-vaccines/
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