Meander » Technology

Food Sensitivity

Yaacov — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:56:34 +0000

The CBC has an article about how the closure of the Confederation Bridge for two days led to food shortages in PEI supermarkets. Just a quick reminder about how sensitive our current food system can be to disruptions in transportation or energy supply.

OLPC Lives

Yaacov — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:06:53 +0000

The One Laptop Per Child Project is apparently not dead.

Are You Talking To Me?

Yaacov — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:08:34 +0000

Some pictures of people conversing with their cellphones to the detriment of those around them.

Robots That Eat… Stuff

Yaacov — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:34:29 +0000

I’m starting a “we should have known this was a bad idea” category for my blog. And this definitely belongs in it.

Iceland’s Financial Crisis

Yaacov — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:33:21 +0000

Vanity Fair has an interesting article about how Iceland became a global financial power in five short years and then bankrupted itself in the financial crisis this past fall.

Floating Arctic Nuclear Reactors

Yaacov — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:47:01 +0000

The Guardian is reporting that Russia is building the first of five floating Arctic nuclear reactors. I’m not an expert, but operating a floating nuclear reactor in one of the world’s most pristine and inhospitable natural environments doesn’t sound like … Continue reading →

Carbon Offsets

Yaacov — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:26:25 +0000

The New Internationalist has a short and sweet article explaining what you should know about carbon offsets.

Josef Rotblat

Yaacov — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:32:09 +0000

Friday night I went to see the NFB documentary The Strangest Dream about Josef Rotblat, the only scientist to quit the Manhattan Project for reasons of conscience. The movie covered Rotblat’s life and the Pugwash conferences that bring scientists from around the world together to talk about nuclear weapons and other threats to human existence. Rotblat and the Pugwash movement won the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize.

After the film, Ernie Regehr, former director of Project Ploughshares, and Ramesh Thakur, former Assistant Secretary General of the UN, talked about current nuclear disarmament issues. They mentioned that there has recently been a significant change of opinion among the “old guard” in the U.S. from a view of nuclear weapons as necessary for deterrence to a support of complete disarmament. Saturday, the CBC had an article about the beginning of talks between the U.S. and Russia on further reductions in nuclear arsenals.

I recommend checking out the film if you get a chance.

The Pirate Bay

Yaacov — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:37:30 +0000

As the movie and music industries have faced up to the reality that they won’t be able to stop online file sharing, new stories about copyright issues have fallen off. But now The Pirate Bay, a popular website for file sharers, is being taken to court in Sweden, and CBC.ca has a great article explaining the case.

Cantankerous Frank

Yaacov — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:10:02 +0000

Check out this fantastic web comic. It’s called Cantankerous Frank and makes fun of our consumption society in general and the lack of wisdom around climate change in particular.