Archives,
2009

January 10, 2009 [LINK / comment]

Climate change: then and now

Two recent news items offer divergent views on a perpetual controversy: climate change. First, there was a news item about a geological discovery that might explain the mass extinctions that took place in North America 12,900 years ago, as the Woolly mammoths and Saber-toothed tigers vanished from the face of the earth. The human race also suffered, as the prehistoric "Clovis people" disappeared. Scientists now believe that a massive comet or meteor struck North America at that time, and now they have evidence: tiny crystalline carbon particles called "nanodiamonds" have been found at many sites across the continent, at the same stratum of earth sediment. See the Washington Post

A more recent phenomenon is global warming. Many people fear that melting polar caps are causing the oceans to rise, threatening to cover most of Florida, the Seychelles Islands, Bangladesh, and other low-lying areas. Surprisingly, there has been a rapid rebound in recent months, and global sea ice levels are now the same as they were 29 years ago. This casts doubt on recent predictions that the North Pole ice cap could completely melt away this year. Read the article by Michael Asher at dailytech.com; hat tip to Dan. Cancel the polar bear extinction watch.

January 16, 2009 [LINK / comment]

Steve Jobs takes sick leave

There was some disquieting news from Cupertino, California earlier this month. In a letter to the Apple Community Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs admitted that his "health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought," saying that his severe weight loss over the past year was the result of a "hormone imbalance." Many people are afraid that the pancreatic cancer which he suffered five years ago might have resurfaced, however. In an Apple media advisory this past Wednesday, Jobs announced that until his expected return to work this summer, chief operating officer Tim Cook would "be responsible for Apple's day to day operations." Jobs failed to show up at the annual MacWorld exhibition for the first time ever, making many people nervous. Apple's stock fell over 10% after the announcement by Jobs. See Washington Post.

The news that Jobs is in worse physical condition than previously thought is dismaying on several levels. For hard-core Apple / Macintosh devotees like me, it's extremely hard to face up to the mortality of our "cult leader." It's hard to imagine how the pioneering computer company could remain on the cutting edge of technological development without someone of Jobs' enormous vision and energy.

On a more serious note, I join Mac users around the world in offering prayers for Steve Jobs' prompt return to full health.

January 27, 2009 [LINK / comment]

Cell phones vs. Gorillas

It took me years before I finally started using a cellular telephone on a regular basis, and I still think they hinder effective interpersonal communication as much as they enhance it. As with most such technological advances, there are some collateral environmental issues to think about. It happens that cell phone circuit boards rely upon a particular rare metal alloy called Coltan, which stands for Columbite-Tantalite, which is composed of the elements Niobium (atomic number 41) and Tantalum (atomic number 73, in the same valence column, the next row down in the Periodic Table). Most Coltan is mined in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (ex-Zaire), which is where one of the few remaining populations of Mountain Gorillas live. Unless someone can figure out how to allocate some of the vast revenues earned by the cell phone industry to protect that precious wildlife habitat, Mountain Gorillas may become extinct. See cellular-news.com; hat tip to Connie.