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Pssst: There's no such thing as 'peak' leaf-peeping season - Granite Geek
August has disappeared, and thoughts are turning to leaf-peeping season, which means it is time for the annual New Hampshire tradition of everybody asking “Why are the trees changing color so early this year?” The answer is that they aren’t, mostly. Every year ,some trees begin changing leaves in late August, and every year, that […]
Pulling up a 1,500-pound rail is a machinery lover’s delight - Granite Geek
Like many people, I am sad that the extension of the Greenway Trail through Concord will kill the Scenic Railriders business with its quirky pedaled train cars. On the other hand, I can’t wait to see what sort of machinery CSX brings here to pull up and haul off six miles of steel rail that […]
Maine Monitor: Facing pushback on land, Maine’s space industry looks to the sea - Granite Geek
The independent Maine Monitor has a story how the Maine Space Corporation, which lawmakers recently voted to make a nonprofit, is looking into sea-based launch platforms. It is in talks with The Spaceport Company, a Virginia-based startup that focuses on mobile floating spaceports, about acquiring access to its launch platform. The company recorded the first rocket […]
NH patents through Aug. 31 - Granite Geek
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through Aug. 31. *** Toe Cap for Footwear TBL LICENSING LLC, Stratham, New Hampshire has been assigned a design patent (No. US D1090009 S1, initially […]
Another late summer, another flash drought - Granite Geek
Back in 2021 I wrote about the new-to-me (and relatively new to everybody) concept of a “flash drought.” That sounds like an oxymoron since “drought” usually reflects accumulated dryness rather than a quick-hit event. But as we saw last summer and fall, it doesn’t take long to go from not bad to very bad even […]
Science Cafe Nashua: PFAs - Granite Geek
Science Cafe in Nashua will discuss PFAs at their session Sept. 16 (a Tuesday). This is a topic that has grown from “there’s one bad place in Merrimack” to “those things are absolutely everywhere” which makes the response much more complicated. Discussion starts at 6 p.m. at Soel Sistas, a fine restaurant and bar, at […]
It's so dry that Hubbard Brook sampling is affected - Granite Geek
News from Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, where low water flows are making it hard to collect samples, which has been done for decades: Tammy Wooster of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies is based at Hubbard Brook and travels into the Forest to collect samples. Here’s how she describes it: “it sure is dry out there, […]
Wet spring made fireflies happy - Granite Geek
I haven’t seen many fireflies at my house this year but perhaps I’m an anomaly. The Monitor has a story saying their numbers are good in New Hampshire – you can read it here. On top of that, the northeast experienced a wetter-than-average fall two years ago, which was critical for freshly born larvae to […]
Betty & Barney Hill's UFO abduction could be a big-budget film - Granite Geek
NHPR has an interview (here) with a UFO podcast guy – a serous one, not a goofball – that reminded me how Betty & Barney Hills’ alien abduction could eventually be hitting movie theaters: “Toby Ball is an author and host of the podcast “Strange Arrivals” about the Hills’ experience and UFO folklore. The podcast […]
Nashua displays public A.I. art, perhaps a first (it's on trash cans, which seems appropriate) - Granite Geek
Nashua, N.H., has put out some of those Big Belly solar trash cans onto the street; they compact the trash to reduce the amount of times staff has to empty them. Paul Shea, a member of the Nashua Board of Public Works who has long been active in the city, put up a Facebook post […]
N.H. sweeping-but-vague ban on cell phones in schools has everybody flummoxed - Granite Geek
New Hampshire legislators have jumped on the cell-phones-are-bad-for-kids bandwagon (which is a legitimate bandwagon, BTW) but they did it in a such a sweeping and vague way that everybody’s confused. Basically the law says that cell phones aren’t allowed in the school between opening and closing bell. Or something like that. The Concord Monitor has […]
N.H. patents through Aug. 24 - Granite Geek
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through Aug. 24. ***Fluid Detection Systems and Methods Using the Same WATTS REGULATOR CO., North Andover, Massachusetts has been assigned a patent (No. US 12392919 […]
N.H. GOP kowtows to Trump's anti-wind power fixation - Granite Geek
The state has taken “offshore wind” out of the title of what is now the Office of Energy Innovation, part of the Trump Party’s irrational tirade against wind turbines, as Canary Media reports. New Hampshire’s GOP-controlled (but just barely) House has plunged deeply into the misguided FUD against our best chance to have large-scale electricity […]
This nasty invasive bug suddenly isn't very invasive - what happened? - Granite Geek
Gather round, dear readers, and let me tell you the story of a nasty invasive insect. No, wait, don’t run away — this is a happy story. And it involves a cute dog named Izzy. Our story concerns the Asian longhorned beetle, a beetle native to east Asia that, no surprise, has long horns (well, […]
N.H. says one staircase is enough (which is a big deal) - Granite Geek
In what I regard as a pleasant surprise, the state legislature (a body of which I am not usually fond) did a clever thing this session by making one of those easy-to-overlook changes that can improve life. “A lot of states are looking at doing this. New Hampshire did it in the cleanest way,” said […]
Rerun: Space Force in a New Hampshire town with a weird history of trying to overcome gravity - Granite Geek
EDITOR’S NOTE: There will be no Granite Geek next week. I know that’s a big blow, so as compensation I’m rerunning this piece from 2020 that discusses perhaps my favor NH history story, the Gravity Research Foundation. I am happy to say that the Space Force has come to New Hampshire, although not in the […]
Farm store for sale amid struggles of direct-to-consumer model - Granite Geek
For two decades I’ve been writing about the transition that New Hampshire agriculture has gone through, from a few large farms growing a single crop (apples, for example) that is sold en masse to wholsalers, to many small farms that grow a bunch of stuff (veggies, meat, flowers) and sell it directly to consumers. I […]
NH patents through Aug. 10 - Granite Geek
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through Aug. 10. Power Budget Calculation Using Power Headroom PARALLEL WIRELESS, INC., Nashua, New Hampshire has been assigned a patent (No. US 12382401 B2, initially […]
When floods hit dirt roads, runoff hits waterways - Granite Geek
I live across the street from a dirt road that runs down a short but steep hill. When there are really heavy rains, as happens more often these days thanks to our warming atmosphere, sand can flow clear across the road into my driveway and the town has to come out and push the sand […]
NH patents through Aug. 3 - Granite Geek
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through Aug. 3. *** Reinforced Wood Fiber Core and Method of Making Thereof SOUHEGAN WOOD PRODUCTS INC., Wilton, New Hampshire has been assigned a patent […]
Mass. town banned gas hookups, 'did not slow new construction or make it more expensive' - Granite Geek
Canary Media has a story about Lexington, Mass., doing what more towns should do – banning new nat-gas hookups in buildings – and the result on housing construction. Surprisingly, perhaps, it had no effect. Whether this is translatable everywhere is uncertain, since Lexington is a pretty well off town in an area with a ton […]
The NH state marsupial is ... - Granite Geek
The opossum, of course. What other choice was there? U-L story here. When I was a kid, possums were a southern thing. I don’t think they were found in New Hampshire back then, or at least were very rare. Just another species moving north as we change the climate.
NH: At least we don't have to worry about wildfires like out West. Climate change: Oh, yeah? - Granite Geek
Compound interest in banks is fun. Compound disasters in our surroundings, not so much. Consider wildfires, as the town of Henniker is currently doing. We haven’t thought much about wildfires in New Hampshire for 125 years, since the White Mountains stopped being ignited by cinders from logging trains. But climate change is bringing wildfires back […]
Dartmouth joins search for ways to use AI to treat addiction and mental health disorders - Granite Geek
ChatGPT and other AI language models can drive people crazy (as has been shown, alarmingly) so maybe it can help keep them sane. That’s roughly the idea behind “a new artificial intelligence institute backed by the National Science Foundation, building on the university’s pioneering research in developing digital therapeutics for treating addiction and behavioral and […]
NH firm: We're first to deploy 1 million kilometers of undersea cables - Granite Geek
New Hampshire, like many places, has a lot of large companies that few know about because they don’t sell directly to consumers. SubCom of Newington is one of those. It recently celebrated a milestone this month when it became the first company to deploy 1 million kilometers of subsea cable systems. It helps that it […]
Manchester's airport is too close to Logan for its own good (redux) - Granite Geek
Manchester-Boston Regional Airport was the only airport in New England to see passenger traffic decline last year, despite the arrival of new airlines and routes. While the decline was small — less than 1 percent — the numbers are a disappointment to boosters of what was once the fastest-growing airport in the country. This reflects […]
That weird carved plaque on Kearsarge has seen better days - Granite Geek
In my long journalism career I have never had a chance to combine geometry, historical preservation, vandalism, hiking, map-making, state governance and giant poles atop nail kegs into a single article. Until today. The story’s news hook, as we journalists say, involves what might be the state’s most unusual historical plaque. It was carved into […]
NH patents through July 27 - Granite Geek
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through July 27. Controlled-Impedance Compliant Cable Termination ARDENT CONCEPTS, INC., Hampton, New Hampshire has been assigned a patent (No. US 12368270 B2, initially filed May […]
How to get weather emergency alerts - Granite Geek
The flooding in Texas. North Carolina and New York City, wildfires in Canada and record-breaking heat in New England are reminders that the supercharged climate means disaster can strike anywhere at any time. It also means that interest in weather alerts and emergency preparation, once limited to places like Tornado Alley, are entering the New […]
Air conditioning is killed the planet (said the guy with whole-house heating) - Granite Geek
You know those irritating people who like to announce that they don’t watch TV as if it’s a mark of cultural superiority? I’m afraid that I’m one of them, except my snobbery involves air conditioning. “Air conditioning?” I’ll ask with a wry smile, amused at the presumption. “We don’t have that in our house. This […]
'World’s largest permanent Lego installation at minifigure scale' - Granite Geek
That is how SEE Science Center in Manchester’s Millyard describes its enormous (22 feet long) model of the millyard built with Lego bricks. I think “permanent” is the key word because I’ve seen larger city models at Legolands but that’s nit-picking. If you’re a Lego fan (and I suspect a non-small portion of people who […]
NH governor vetoes law to make it easier to skip vaccines - Granite Geek
In a pleasant surprise, Gov. Ayotte has vetoed (that is, killed) House Bill 358, which would make it easier for parents to apply for religious exemptions to child vaccine requirements in school. New Hampshire used to have a very good rate of vaccination for kids entering kindergarten but it has slipped badly as part of the […]
Net-zero development in NH to open - Granite Geek
A net-zero housing development in Hudson that I wrote about a year ago will have a ribbon cutting next week. This 13-lot, 26-unit condex (duplex condos) subdivision features all-electric homes designed to produce as much energy as they consume thanks to high-performance building design, rooftop solar, and smart energy systems. They cost $700,000 each, which […]
NH keeps growing slowly with a few hot (and cold) spots - Granite Geek
See the interactive map at https://nhfpi.org/blog/lakes-and-mountains-lead-new-hampshires-population-growth-while-some-cities-shrink/ From NH Fiscal Policy Institute: New U.S. Census Bureau estimates indicate that while New Hampshire’s population grew by about 30,300 people (2.2 percent) between 2020 and 2024, that growth was not evenly distributed across municipalities. The Lakes Region and White Mountains saw some of the fastest population increases, likely […]
NH patents through July 20 - Granite Geek
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through July 20. Thermocompression Bonding With Passivated Gold Contacting Metal SET NORTH AMERICA, LLC, Chester, New Hampshire has been assigned a patent (No. US 12363877 […]
Rooftop solar cut New England's power needs by 5% last year - Granite Geek
From ISO-NE: Solar power installations that are not directly connected to the region’s grid reduced the amount of electricity consumed by New Englanders in 2024 by about 5%. Photovoltaic (PV) systems that are considered “behind all meters” last year reduced demand on New England’s bulk electric system by an estimated 5,266 gigawatt-hours (GWh)—enough electric energy […]