Archive for the 'Infrastructure' Category
Google Goes Offline After Fibre Cables Cut
December 20th, 2019Via: BBC: Severed fibre optic cables disrupted internet access in parts of eastern Europe, Iran and Turkey on Thursday. The issue, which lasted for about two hours, was caused by multiple fibre cables being physically cut at the same time, a highly unusual thing to happen. Google said its services were among those unavailable in […]
New Zealand: Meridian, Contact Accused of $60m Power Market Abuse
December 16th, 2019Imagine my shock. Via: New Zealand Herald: Contact Energy and Meridian Energy have been accused of extracting more than $60 million from consumers by over-charging for their electricity while spilling water from their South Island dams. Haast Energy Trading has complained to the Electricity Authority that the two firms have breached the good conduct provisions […]
Recently Retired USAF General Makes Eyebrow Raising Claims About Advanced Space Technology
December 16th, 2019Update: Is Starlink Going to Drop The American Culture Bomb on China? If you’re like me, you’ve been wondering: What is Starlink’s actual purpose? I didn’t entirely believe the prosaic narrative about better rural broadband Internet and a funding source for Elon Musk’s Mars aspirations, etc. Well, it might be about those things at some […]
California Faces Decade of ‘Unique’ Wildfire Blackouts
November 22nd, 2019Via: Reuters: California utility PG&E Corp has imposed 10 intentional blackouts this year to reduce risks its power infrastructure could spark wildfires and said they will continue for a decade. PG&E initially said outages would happen only a couple of times a year, but millions of Californians were hit by four massive shutdowns in October […]
Astronomers Despair As SpaceX Starlink Train Ruins Observation Of Nearby Galaxies
November 19th, 2019That’s just the first 120 Starlink satellites out of tens of thousands that will go up in next few years. Via: Fortune: In the early hours of the morning today, Monday, November 18, two astronomers checked in on their remotely operated telescope in Chile, expecting to see images of distant stars and galaxies. Instead, they […]
Japan: Wind and Solar Power Plants Will Be Built on Fukushima Farmland Polluted by Fallout from 2011 Disaster
November 18th, 2019Via: Daily Mail: Farmland in Fukushima that was rendered unusable after the disastrous 2011 nuclear meltdown is getting a second chance at productivity. A group of Japanese investors has created a new plan to use the abandoned land to build wind and solar power plants, to be used to send electricity to Tokyo. The plan […]
Blackouts, Fires, High Gas Prices: Who Wants to Live in California Today?
November 8th, 2019Via: Wall Street Journal: One crisis rolls into another in parts of Golden State; ‘If I wasn’t as old as I am, I would pack up and get the hell out’
Self Sabotage: The Strange Swiss History of Rigging Vital Infrastructure to Explode
November 5th, 2019Via: 99percentinvisible: Jagged concrete protrusions span for miles along the Swiss Alps. They have been cheerily dubbed “Toblerone Lines” after the famous Swiss chocolate maker, but they have other names, too. More ominous monikers like “dragon teeth” may better fit their original function: to repel invading tanks and other vehicles in wartime. These lines represent […]
‘Starlink Is a Very Big Deal’
November 3rd, 2019This contains some techno-optimist glossolalia, but it’s the most informative piece I’ve found on Starlink so far. Via: Casey Handmer’s Blog: Starlink, SpaceX’s plan to serve internet via tens of thousands of satellites, is a staple in the space press, with articles appearing every week on the latest developments. The broad schema is clear and, […]
Portion of Keystone Pipeline Shut Down After 380,000-Gallon Oil Leak in North Dakota
November 2nd, 2019Via: USA Today: A portion of the Keystone Pipeline in North Dakota was shut down this week after more than 380,000 gallons of oil leaked, the pipeline owner said in a statement. Meanwhile, environmental groups argue that the spill and the pipeline’s volatility is why the separate Keystone XL pipeline should not be built. Pipeline […]
