Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/tag/science-and-technology/page/4/)
There’s a drive to bring open meeting regulations into the new century by no longer requiring meeting organizers to post notices in print. I think there are some good reasons to do this – and some good reasons not to make the change. (There’s a nice information brief on open meeting if you need a refresher.) Continue Reading
Let me be clear as possible about that headline. No, don’t stop fighting global warming. Don’t stop trying to do something about it. Yes, stop fighting about it. Stop wasting time with science deniers. That means stop arguing with the crazy uncle at family gatherings and the dittohead at the watercooler. Don’t let the trolls hijack the comment threads and cause you to frustrate yourself trying to convince the unconvincible. Continue Reading
You can’t keep a good Minnesota activist down! Saturday’s Capitol Code, initiated by Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, drew a public-spirited crowd of open government enthusiasts who braved the slipperiest streets in the hemisphere to share ideas, tools and apps. The free and open event at Uptown Cocoa was well organized by state staffers and Bill Bushey of OpenTC’s. The buzz of the worker bees at Uptown CoCo offered a lively take on the information chain at work as data and ideas flowed to and from policy makers, data producers, app developers and the public. Continue Reading
At the center of discussion across the nation on rights of privacy is a little tool which more than 90 percent of Americans have: the cell phone, smart phone or variation of (personal device). Continue Reading
With little oversight and minimal regulation, cell phones and other electronic devices have the ability to track and collect information to a degree that one legislator called the “Wild West.”
MNsure’s website problems have brought lot’s of attention to the agency. Many million’s of your dollars have been spent to set up the agency and web portal. But is it really the problem of MNsure or is it how the State of Minnesota organizes, processes, and builds it’s information technology systems. Continue Reading
There are three principles that drove me to take out my rod and reel to go trolling for this elusive secret mark, Kingfish. Continue Reading
It appears that meteors of the sort that exploded in the air near Chelyabinsk in Russia are more common than scientists thought. The speeding rock caused a sensation when it streaked across the Russian sky last February, and the airborne blast created a concussion that broke windows. The bright light gave some people burned skin and the shock wave caused injuries on the ground. Continue Reading
Last week I attended the Cyber Security Summit in downtown Minneapolis. It’s a big event hosting lots of corporate and public security experts. I started to take full notes and realized that much of the detail was probably too much for most of the BoB readers (and me)!. So I decided to report back on highlights and broad swaths instead. Continue Reading
The Bell Museum of Natural History’s renovation was not included in the University of Minnesota’s 2014 capital budget request, but a state legislator still plans to advocate for state money for the project.The University Board of Regents approved the 2014 request last week, which asks for about $233 million in state funding for construction projects. Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL-St. Paul, said she will exceed that request when authoring this year’s bonding bill.In addition to the six construction projects listed on the University’s request, Hausman said she will add the Bell Museum to the House’s bonding bill. It’s a request she’s been trying to fund since 2004.If passed, funding for the museum would be used to build a larger, more advanced facility and a planetarium on the University’s St. Paul campus.Hausman, who has a history of advocating for construction projects around the University, said this upcoming legislative session is the “last chance” for the project’s renovation to obtain state funding.She said because it’s her last year as chairwoman of the House Capital Investment Committee, and because the University has not shown recent interest in asking for funding for the project, this is the museum’s final shot.“At a certain point you say, ‘If it doesn’t happen this year, this is never going to happen,’” Hausman said.In the capital budget request, which will be presented to legislators in February, the University prioritized construction projects like renovating the Tate Laboratory of Physics, which calls for $56.7 million in state funding.The 2013 bonding bill, which Hausman sponsored, included $47.5 million to create a new Bell Museum on the University of Minnesota’s St. Continue Reading