Technodad

This sounds almost too good to be true - hope it works out.

“When powered by renewable electricity and consuming globally abundant minerals and saline solutions, such systems at scale might provide a relatively efficient, high-capacity means to consume and store excess atmospheric CO2 as environmentally beneficial seawater bicarbonate or carbonate,” Rau said. “But the process also would produce a carbon-negative ‘super green’ fuel or chemical feedstock in the form of hydrogen.”

IBM has announced the Watson Engagement Advisor, a service based on Watson and available via smartphones. The initial target is customer support, but IBM makes it clear the scope is much wider:

For the first time, with the engagement advisor, we’re bringing Watson to the masses. Consumers will be able to experience this new level of personalized service through the brands they already have relationships with—their banks and investment advisors, their phone service providers, insurance companies, favorite stores and other trusted organizations.

Want to dispense with your home accent lighting? Try your hand at creating some bioluminescent shrubs with this DIY kit.

A new Boston Consulting Group study shows that not only is sub-Saharan Africa growing economically, but the growth is improving the well-being of the populace:

…an examination of countries around the world with the greatest recent progress in well-being shows that 8 of the top 30 countries are from Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the BBC, the lobster catch in Scotland is down 90% due to harsh winter weather. In Maine, however, the opposite problem applies: a record catch has driven lobster prices down sharply.

I expect we’ll see a spirited transatlantic trade in lobsters and hungry Scots.

A Verge writer lives without the internet for a year, and doesn’t like what he became:

But without the internet, it’s certainly harder to find people. It’s harder to make a phone call than to send an email. It’s easier to text, or SnapChat, or FaceTime, than drop by someone’s house. Not that these obstacles can’t be overcome. I did overcome them at first, but it didn’t last. It’s hard to say exactly what changed. I guess those first months felt so good because I felt the absence of the pressures of the internet. My freedom felt tangible. But when I stopped seeing my life in the context of “I don’t use the internet,” the offline existence became mundane, and the worst sides of myself began to emerge.

Former Arizona representative Gagy Giffords pulls no punches in describing the Senate failure to pass background checks on gun purchases:

“Speaking is physically difficult for me. But my feelings are clear: I’m furious. I will not rest until we have righted the wrong these senators have done, and until we have changed our laws so we can look parents in the face and say: We are trying to keep your children safe. We cannot allow the status quo — desperately protected by the gun lobby so that they can make more money by spreading fear and misinformation — to go on.”

It’s been known for a while that predominantly “red” states were deeper into the federal money trough than “blue” states - no surprise given the House controls budgets and especially earmarks, and the House has been under Republican control for a while.

So, in the greatest of ironies, these states will be hit the hardest by across-the-board mandatory budget cuts. Welcome to that smaller government you’ve been asking for, folks.

The Diamond Age has started at Staples:

A new service called “Staples Easy 3D” will allow customers to upload their designs to Staples’ website, then pick up the printed objects at their local office supply megastore, or have them shipped to their home or business — not unlike the photo- and document-printing service the company already offers.