Why Apple Has A Fingerprint Sensor On Its Phone And Google Doesn't -- January 26, 2015

Flashback: End Of Snow -- New York Times, Last February (2014)

The New York Times reported back in February, 2014:

The planet has warmed 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1800s, and as a result, snow is melting. In the last 47 years, a million square miles of spring snow cover has disappeared from the Northern Hemisphere.

Europe has lost half of its Alpine glacial ice since the 1850s, and if climate change is not reined in, two-thirds of European ski resorts will be likely to close by 2100.

The same could happen in the United States, where in the Northeast, more than half of the 103 ski resorts may no longer be viable in 30 years because of warmer winters. As far for the Western part of the country, it will lose an estimated 25 to 100 percent of its snowpack by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are not curtailed — reducing the snowpack in Park City, Utah, to zero and relegating skiing to the top quarter of Ajax Mountain in Aspen.

The facts are straightforward: The planet is getting hotter. Snow melts above 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The Alps are warming two to three times faster than the worldwide average, possibly because of global circulation patterns.

Since 1970, the rate of winter warming per decade in the United States has been triple the rate of the previous 75 years, with the strongest trends in the Northern regions of the country. Nine of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 2000, and this winter is already looking to be one of the driest on record — with California at just 12 percent of its average snowpack in January, and the Pacific Northwest at around 50 percent. 

The facts are: warming stopped 19 years ago. 

 

I wonder how many readers were aware of that: that snow melts above 32 degrees Fahrenheit. 

California has had a much wetter winter this year, by the way. 

As for skiing in Aspen, Colorado? Our granddaughters had a great ski trip in December to the Aspen area. 

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Wind Energy

 

For all its talk about renewable energy and wind energy, Germany has less wind energy capacity than that other economic European powerhouse, Spain. LOL.  Wind capacity, 2013, in million MWh:

• US: 168
• China: 136
• Spain: 56
• Germany: 52
  

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iPhone Fingerpoint Sensor

Why Apple's iPhone has a fingerprint sensor and Google's Motorola's Nexus 6 does not. Business Insider is reporting:

If you've ever used the Nexus 6, you might notice the subtle dimple on the back of the phone where the Motorola logo is located.

That indent was originally supposed to house a fingerprint sensor, but an Apple acquisition changed those plans.

Apple bought Authentec, a company that makes fingerprint sensors, for $356 million in 2012.

Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside recently told The Telegraph (via The Verge) that he believed Authentec made the best fingerprint sensors in the industry, and he wasn't willing to settle for the second best for the Nexus 6.

"The secret behind that is that it was supposed to be fingerprint recognition, and Apple bought the best supplier," Woodside told The Telegraph. "So the second best supplier was the only one available to everyone else in the industry and they weren't there yet."

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Recipe: Prime Rib

2 days before cooking: salt all sides of the roast and cover with a colander (allows air to circulate) or 1 layer of paper towels

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Place on rack and cook for 30 minutes at 350 degrees then reduce heat to 250 degrees

For medium rare, cook approximately 28-30 minutes per pound until meat thermometer registers 131 degrees

Re-cap: 30 minutes at 350; reduce to 250 degrees and then 28 minutes/pound

Remove from oven and lightly tent with foil

Allow to rest approximately 20 minutes before carving