Technology

State in use-it-or-lose-it mode with $4B in bullet-train funds

The California bullet-train project — stalled for years by legal fights over land acquisition and the state’s business plan, uneven progress in planning and Gov. Jerry Brown’s abrupt downsizing of the scale of the project in 2013 — had its symbolic

$Report may force CA media to admit Obama backs fracking safety$

Report may force CA media to admit Obama backs fracking safety

Chris Reed January 4, 2015

As Cal Watchdog has repeatedly noted over the past two years, the California print media — with the exception of the U-T San Diego editorial page (my edits) and a San Francisco Chronicle reporter — never note the Obama administration’s

CARB draws sharp fire on AB 32 — from the left

Chris Reed December 29, 2014

David Roberts — a Grist.org journalist who has an easy command of energy issues that makes his NRDC-style environmentalism easier to take — has written a sharp piece about AB 32. Roberts details what he calls an “avoidable mess” in the

$Will NY fracking ban trigger ‘domino effect’ that reaches CA?$

Will NY fracking ban trigger ‘domino effect’ that reaches CA?

Chris Reed December 26, 2014

California environmentalists and government regulators have long prided themselves in pioneering new rules and restrictions. But now it appears a liberal East Coast state has taken the lead in dealing with one of the day’s most controversial environmental issues. This

State government’s computers so primitive they’re tough to hack

Chris Reed December 25, 2014

The hack of Sony Pictures by shadowy types believed associated with the North Korean government took another twist on Christmas Eve when Sony went ahead and released “The Interview” on YouTube after initially caving to hackers’ demands and scrapping plans

If CA can’t build bridge, what about bullet train through mountains?

Chris Reed December 8, 2014

If the state of California can’t build a bridge, how can it handle the huge technological and engineering challenge of building a bullet train through two mountain ranges laced with seismic faults? Such questions are inevitable after the latest Sacramento Bee

Remember Pearl Harbor — 73 years ago

John Seiler December 7, 2014

Most of us remember where we were on 9/11. Older baby boomers remember where they were when JFK was shot. The Greatest Generation, now almost all passed into eternity, remembers where they were on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese

San Jose police union stalls officer cameras, cites ‘privacy’

Chris Reed December 7, 2014

Basic concepts of police professionalism were more or less born in Northern California, courtesy of a reform-minded police chief, as a history of law enforcement notes: August Vollmer, police chief in Berkeley, California, from 1905 to 1932, advocated the hiring

CA tech geniuses: Global warming strategy a flop

Chris Reed November 23, 2014

The smartest climate scientists at Google’s Silicon Valley research labs have now joined one of the most brilliant Microsoft techies in concluding that the conventional wisdom about how to fight global warming can’t succeed. John Seiler and George Will, among

Fracking safety: NYT vs. LAT, yet again

Chris Reed November 16, 2014

The fracking revolution continues to unfold in a half-dozen states around the nation, with enormous benefits to all Americans. A New York Times analysis Friday laid out the particulars: The steepening drop in gasoline prices in recent weeks — spurred by