Latest News
Buckle up for what’s taking place in space
Jul 02, 2025
China is building a solar array in space, right now, with a design of over one square mile. Yes, almost six football fields in size.
Everything you know, everything you think you can plan for in the next 10+ years is wrong. Faster than the changes to the backbone of civilization and industry during the ‘70s and ’80 resultant from the Apollo Program (computer chips, MRI, CAT Scans and an endless list — including your cellphone) — what is taking place now will change everything on Earth in the next 10 to 20 years.
Data centers and all communications are moving off Earth. Why? Because computers and data centers (which are only many, many computers in one warehouse) need massive cooling and cooling needs energy. Some data centers now operating use more electricity than the New York City Subway system, hour after hour, day after day. The same data center, in space, in near absolute zero needs only low power for the chips from solar panels.
China is building a solar array in space, right now, with a design of over one square mile. Yes, almost six football fields in size.
Now, let’s explain something here. Arthur C. Clarke, the Sci-Fi author, was a brilliant scientist. He calculated a point above the Earth where the gravitational pull of Earth would balance out with a satellite’s inertia to move away from Earth and the satellite would, in effect, rotate over a specific spot on Earth… seemingly stationary above that point. Originally called the Clarke Orbit, it is now called GEO (geostationary orbit). You put your computer and data center at that point and up and down links to Earth are constant and clean.
A scientist recently said, “You control GEO and you control the world’s industry and communication.” When you put Quantum computers at GEO along with the data centers, you can save more than 50% of all – the entire! -- electrical consumption now being built and planned for on Earth.
Now you may wonder at news items about a return to the moon. That same scientist said, “And if you control the moon, you also control GEO.” Why? Because the moon has all the advantages of low gravity, easy solar arrays, and cool temperatures for these data and computer locations. Oh, and the moon has lava tubes for safe habitation and there’s Helium3 there – a vital cooling chemical for Quantum computers. Why Quantum computers? Quantum computers compared to the fastest current computers are like a F1 race car is to a hula-hoop. One Quantum computer recently performed a calculation that would have taken a Cray Supercomputer 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years to perform, it did it in under 5 minutes. Couple that with automation and AI and tasks will be performed you cannot possibly imagine.
Think space exploration is all about satellites and warfare? Medical research in zero gravity accounts for 50% of the greatest breakthroughs in medicine in the last decade… that’s why Russia is staying in the game with another $56,000,000,00 next year to rebuild their own space station. And China? Their space station is growing in size and capability, already 75% of ours.
The Apollo era brought us a 100% change in everything we have, everything we use, everything we know, design, invest in, and invent. This next space era will come quicker and with more fundamental change than you can possibly imagine. So, the message I want to impart here? Space is the future. Buckle up and get involved.
Peter Riva, a former resident of Amenia Union, New York, now lives in Gila, New Mexico.
Keep ReadingShow less
John Coston
How can we help save the bees?
Bees, butterflies and other pollinators are in trouble.
We are in trouble too, as the bee and butterfly numbers plunge, who will pollinate our fruit, vegetables, trees and flowers? We will have no food without pollinators.
The use of insecticides such as Neonicotinoids have reduced the numbers of our bees and butterflies to dangerous lows. Many countries have banned these products yet the EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, and the BLM, Bureau of Land Management, and the US Department of Agriculture, are spraying thousands of acres of public lands with these products.
Today most seeds are coated with pesticides, usually with neonic insecticide. The growing plant infuses the chemicals throughout the entire plant—from its roots to its fruit to its pollen—making it toxic to birds, bees and butterflies.
Europe has suffered the same loss of pollinators, so many countries like Germany and Switzerland do not mow the grass along the sides of their roads. They let grass and wildflowers grow freely unsprayed to help the pollinators.We can do that.
The Connecticut State Senate bill SB9 limits the use of neonicotinoid pesticides. The bill bans neonics on lawns and golf courses and blocks using the pesticides on school grounds. But it does allow landscapers to use neonics on trees and shrubs next to lawns. Governor Lamont signed it into law on June 10th 2025. New York and Vermont have already passed a similar bill to protect pollinators. Neonics are now banned in Europe and the EU has proposed banning importing crops sprayed with those products.
How can we help? We can stop mowing part of our lawns to grow wildflowers for the bees and butterflies. We can stop using pesticides in the garden and instead use liquid detergent and white vinegar to spray plants against pests. We can buy our seeds at websites where we are sure that they are not infused with pesticides.You can join the Pollinator Pathway in Connecticut to give bees and butterflies a route to migrate safely through properties not using pesticides.We can contact the EPA, the Department of Agriculture and the BLM to complain about spraying public lands.Pollinators are too important for our country both now and in the future.
Lizbeth Piel
Sharon
Several points to consider on North Canaan’s proposed tripartite ordinance
1. North Canaan would join the ranks of many other towns in Connecticut and across the country in depoliticizing offices that should not be political. Tax collector, town clerk and treasurer are all purely administrative positions, they do not create or weigh in on policy. There’s no real reason that any of these positions should be left up to a politicized vote.
2. The existing language stipulates that these positions be appointed and, if necessary, removed by a majority vote of the Board of Selectmen, which effectively renders the minority selectperson’s vote inert.
3. Is this simply a continuation of Brian Ohler’s ongoing crusade to oust Jean Jacquier from the position of Town Clerk? He wasn’t able to do it through litigation, so is he now trying to do it through legislation?
4. Considering points 2 and 3, the current language of the ordinance would allow the majority party to appoint or remove anyone they so choose, regardless of qualification or efficacy, and thus render the depoliticization of the positions highlighted in point 1 ineffectual. The language should be amended to require a unanimous vote of the Board of Selectmen.
5. We have seen across the country in the last decade and especially in the last year just how much damage can be done by placing unqualified people in positions of power within a government. I would like to see a more specific design from the Board of Selectmen of the intended selection process and qualifications they will be looking for in candidates.
6. Such an important and impactful change to the structure of town government should be conducted through a ballot question on Election Day when more people have the opportunity to cast a vote, not through a special meeting only a few weeks after its introduction on a Monday night when many are unavailable and unable to attend.
Ashlee Baldwin
North Canaan
Ask yourself, what price would you pay?
Lately I have been reflecting on those who fought in the revolution and those who fought in the two great wars of the 20th century many of whom died. From my birth in 1939 to the present I have lived in a world shaped by their commitment and sacrifice.
What price would I pay today to preserve the rule of law under the constitution of the United States as I have known it? I immediately answer that I would gladly give my life to preserve those freedoms for my grandchildren. This is easy to say as an 85 year old.
Then I think of my grandchildren, ages 21 and 18, putting on uniforms and entering combat to preserve the liberties I have long taken for granted.Reluctantly and with conflicting emotions I would support their participation. To contemplate a life under Hitler, Putin, Kim Jong-Un and others is unimaginable. Mary and I recently spent several weeks in Albania where, for 50 plus years, no one could enter or leave. One could only live or work where directed.
Contemplate todays attacks on the press, independent universities, medical science, habeas corpus, the judiciary, voting rights, minorities, separation of church and state, historical truths.Ask yourself what price would you pay to preserve human dignity and our freedoms?
Philip V.Oppenheimer
Lakeville
Let’s grow together
Finding joy in the little things is a good place to start each day, week and season. However with politics throwing a monkey wrench into the idea of celebrating as a nation with a growing gap of the ‘have’s and ‘have-nots among people and corporations’ there’s plenty to ponder.
It’s important to know 250,000 people filled the streets of NYC protesting with calls for a “No Kings Act” meaning we need to clarify and count on the U.S. president working with Congress to represent all people and follow the Constitution. Basic support people have counted on for healthcare and food stamps along with Social Security have prompted serious concerns among people and many leaders such as the bellringer Chris Murphy!
No one seems protected by the law and plenty seem above it. Many are responding with calls to join together locally and online to organize meaningful efforts to help people and advocate for human rights on all levels.
Let’s grow together in our collaboration, creativity, and caring responses, perhaps meeting an hour before planned events to talk ‘on the sidewalk’ if that’s the only option.
Mother Nature is reminding us of the freedom and abundance of the great outdoors and sharing gardening and team work efforts.
Please be in touch if you’d like to join in such efforts for each age and stage of life to grow community and gardens of positivity and good food too!
Catherine Palmer Paton
Falls Village
The proliferation of yard signs in Lakeville
Yard sign proliferation is getting a bit ridiculous in Lakeville. It seems a bit analogous to the broken window theory that visible signs of disorder encourage more disorder. Here yard sign placement seems to encourage more signs and more signs encourage more signs. Wells Hill Road is awash in Wake Robin protest; many town corners advertise Music Mountain among other business and service signs. There are the Ukraine, and stop gun violence signs, and maintenance and contractor signs. It has all gotten to be too much.
The Wake Robin protest signs only benefit the sign maker, as the decision to approve or disapprove the expansion is not based on public opinion. So many of the other signs seem to support causes that won’t cause the owner any blow back. I haven’t seen any signs that support Russia or express an opinion or support for Israel or Palestine. And, by the way stop gun violence would infer that other forms of violence are okay. I still see save the rail trail even though it doesn’t appear to be in any danger.
Please stop!
Dan Lewis
Lakeville
Keep ReadingShow less
Turning Back the Pages - July 3, 2025
Jul 02, 2025
125 years ago — 1900
During the unusually severe electrical storm in Kent Friday afternoon of last week, Walter Hall, a farmer aged 50, was struck by lightning and instantly killed. Mr. Hall was sitting at the dinner table in his home at the time.
It is supposed that a hen lays only lays one egg a day, but Benjamin Cleaveland is in a position to dispute this statement. Last week he placed one of his motherly old hens in a coop by herself in order that her brood might learn to shift for themselves. About noon he went to the coop and found a nice fresh egg. He thought nothing of that, but when he happened there again late in the afternoon and found another nice freshly laid egg, he was naturally somewhat astonished. The coop was fixed in such a way that no other hen could get into it, and there is but one solution to the matter — that hen laid two eggs in one day. Both were of ordinary size but slightly different in color. This goes to prove that even the hens are enterprising in Lakeville.
James Winterbottom of Lime Rock was subpoenaed to appear in New Haven on Tuesday as witness in a divorce suit. “Jim” didn’t know any of the parties concerned in the case, but had to go nevertheless. Had heard something, perhaps.
A horseless wagon passed over the road leading from Cornwall to Falls Village and northward last Monday. It was probably the first one to venture over that course. It was being run about 12 miles an hour. The occupants, a man and woman, didn’t delight in scaring every horse they met, but would stop the machine and wait until a team would pass. If all drivers would be as considerate as this we should have fewer runaways than people expect to experience in the near future.
The residents of Bostwick Hill witnessed an interesting incident in natural history on Monday. A hive of bees belonging to F.H. Chapin swarmed on one of the small trees on Thomas Martin’s lawn. Mr. Chapin was soon on hand and it was interesting to watch him handle the big bunch of buzzing insects. He would lift them up with his bare hands, and those that were flying around in the air would settle upon him but never a one offered to sting him. Mr. Chapin said they know him and they certainly acted as if they did. He says they never sting him and he soon had this swarm nicely hived without losing a one.
100 years ago — 1925
Due to the severity of our winters, it has been apparent for many years that a receiving vault should be built at Salisbury Cemetery. A suitable piece of ground has been reserved for this purpose by the Cemetery Association, and a very generous gift has just been made as a nucleus of the fund. Although it is planned to build the vault on the grounds of the Salisbury Cemetery Association, it is intended that it be used by all creeds.
The gas bus going east at 10 o’clock left the rails at Twin Lakes on Tuesday and pretty nearly buried its nose in the lake. Fortunately no one was injured, but the bus had to be laid up for repairs, a steam train taking its place. The bus had to be hauled out of its predicament by the Canaan switch engine.
With the new marriage licensing law, passed by the general assembly during the last session which went into effect Wednesday, both parties to the marriage union must sign the license before it can be issued. The requirements of the law will necessitate that both the man and woman appear before the town clerk to swear to the statements and sign the license. Heretofore only one party to the marriage was required to swear to the statement and sign the license.
Interlaken Inn is now open for guests. The work of restoring the Inn since the recent fire has progressed rapidly and satisfactorily and Mr. and Mrs. Percy are to be congratulated upon the fact that the house is now ready for its large list of guests.
50 years ago — 1975
A block of 4 1975 commemorative stamps honoring the 200th anniversary year of the United States Military Services will be released for sale this Friday, July 4, with one American soldier strangely resembling Taconic resident Weston Pullen. The fact is the man on the Bicentennial stamp IS West Pullen. He was asked to pose for the stamp last year by artist and illustrator Edward Vebell of Westport, and Pullen agreed. At that time though, Pullen, while he knew the modeling job was for a stamp, did not know it was for the nation’s Bicentennial stamp.
State Police Trooper Dean Hammond was surprised early last Thursday morning to find a snowman, yes, a five-foot snowman, standing in the middle of Route 41 in Sharon just south of the Sharon Post Office. State Police Sgt. Peter Lawson took a photograph, believing that otherwise no one would credit the presence of a snowman. The snowman, the work of an unknown prankster, was removed from the highway by troopers.
The old Beckley Furnace on the Lower Road in Canaan is one of six sites mentioned for restoration in a preliminary proposal drawn up by the State Department of Environmental Protection. The preliminary report notes that with the increased interest in historical places and events that is being generated by the nation’s Bicentennial, there is also increased awareness of how certain historical land uses shaped Connecticut’s landscape. The Beckley Furnace was listed as being desirable for restoration because it rests on two acres of land already owned by the state. It is readily accessible to the public and is in better repair than some of the other sites.
Like shadows out of the past, a detachment of Colonial horsemen appeared in Northwest Connecticut this weekend. The riders are members of the first troop Philadelphia City Cavalry who are reenacting George Washington’s historic ride to take command of the nation’s first army 200 years ago. The troop, then called the Light Horse of the City of Philadelphia, acted as Washington’s bodyguard on that long ago ride to Cambridge, Mass. Today it continues its long history as part of the 104th Cavalry Division, Pennsylvania National Guard.
25 years ago — 2000
It will be a bittersweet parting when the Rev. Gilbert Larsen and his wife Jody leave Sharon next week for their new home in Florida. After 17 years in the pulpit of Christ Church Episcopal, the minister is retiring as of Aug. 1. But with vacation time due, his final sermon was given last Sunday and the couple plans to hit the highways next week. “It’s been a wonderful experience for Jody, me and the kids,” said Rev. Larsen, speaking of his two sons, Gilbert and Robert. “It (Sharon) is a marvelous place to raise kids. The people are wonderful. Because of the closeness, sometimes I felt like the parson for the whole town.”
CANAAN — After many months in limbo, a pending dam permit sighed its last breath this week when Phoenix Horizon failed to move to reopen the public hearing process. The Department of Environmental Protection had gone back and forth with the would-be developer, trying to pin down its intentions. After numerous extensions to the hearing process that began a year ago, the matter was declared terminated as of June 27. But all that no longer matters. As of June 14, Phoenix Horizon no longer owns the Sand Road property where it attempted to build up to 73 single-family homes. Webster Bank foreclosed on a mortgage June 14.
A home accessories store on Main Street in Lakeville was robbed of $12,000 worth of goods and $150 in cash on the evening of June 15. Bonnie Mulville has owned April 56, a home accessories and gift shop, for 21 years, Bonnie’s husband, John, said, “and this is the first time this has ever happened. They cleaned out the cash register and took a lot of glitzy stuff, salad servers and cast aluminum trays and a whole glass case of jewelry.” The thieves also stole several wall clocks. “It was not any little robbery,” Mr. Mulville said. “It was terrible.” A few days later, Mrs. Mulville’s wallet, which had been stolen, turned up again. “Someone found it in the bushes on Route 44 with the money and credit cards still in it,” Mr. Mulville said. Only the robbers know why they tossed the wallet but kept the cash from the cash box.
Sheffield Plastics Inc. has presented $500 scholarships to three students at Mount Everett Regional High School for their efforts in resolving a computer problem that faced the company. The checks, presented by Sheffield Plastics Human Resources Director Janet Force, were in appreciation for the work of Ashley Winseck, Claire Mielke and Amanda Janusz when the girls were freshmen. The project was performed under the supervision of Mount Everett technology teacher Charlie Flynn.
Keep ReadingShow less
loading
