BoingBoing – “Fascinating at-a-glance look at the $104 trillion global economy, divvied up into slices of geographical pie. I wasn’t surprised that the United States has the biggest economy, at $25.3 trillion, and that China is close behind with $19.9 trillion (and is expected to surpass the United States by 2030). Things that surprised me:… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: August 2022
Cars Are Going Electric. What Happens to the Used Batteries?
Wired – “Used electric vehicle batteries could be the Achilles’ heel of the transportation revolution—or the gold mine that makes it real…Extracting the valuable materials from an EV battery is difficult and expensive. The recycling process typically involves shredding batteries, then breaking them down further with heat or chemicals at dedicated facilities. That part is… Continue Reading
14 reasons not to get a Ring camera
Mashable: “There are not many things I dislike more than being watched. So, you can imagine my fury when I walk through my apartment building, visit my friends in suburbia, or go for a jog only to see dozens upon dozens of Ring video doorbell cameras. It makes all of you look silly, posting up… Continue Reading
Your gadgets die quickly by design. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Washington Post – “Our analysis of 14 popular consumer devices found most could stop working in 3 to 4 years because of irreplaceable batteries. Here’s how we get the tech industry to design products that last longer — and do less damage to the environment…We the users want electronics that are easy to use, beautiful… Continue Reading
The uneven energy costs of working from home
The Verge: “The COVID-19 pandemic has given us a sneak peek into how working from home changes electricity demand and what that might mean for Americans’ utility bills. The picture it’s painted so far isn’t very pretty, particularly for anyone who’s already struggling to meet their needs. The transition to remote work is changing our… Continue Reading
Facebook Data Shows Having Rich Friends Helps
Gizmodo: “New research measuring over 21 billion Facebook friendships seemingly confirms something you probably already inherently knew: having rich friends helps. Researchers at Harvard’s Opportunity Insights used a massive Facebook dataset based on over 72 million users to analyze the ways certain types of social conditions impact economic mobility in a pair of papers published… Continue Reading
The Vacancies Act: A Legal Overview
CRS Report – The Vacancies Act: A Legal Overview Updated August 1, 2022: “The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 (Vacancies Act) generally provides the exclusive means by which a government employee may temporarily perform the functions and duties of a vacant advice-and-consent position in an executive agency. Unless an acting officer is serving in… Continue Reading
EPA 2021 TRI Preliminary Dataset
“The 2021 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) preliminary dataset contains data about chemical releases, waste management and pollution prevention activities that took place during 2021 at more than 20,000 federal and industrial facilities across the country. The TRI preliminary dataset is available each July through September, giving the public access to the most recent TRI information,… Continue Reading
You Can Make Your Smartphone Read Out Loud to You
Lifehacker: “Why are you reading this article? Wait, don’t click away—what I mean is, why are you reading this article? Chances are, you visited this article from your smartphone, like so many of us do. Whether you have an iPhone or an Android, you can make your phone read text out loud to you, so… Continue Reading
