Ryan Whitwam via ExtremeTech: Identifying objects in the outer reaches of the solar system is a surprisingly difficult endeavor. Pluto wasn’t discovered until the early 20th century, and other Kuiper Belt objects weren’t…
Environment
Yeah, it’s still the slow season in the taxi world. And now it’s cold. Christmas cold. And it’s getting rainy, too. El Niño ‘n all… The good news is, after a short…
Via Gods & Radicals: “In an age where we are confounded with rampant materialism, where our lives seem dictated to us by machines and prior programs, what does it mean to live…
Tom Philpott via Mother Jones: Pity Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Belgian-owned behemoth responsible for such beloved US beers as Budweiser, Bud Light, and Michelob Ultra. When InBev bought US beer giant Anheuser-Busch back…
Gregory Ferenstein via Business Insider: In a rare and far-ranging interview, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Alphabet’s Eric Schmidt sat down with each other to discuss their vision for the future of…
So, nothing’s wrong right now. But something’s not right: Is it the changing seasons? That undisclosed wet stuff falling from the sky in San Francisco? Mass shootings? (Nah.) The holidays? I took…
via Sustainable Pulse: The Organic Consumers Association (OCA), IFOAM International Organics, Navdanya, Regeneration International (RI), and Millions Against Monsanto, joined by dozens of global food, farming and environmental justice groups announced today…
Via Gods & Radicals: “I will not Reason and Compare: my business is to Create.” – William Blake Reason is a tool. There are things you can do with it and things…
Socrates via Singularity University Weblog: Singularity University is not about the singularity and is not even a university. It is not about abundance and is not an exponential organization. Then what is…
Thanksgiving week is usually slow. Reeeeel s l o w . . . Thanksgiving proper, Citizen’s Cab lowers the gate (cab rental) for us drivers down from $91 to $61, as an…
Via Gods & Radicals: As of yet, in that weird and glittering quantum realm of possibility, there is an entire society waiting to be born. Somewhere in the not-too-distant future the settlers…
Eric Burger via Ars Technica: Jeff Bezos finally one-upped Elon Musk in space. On Tuesday Bezos’ company, Blue Origin, announced its New Shepard space vehicle had ascended to 100.5km and returned successfully…
Aaron Dames writes for Divided Core. Beyond M31 is another very similar galaxy – its spiral arms slowly turning once every quarter-billion years. This is our own Milky Way, seen from the…
Watch Jeff Goldblum, AKA the Fixer, set Big Polluters straight. h/t Grist.
I’m all Paris-ed and “let’s throw up barbed-wire fences to keep us free“-ed out. Feeling kind of dark. So, please indulge as I pitch this one ride out there, to cheer us…
Jason Box and Naomi Klein write at the New Yorker: Soon after the horrific terror attacks in Paris, last Friday, our phones filled with messages from friends and colleagues: “So are they…
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology via EurekAlert: This news release is available in German. The production of energy from natural gas without generating carbon dioxide emissions could fast become a reality, thanks to…
Kadmus via Gods & Radicals: We see a similar structure to the conflict between official state religious power and local magical practice in the cunning craft and witchcraft of Europe and, though…
They’ve been warning of a big El Niño in California. Say it’s gonna cause great landslides in the wake of this historic drought. But of course, they qualify that it won’t do…
I’m just a cab driver. But unlike the current GOP front runner, even I know that the debt ceiling is about paying back the money congress has already borrowed on Americans’ behalf….
This article originally appeared on Common Dreams. Buoyed by President Barack Obama’s fresh rejection of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, thousands of young people from across the country are preparing to…
It’s dark. It’s early. It’s Monday. And my new “medicine” didn’t keep me from a sleepless night. Still, I am cabbie. And this is San Francisco. There are paratransits, dregs and (yyyaaawwwnn)…
Indonesia is burning. So why is the world looking away, asks George Monbiot at the Guardian: I’ve often wondered how the media would respond when eco-apocalypsestruck. I pictured the news programmes producing brief,…
What can a flooded island in the South Pacific tell us about our own future? Have you changed addictive behaviors after having a psychedelic experience? Will the Middle East be too hot…