Sustainable: Pondering sustainability through an xkcd lens took me to other “green” ngrams. As described by xkcd, the graph represents the frequency of the use of each word in Google books, 1800-2008: Then I checked what we eat: Ngrams…
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A Water Shortage During Brazil’s World Cup
A major source of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s water supply has shrunk. Down to 14.7% of its capacity, the Cantareira Basin supplies almost half the area’s water. With little rain until recently (and it’s the rainy season from December to March)…
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Feminism
Our Monday Gender Issue: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian writer, former MacArthur genius, National Book Critics Circle Award winner, author of the book, Half of a Yellow Sun on which a new movie is based, and the person who has given so many…
The Significance of the Frisbee
The story of the Frisbee begins in a backyard during a Thanksgiving dinner in 1937. Fred Morrison and his girlfriend Lucile “Lu” Nay were tossing a popcorn-tin lid when they switched to a cake pan because it had better aerodynamics.…
The Unintended Consequences of Banning Ivory Sales
New US ivory regulations have had unintended consequences. During November 2013, the US government “pulverized” nearly 6 tons of elephant ivory from Asia and Africa. Intending to send a message to elephant poachers, the Fish and Wildlife Service destroyed ivory that…
The Benefits of “Pay-It-Forward”
Perhaps a pay-it-forward record, at a Connecticut Starbucks, more than 1,000 people each paid for the person behind them during December 2013. The store manager was on to something when he said, “”We hope that it will continue on, even…
Handy Banking Quotes
Car buyers typically display decision fatigue when asked to choose among “4 styles of gearshift knobs, 13 kinds of wheel rims, 25 configurations of the engine and gearbox and a palette of 56 colors for the interior.” Too worn out…
What We Sacrifice for Pothole Patches
With 150,000 more potholes than last year and $12 for each temporary patch, Chicago has spent close to $3 million on pothole repair and the end is not in sight. NYC was at a record breaking 113,131 on February 20.…
More Expensive Ice Cream?
Milk prices are going up. And yet, in the US, we are drinking less milk. According to Corey Geiger, managing editor of Hoard’s Dairyman magazine, one reason is oil. Countries in the Middle East with massive oil reserves have to import 90%…
Venezuela Has Cheap Gas But No Cars
At the official exchange rate, Venezuelans pay 5 cents a gallon for premium gasoline while the real price is closer to one half penny a gallon. The dark purple country at the northern tip of South America (below), Venezuela has the…