Kristin
Two of may favorite things recently came together: Tim Urban of WaitButWhy and Elon Musk, of, you know, the future of humanity. Tim has now written about Musk, and Tesla (warning, this article is seriously a small book), solar energy, and hyperloop. HYPERLOOP!
A moment for Hyperloop vs. High Speed Rail… CA plans to build a train that:
- If it is finished as projected in 2029 (because large projects like this always finish on time), will be slower than trains other countries built years ago
- If it finishes on budget (because …) it will still be more expensive than flying
- It will be orders of magnitude more dangerous than flying
- Will not save much energy relative to flying and could possibly require more energy per person than driving
Why? Why aim for inferiority? Why not aim for this?
Serena
Last Saturday, the Seattle Times looked at top CEO pay across the Northwest. They forgot to note one specific trait that all ten of these multi-million-dollar-a-year folks share. Fear not—one of my favorite blogs, Seattlish, helped ’em out.
Eric
The Seattle Times had an excellent profile on one of the Northwest’s most important tribal leaders, Brian Cladoosby of the Swinomish.
I recommend this PBS Newshour special on “Why North Dakota Oil Fields are so Deadly for Workers.” The program explores the very high number of deaths there, as well as the corporate structures that help the responsible firms avoid fines and accountability.
Keiko
What’s really warming the world? Volcanoes? Deforestation? Greenhouse gases?! These interactive graphs show natural vs. human factors that create climate change. The clear and powerful data will instantly silence your climate science denier friends.
Anna
Adam Gopnik of The New Yorker gave us the simple truth about gun control back in 2012. The countries that have it don’t have the perpetual heartache that, just a few years later, starts to seem like “normal” around here. We know how to stop mass shootings. So why don’t we?
“The clear and powerful data will instantly silence your climate science denier friends.”
Hahahahahahahaha! (Wipes tears)
Good one!
Double check your hyper loop factoids. The first two are speculation. The third is wrong when compared to Japan HSR which has run 50 years without a death. The fourth point is misguided as the system is being built to run on 100% renewal energy, have net zero buildings as stations and is projected to generate net zero GHG.
Hyper loop folks have a nifty idea yet to step into the public process of environmental approval.