I’ve always been against the hand of the state in private decisions and forcing a minimum wage is one of those interferences which has always grated. However, in a world where technology is raising productivity and reducing the demand for labour there ought to be a popular desire for everyone to have the ability to …
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Author:astraea
Farming in the city.
It’s a cute idea and seems to have much merit. Put a fish farm in a shipping container, plonk a hydroponic greenhouse on top and “hey presto” you have a self-contained, eco-efficient food production system that can sit in a small garden or yard behind your house or urban industrial/commercial building. ECF Farmsystems Containerfarm claims: …
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We get what we choose.
That’s a bit like “we get what we want” except that often we don’t realise what we are choosing. We grab the sweet, but ignore the consequences of rotting teeth, obesity and diabetes. We put the pedal to the metal and our foot to the floor, but ignore the consequence of pollution, collision and climate …
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A “Tidal Wave” of Cancer.
Those are the words used by the World Health Organisation to describe the trajectory of the growth of new cancer cases. They predict a jump from 14 million a year now to 24 million new cases per year by 2035 – about 2.5% growth a year (compounded). That better be faster than the growth of …
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Maps that explain the world
This article in the Washington Post presents 40 maps that explain the world. They are all interesting and easy to digest. The three maps below are examples which illustrate key issues the world grapples with now. This map shows where the wealth is. It shows national wealth and density of people, but not individual income. …
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Words
Words A letter and a letter on a string Will hold forever humanity spellbound Words Possession of the beggar and the king Everybody, everyday You and I, we all can say Words Regarded as a complicated tool Created by man, implicated by mankind Words Obsession of the genius and the fool Everybody, everyday, Everywhere and …
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Sex, drugs, rock and roll, while we play with nuclear weapons.
It’s not that people should be restricted from making lifestyle choices, but there’s a time and a place for everything. And boozing in the nuclear silo is not one of them. Sadly, the story is not even that funny. Senior employees responsible for nuclear weapons were found to be dealing drugs, gambling and cheating on …
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It’s easy to ignore what you put in your mouth.
The Ecologist Guide to Food, written by Andrew Wadsley, is to be published in mid-February. I reckon I know about what I put in my mouth. After all I grow a lot of it in the garden. But I happened to click over to the book promotion page and was reminded how easy it is …
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US college degrees cost more than a house.
This YouTube video of Marty Nemko debunking myths of big incomes that come from going to college, landed in an in-tray almost unnoticed. It’s from 2011, and is still valid. The data is unattractive. The alternatives to college that he advocates, like community college, part-time, apprenticeship and work to learn, make better sense for more …
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Anonimity on the internet.
It’s not that you want to be a spy, it’s not that you want to hide under a rock, it’s just that you feel threatened by the invasiveness of data tracking by Big Co (eg Google, Microsoft, Facebook etc) and Big Brother (the government and banks know more about you than you know about yourself). …
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