Are we really the Saudi Arabia of coal?
I keep hearing the U.S. described as the “Saudi Arabia of coal.” This turns out to be half true. According to BP, China produced three billion tons of coal in 2009, or 46% of the world’s share. In second place was the U.S., with .97 billion tons, 16% of the world’s share. But in proven [...]
Links for October 31st
PolitiFact: Occupy Providence sign says Goldman Sachs CEO earns in an hour what minimum wage worker earns in a yearPolitiFact ranks as "false" the claim that the CEO of Goldman Sachs earns as much in an hour as a minimum-wage worker makes in a year. Which seemed like good news, until I read their article. [...]
Links for October 27th
The Guardian: Mexico City considers fixed-term marriage licencesThe city is considering offering two-year marriage licenses. Couples would get married, and two years later their marriage contract would end, though they could, of course, renew it. Why? Because so many marriages end after two years, requiring an expensive and trying divorce. I've been forecasting limited term [...]
Links for October 24th
Big Think: What’s the Plural of Texas?When Texas joined the union, it was with the condition that they have the ability to form four additional states from their land, allowing a total of five Texases. That's a right that they've never given up, which has resulted in occasional movements in support of Texas divisionism. Kevin [...]
Calculating my home’s energy inputs and outputs.
I’ve been wondering what the inputs and outputs are of my home energy usage. For some months now, I’ve used a CurrentCost Envi to track my house’s energy usage, so I know the numbers in kilowatt hours: 8,166 kWh in the past 12 months, an average of 680 kWh/month, with a low of 454 kWh [...]
Links for October 20th
Planet Money: What If We Paid Off The Debt?Back in the good old days—before President George W. Bush, before fighting two wars, before September 11th, before a huge tax cut paid for with debt—it looked very much like the entire debt would be paid off by 2012. In producing the final Economic Report of the [...]
Links for October 19th
Frontline: The U.S. Immigration Detention BoomThis map of the growth of immigrant detention facilities is a great—and alarming—illustration of the rise of these ever-larger, often private facilities. Wikipedia: Northwest AngleInsufficient understanding of North American geography in the late 1700s resulted in the Treaty of Paris accidentally assigning a notch of land in Canada to the [...]
Links for October 14th
Science News: Columbus Blamed For Little Ice AgeHere's a fun theory of the origin of the Little Ice Age, lasting from around 1550–1850: that massive losses of New World population, as a result of disease spread by explorers, resulted in reforestation of huge swaths of the Americas, removing billions of tons of CO2 from the [...]
Links for October 11th
CJR: The Shorter-Form JournalThis clever analysis of Wall Street Journal article lengths over the years shows that, under Rupert Murdoch, articles have gotten quite a bit shorter. The Washington Post: Five myths about voter fraudThere are some important and interesting facts about voter fraud here. A member of the Commission on Federal Election Reform figures [...]
Hurt: It takes 150 times longer to start a business now than in 1987.
From Rep. Robert Hurt’s e-mail newsletter today: Last week I also visited with the owner of an auto repair shop in Appomattox. He told me that he first started his business back in 1987. Back then, he was able to get his business up and running in one day. One day was all it took [...]
Links for October 6th
New York Times: Herman Cain is a Candidate Writing His Own Campaign RulesRunning for president? Nah. Herman Cain has decided he'd rather go on a book tour. Much like Sarah Palin and Donald Trump, Cain appears to view running for the Republican nomination as a cheap method of getting national press. MSNBC: Secret panel can [...]
Links for October 5th
Chattanooga Times-Free Press: 96-year-old Chattanooga resident denied voting IDDorothy Cooper even managed to vote under Jim Crow, but the Tennessee Republican Party has proved to be one obstacle she can't overcome. She's never driven, so she has no driver's license. She tried to get a photo ID, but she has to present her marriage certificate, [...]
Links for October 3rd
Bloomberg: Koch Brothers Flout Law With Secret Iran SalesThe Koch Brothers have secretly, criminally sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran, an enemy of the United States with whom it is unquestionably illegal to do business. This is no aberration for these bastards—they're out for a buck, and they don't care how they [...]
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Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Charlottesville, VA, USA. more »
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