CrowdFunding/CrowdSourcing. The Rise of the Sharing Economy. How to Start a Tool Library. It might seem a little risky to lend out a bunch of power tools to those who probably don’t know how to use them. After all, tools can be dangerous, people can be idiots, and we live in an exceptionally litigious society. For some strange but very understandable reason, those concerns alone have been more than enough to effectively end many community tool libraries before they even start.
As the sharing economy continues to blossom, however, more communities are overcoming that inherent fear and establishing lending libraries to embrace the beautiful benefits of sharing with neighbors. Through Google groups, starter kits, and incubator workshops, new tool libraries now have the ability to overcome their inherent concerns by learning from the experiences of many who have come before them.
Though it seems like a relatively unique idea, around 40 community tool libraries already exist throughout the United States, from Philadelphia to Seattle and south to Oakland and New Orleans. Women Are Not Men: A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast. [MUSIC: Nathan Mathes; “Cheer On” (fromBellwether. Arbutus)] DUBNER: More than half of all college students in the U.S., about 57 percent, are female. As of January, women are no longer barred from combat positions in the United States military.
The male-female income gap is tightening. Women hold about 20 percent of the seats in both the U.S. [MUSIC: Euforquestra; “Elegua” (fromExplorations in Afrobeat)] DUBNER: In some ways obvious—And in other ways less so. Jennifer HUNT: Well, I was amazed because in many other areas, women are really closing in on men and this gap is just so enormous. DUBNER: That’s Jennifer Hunt, an economist at Rutgers.
HUNT: Men are more likely to be in jobs involving design work or development work, so the “D” in the R&D. DUBNER: Let’s see, what else can I tell you about the differences between women and men? John JENSENIUS: Typically, 80 to 85 percent of the lightning fatalities across the United States are men. DUBNER: Men are also more prolific at drowning. 15inno by Stefan Lindegaard. Modernmarkets. iPhone & iPod Touch App Crowdsources Locations of EV Charging Stations. Cars Published on June 2nd, 2011 | by Zachary Shahan Tina wrote about a Google and Department of Energy initiative to create a comprehensive map of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations for the United States in April.
Of course, that is awesome and I have no doubt they will create an awesome and useful map. But now, I’ve just read about what may be an even cooler EV charging station map that’s in the works. Xatori Inc., a software innovation company, has created an iPhone app that provides instant access to EV charging stations and other EV owners. The information is largely crowdsourced. Here’s more from our sister site, Insteading: Beautiful. In addition to just helping people find and access EV infrastructure, the app is focused around supporting and growing an EV culture as well.
“We want to build and support a community that’s creating a paradigm shift to a massively cleaner type of transportation,” Xatori co-founder and chief executive Forrest North told TechCrunch. Thoughts? PlugShare. Moovit Public Transit App - Real Time Bus Train Metro & Subway Info. Dan Pallotta: The way we think about charity is dead wrong.