Kids Unplugged: Summer Camps Ban Electronics. Hide captionCamp Sloane director Andrew Keener, staff and campers gather for an end of the year campfire last year.
Courtesy of Camp Sloane A decade ago, many summer camps nationwide started instituting a no-tech policy, banning cellphones, pagers and electronic games. Britain’s Ministry of Nudges. Rio Goes High-Tech, With An Eye Toward Olympics, World Cup : Parallels. Rio's Operations Center brings together more than 30 agencies and allows them to coordinate on daily issues such as traffic, as well as on emergencies such as the frequent flash floods in hillside slums.
Raphael Lima/Courtesy of the Operations Center, City of Rio De Janeiro hide caption toggle caption Raphael Lima/Courtesy of the Operations Center, City of Rio De Janeiro Rio's Operations Center brings together more than 30 agencies and allows them to coordinate on daily issues such as traffic, as well as on emergencies such as the frequent flash floods in hillside slums. Raphael Lima/Courtesy of the Operations Center, City of Rio De Janeiro.
In Kenya, Using Tech To Put An 'Invisible' Slum On The Map : Parallels. Hide captionThe Mathare Valley, shown here in an aerial map, is one of the largest and oldest slums in Nairobi, Kenya.
Residents are using hand-held GPS devices to map the area, which comprises 13 villages and is home to nearly 200,000 people. Courtesy of Muungano Support Trust and Jason Corburn, UC Berkeley. Tribes. In Hazleton, A Mixed Welcome For City's Immigrants. Hide captionRoads End bar on Broad Street in Hazleton, Pa., displays a sign in 2007 that reads "ALL Legals Served.
" Longtime residents of the city are divided over the recent influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants.
In China, New Sustainable Cities Are Rising From Nothing. In 1902, a self-taught urban planner named Ebenezer Howard published his utopian vision for "Garden Cities"--self-contained circular towns radiating from a central city, connected only by train.
Neither town nor country, they were a dense, compact fusion of the two: suburbia without sprawl. Although Garden Cities never really caught on in the West, the Chicago-based Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture has resurrected the idea with Chinese characteristics: a “prototype city” twice as populous and 20 times as dense, with a tower taller than the Empire State Building at its core. Working with one of China’s largest real estate developers, the firm aims to build them by the score.
What Parents Don't Get About Camp. For New Orleans, Superdome A Symbol Of City's Spirit. Hide captionThe San Francisco 49ers play the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII at the Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday.
Charlie Riedel/AP The San Francisco 49ers play the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII at the Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday. The Superdome in New Orleans has hosted heavyweight fights, papal visits, and — after this weekend — seven Super Bowls, an NFL record. But no event looms larger in the dome's history than Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 storm that turned the stadium into a teeming shelter of last resort.
Baseball League Creates 'Islands' Of Refuge For Camden Kids. Hide caption Angel Ramirez, a North Camden Little League player, walks through the Sixth Street drug corridor, known as "Heroin Highway," on his way home from practice in Camden, N.J.
The Little League program is aimed at keeping kids in the struggling city engaged in a sport after school. Gabe Dinsmoor for NPR Hide caption Miguel Perez at baseball practice at Pyne Poynt Park. Miguel lives with his grandmother Maria Reyes, one of the league's coaches. Gabe Dinsmoor for NPR Hide caption Baggies, needles and trash litter the park just a short distance from the baseball field. Gabe Dinsmoor for NPR Hide caption Joey Perez and Tiana Reyes watch Miguel's team play at Pyne Poynt. Hide caption Emmanuel Castro and fellow players in the 13- to 15-year-old league celebrate after a win at Pyne Poynt Park. In Paris, A Hunt For Those Who Dodge Dog Duties.
Not Just Patriotic, U.S. Manufacturing May Be Smart. Hide captionGeneral Electric's Appliance Park has been in Louisville, Ky., since 1951.
But it's putting new power behind its U.S. production. General Electric Co. General Electric's Appliance Park has been in Louisville, Ky., since 1951. But it's putting new power behind its U.S. production. The advantages to making products in the U.S. are starting to stack up — and companies are taking notice. 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person. George Carlin Doesn't vote. Unambitious Loser With Happy, Fulfilling Life Still Lives In Hometown. Humanism is an impossible dream. Reading to the end of a recent press release I discovered that the British Humanist Association proclaims that it is "the national charity representing and supporting the non-religious and campaigning for an end to religious privilege and discrimination based on religion or belief.
It exists to support and represent people who seek to live good and responsible lives without religious or superstitious beliefs. " I realised that though I know what this means clearly enough, it's actually an entirely impossible dream. "Humanism" is, of course, a thoroughly contested word. But for the moment I will stick to the BHA's definition and ask whether that represents a coherent idea. The first point is that it is defined in a largely negative way. Bono: The good news on poverty (Yes, there's good news) Trends With Benefits. Why Millennials Are Ditching Cars And Redefining Ownership. Hide captionZach Brown's preferred mode of transportation is his skateboard.
Brown, 27, is an artist and actor who doesn't own a car. Courtesy of Zach Brown Zach Brown's preferred mode of transportation is his skateboard. Brown, 27, is an artist and actor who doesn't own a car. Part of a series of stories produced in collaboration with Youth Radio on the changing car culture in America. The Social Era Is More Than Social Media. Editor's Note: This story contains one of our 11 New Years resolutions you can actually keep in 2014. For the full list, click here. Things we once considered opposing forces--doing right by people and delivering results, collaborating and keeping focus, having a social purpose and making money--are really not in opposition.
Groups and Gossip Drove the Evolution of Human Nature. Amanda Palmer: The art of asking. Call Me, Haiti? One Man's Quest To Skype Around The World : All Tech Considered. Comedian Mark Malkoff has lived for a week inside of an IKEA store, consumed beverages at 171 Starbucks in Manhattan in less than 24 hours and proved that his kid's Big Wheel bike could beat a New York City bus across 42nd Street. But after all those stunts, there are still worlds left to conquer — like talking to someone in every country in the world over Skype. Malkoff used Facebook and Twitter to locate willing participants in 162 countries — including North Korea!
Morgan Harris - Philip Zimbardo: Why ordinary people do evil ... or do good. Google’s Stunning New Offices in Tel Aviv. "IMAGINE" John Lennon (2009 video remastered multilanguage) The Psychology Behind Why Creative People Cluster - Neighborhoods. I’ve long noted how openness to new people and ideas can power innovation and economic growth.
“The Open City,” a new study by Cambridge University psychologist Jason Rentfrow, offers new insight on this issue. A large body of literature shows that highly creative people - artists, scientists, entrepreneurs and the like - are highly likely to be open to new experiences. An earlier study by Rentfrow and his colleague Sam Gosling of the University of Texas, titled "The New Geography of Personality," tracked the five major personality types across states. Inside The 'Bossless' Office, Where The Team Takes Charge : All Tech Considered. Musicians Weigh Big-City Dreams Against Hometown Pride. Hide captionSinger-songwriter Maryanne Sokol left Houston for New York two years ago, hoping for greater exposure but aware of the increased competition.