The Awl - Be Less Stupid Thank you for stopping in at The Awl, a New York City-based web concern established in early 2009. The Awl intends to encourage a daily discussion of the issues of the day—news, politics, culture (and TV!)—during sensible hours of the working week. We believe that there is a great big Internet out there on which we all live, and that too often the curios and oddities of that Internet are ignored in favor of the most obvious and easy stories. This does not mean that we eschew frivolity; far from it. In the end, however, we return most frequently to New York City and its self-centered, all-consuming industries: media and publishing, finance and real estate, politics and capitalism and gamesmanship. The website is run by two editors, Alex Balk and Choire Sicha, and supported by the contributions of excellent folks from near and far. Here is where we ramble on about what we're looking for in a submission. Thanks again for visiting.
…free your imagination… Technology Review: The Authority on the Future of Technology Infographic: United States of the Environment In the spirit of two popular infographics that map out the best and worst of all 50 U.S. states — the United States of Awesome and the United States of Shame — MNN decided to see how each state shines or suffers in regard to environmental and public health. Our "United States of the Environment" maps depict each state's No. 1 and No. 50 ranking for issues such as conservation, agriculture, energy efficiency, disease prevalence, pollution, natural resource availability and education, among others. Check out the two maps below, and see our list of states, stats and sources for more information. Sources for "good U.S." map:Alabama: Lowest rate of alcohol abuse or dependence (U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) Alaska: Most wetlands (U.S. Geological Survey) Arizona: Most solar power potential (USA Today, National Climatic Data Center) Arkansas: Home of Buffalo River, first U.S.
In Which These Are The 100 Greatest Writers Of All Time The 100 Greatest Writers of All Time by WILL HUBBARD and ALEX CARNEVALE Other lists of this kind have been attempted, none very successfully. We would like to stress that there is a crucial difference between "an important writer" and "a great writer"; the latter is at this time our sole interest. 100. Prose stylist nonpareil, he addressed the dichotomy of race, the loneliness of existence. 99. The gestamtkunstwerk ('total work of art') was all the rage in Europe early in the last century, but Balzac was on the case almost a hundred years before. 98. The greatest artist Poland would ever spawn, Milosz was still composing vital poetry until his death in 2004. 97. When we speak of 'wit' in the theater we owe a debt to G. 96. Anti-semite? 95. We prefer to keep our religion, poetry, and booze in separate containers, but we know a lot of ex-hippie poets who swear by this guy. 94. No writer so little acclaimed in the first part of his life lived a second one in literary style in the West. 93.
Innovative, Reusable "Replenish" Spray Bottle Could Disrupt Home Cleaning Market - Environment We love to tout sustainability in the consumer sector, but of the 60 billion pounds of plastic discarded annually, only 7 percent is recycled—meaning that billions of pounds end up in landfills. That said, recycling shouldn't be our only objective; the other Rs (reduce and reuse) should be our primary targets. That's where Replenish comes in. The company rightly describes its new spray bottle as a "disruptive" product: Its reusable spray bottle is made of a sturdy, durable PET-1 plastic, meaning you don't have to replace it (though every part of it is recyclable). At the bottom of the bottle is an interchangeable "twist-on concentrate pod." "When you buy a spray bottle of normal household cleaner," says founder Jason Foster, "you're basically paying for water and plastic. An added bonus is that, once stores start carrying it, they can store far more inventory of pods on their shelves—making it a win for consumers, retailers, and the environment.
Infographic of the Day: How the Global Food Market Starves the Poor To understand the complexities of the international food market--and how traders in Chicago can cause Africans to starve--you could get a ph.D. in economics, or read a 400-page report from the World Bank. Or you watch this superb nine minute video, directed by Denis van Waerebeke. Though ostensibly created for a science show in Paris for 12 year olds, it's actually probably waaaay over a kid's head. Just watch--it's excellent, and very well illustrated: The video begins with a basic question: How is it that the first world has an oversupply of food, while 1 in 7 in the world go malnourished? That can have disastrous effects. The solutions will involve everyone, the world over. Still hungry for more infographics videos? [Via Infosthetics]
Harvard Seeks to Jolt University Teaching - Teaching By Dan Berrett Cambridge, Mass. A growing body of evidence from the classroom, coupled with emerging research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, is lending insight into how people learn, but teaching on most college campuses has not changed much, several speakers said here at Harvard University at a daylong conference dedicated to teaching and learning. Too often, faculty members teach according to habits and hunches, said Carl E. In large part, the problem is that graduate students pursuing their doctorates get little or no training in how students learn. "It really requires someone to be doubly expert," Mr. Such approaches would demand much more of students and faculty. "We assume that telling people things without asking them to actively process them results in learning," Mr. Many colleges routinely hold seminars on teaching and learning. The Hausers wanted their money to have a broad effect across Harvard's departments and disciplines. Confronting Misconceptions Mr.
Continuous Pencil by U Jung Heo, Young Gag Han & Sa Yoeng Kim Never Ending Pencil To cut a long story short, what we have here is a simple writing tool called the Continuous Pencil, which can be used till the very end. We usually end up discarding pencil stubs…I know my children waste too many saying that short pencils are uncomfortable to hold. Designers: U Jung Heo, Young Gag Han & Sa Yoeng Kim
Headlines The Great Beyond: Study sheds light on the demography of climate change Posted on behalf of Yana Balling Population growth may have a large impact on future greenhouse gas emission patterns. A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that 16-29% of emission reductions necessary to prevent the global mean temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius could be achieved by reduced population growth. Changes in population size and in the distribution of ages have been widely neglected in past and present emission scenarios, finds Brian O’Neill of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, who led the study. Neill and his colleagues used an energy-economic growth model to study how different population growth scenarios influence emission pathways by 2050 and 2100. Aging reduces emissions as elderly people contribute less to economic growth. Aging is likely to dominate future demographic development in most industrialised countries, the study concludes.
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