https://www.boredpanda.com/city-gadgets-convenient-traffic-urban-equipment-msn/
#26 This Hourglass Shaped Traffic Light

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I like this. Why can’t we have them here in the USA. Might cure road rage?
—30—
https://www.boredpanda.com/city-gadgets-convenient-traffic-urban-equipment-msn/
#26 This Hourglass Shaped Traffic Light

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I like this. Why can’t we have them here in the USA. Might cure road rage?
—30—
https://radiofarside.substack.com/p/the-gingers
The Gingers — “Martians” sounds so retro
Radio Far Side
Mar 09, 2025
*** begin quote ***
Donald Trump’s recent address to the joint session of Congress (emphasis on “joint” and “con”), while entertaining at times, offered no real updates on anything of substance. He’s a showman, and it was a show, which the Democrats unwittingly participated in. However, like no-alcohol beer, it was all bubbles and no buzz.
Trump made one quick reference to his administration’s ambitions in space that got the old brain juice flowing. His exact statement was, “We are going to lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on the planet Mars, and even far beyond.”
*** and ***
Here’s just some of them:
*** and ***
Here’s just some of the changes they would undergo:
*** end quote ***
“People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” George Bernard Shaw
That’s the first time I’ve see a comprehensive list of the “technical” and “human” problems that need to be overcome.
May not happen in my lifetime, but it will in someone’s.
As an afficiando of Sci Fi, especially Heinlein, I believe it can be done.
I remember JFK promising a man on the moon. Impossible some said.
“Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done.” — Robert A. Heinlein
—30—
The color of your child’s swimsuit can play a role in their safety at the pool, experts say
By Jacqueline Howard, CNN
Updated 9:49 AM EDT, Sun June 9, 2024
*** begin quote ***
“People should avoid swimsuits in light blue, gray, or green as they can blend with the water and pool surroundings, making it difficult to spot a child. We recommend bright and contrasting colors such as neon yellow, orange, pink, and bright red,” Fisher added. “These colors are highly visible both underwater and on the surface.
Swimsuit colors are not talked about enough in public safety, said Wyatt Werneth, a coastal lifeguard in Florida and spokesperson for the American Lifeguard Association.
“The bright clothes are something that we’ve identified as being a game-changer. If you have the same colors of the water or the environment, you’re going to blend in,” Werneth said while patrolling Cocoa Beach.
*** end quote ***
The article makes the point that it is NOT just the beach but for “camping” and all activities.
I like the idea of taking a picture first thing as a safety measure.
Hope it’s never needed.
—30—
Psychology
Write down your thoughts and shred them to relieve anger, researchers say
Caroline Davies — Tue 9 Apr 2024 09.40 EDT
*** begin quote ***
Since time immemorial humans have tried to devise anger management techniques.
In ancient Rome, the Stoic philosopher Seneca believed “my anger is likely to do me more harm than your wrong” and offered avoidance tips in his AD45 work De Ira (On Anger).
More modern methods include a workout on the gym punchbag or exercise bike. But the humble paper shredder may be a more effective – and accessible – way to decompress, according to research.
A study in Japan has found that writing down your reaction to a negative incident on a piece of paper and then shredding it, or scrunching it into a ball and throwing it in the bin, gets rid of anger.
“We expected that our method would suppress anger to some extent,” said Nobuyuki Kawai, lead researcher of the study at Nagoya University. “However, we were amazed that anger was eliminated almost entirely.”
*** end quote ***
Have to try this and see if it helps.
“Income tax”.
Printed and shredded!
Didn’t help!!!
—30—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wsvWj6OPQg
Report your local ***hole with what3words
what3words — Mar 27, 2024
*** begin quote ***
Potholes are such a menace, we think they should be considered a rude word! They cause damage to cars, agony for drivers and a lot of frustration for communities and local councils. They can’t be fixed if they can’t be found, so many councils and highways authorities are asking people to use a what3words address when they report a pothole.
Next time you spot a pothole, find the what3words address and share it online, helping your council or highways authority to find and fix potholes easily.
*** end quote ***
Hopefully we can get this working in the Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerzee.
I’ll try and report back results of lack there of.
Sigh!
—30—
Put in ///forgot.golf.scan on the NJDOT webform. 2024-Mar-28 1240
—30—
https://www.biographic.com/city-of-glass/?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email
Solutions
10.31.2023
City of Glass
Story by Ben Goldfarb
*** begin quote ***
The film seemed to be working: Collisions at the Kellogg Hub had declined by half, and for 20 minutes I watched red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) alight easily on its railings and roof. Even better, at the nearby Frances Searle Building, whose windows the university had covered with faint horizontal stripes, bird deaths had virtually ceased. Yet the projects had been neither cheap nor perfect. The Searle Building alone had cost the university $250,000 to retrofit, and large swaths of the Kellogg Center remained unprotected. Retrofitting existing buildings is crucial, no doubt; Chicago isn’t about to dismantle its existing skyline for the sake of birds. Still, “the best solutions are the ones that are designed into the building from the beginning,” Claire Halpin, a landscape architect who sat on the board of the Chicago Ornithological Society until her recent death, told me later.
*** and ***
Not everyone was so receptive. During our rounds, Prince and I passed the Bank of America Tower, where three trees beckoned to birds from behind glass so clear it was surprising more humans didn’t hit it face-first. Prince had begged the building’s sustainability officer to put up a patterned film, or move the trees, or even hang a temporary banner during migration season — to do literally anything. “The answer,” she told me, “was ‘no, no, and no.’”
*** end quote ***
Maybe we all can put some political pressure on BOA to address the problem?
—30—
One month after experimental pig heart transplant, doctors say they see no signs of rejection or infection (4 minute read)
The patient who received a pig heart in an experimental heart transplant last month appears to have excellent heart function with no signs of infection or rejection. The pig heart had been genetically modified to make it more compatible with humans. Doctors have withdrawn all drugs that were initially supporting the heart, so it is performing well on its own. The patient was the second ever to undergo the treatment – the first patient died from a complex array of factors two months following their transplant.
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Fantastic news.
—30—
https://betterhumans.pub/10-mental-models-for-learning-anything-318446320c1e
10 Mental Models for Learning Anything
Scott H. Young
Better Humans
Sep 21, 2022
*** begin quote ***
6. Mental bandwidth is extremely limited.
We can only keep a few things in mind at any one time. George Miller initially pegged the number at seven, plus or minus two items. But more recent work has suggested the number is closer to four things.
*** end quote ***
My range used to be “5±2” but maybe I need to tolerate 4±2?
Sigh!
Now I find out — a little late in my life.
—30—
Low-cost device can measure air pollution anywhere
Peter Dizikes | MIT News Office
Publication Date: March 16, 2023
*** begin quote ***
Air pollution is a major public health problem: The World Health Organization has estimated that it leads to over 4 million premature deaths worldwide annually. Still, it is not always extensively measured. But now an MIT research team is rolling out an open-source version of a low-cost, mobile pollution detector that could enable people to track air quality more widely.
The detector, called Flatburn, can be made by 3D printing or by ordering inexpensive parts. The researchers have now tested and calibrated it in relation to existing state-of-the-art machines, and are publicly releasing all the information about it — how to build it, use it, and interpret the data.
*** end quote ***
“We” should have an award for people who make a discovery and make it free to use because of its great benefit.
It should be named for Frederick Banting (note below) for insulin or Volvo for the three point seat belt.
Maybe Volvo would sponsor it.
I’d nominate these folks from MIT for this invention and releasing it to the public domain.
# – # – # – # – #
Note: When inventor Frederick Banting discovered insulin in 1923, he refused to put his name on the patent. He felt it was unethical for a doctor to profit from a discovery that would save lives. Banting’s co-inventors, James Collip and Charles Best, sold the insulin patent to the University of Toronto for a mere $1.
—30—
I wonder when someone in the shoe business gets the bright idea to enable shoes for children and mentally disabled adults to have an Apple Air Tag or Tile Tracker to be inserted? Then when someone goes missing, they can be quickly found. Seems like an easy design change. I was thinking about cutting the heel of a sneaker, hollowing out “cave”, putting an Air Tag in, and the epoxy the cut. I was concerned that it might make the shoe uncomfortable. I’m going to wait for him to outgrow his current pair and has a new pair ready to put into service. Then do a human factors test, Laugh!
—30—
Found an interesting report of doing this exact idea.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/global-plastic-dow-shoes/
—30—
1440 Daily Digest <DailyDigest@email.join1440.com>
> Engineers develop robotic wooden seed carriers that mimic self-burying seeds, enabling aerial seeding of hard-to-reach areas (More, w/video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykKyp8RbcEM
2,639 views Premiered Feb 15, 2023
Nature. Issue Feb 16, 2023. Cover story.
Link to the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158…
Project page: https://www.morphingmatter.cs.cmu.edu…
Read the paper for free online: https://rdcu.be/c5HBn
Description:
Agriculture and reforestation: Bioinspired seed carrier improves on nature.
Aerial seeding is a crucial way to cover large and otherwise inaccessible areas, and can facilitate post-fire reforestation or wildland restoration. However, when a seed lies on the surface, it can be damaged by weather conditions or eaten by wildlife, resulting in low germination rates. Seeds of various grass species can self-bury, an ability that would be advantageous if applied to different seed types.
A new biodegradable seed carrier design inspired by the self-drilling behaviour of Erodium seeds is described in a paper in Nature. The seed carrier has a higher implantation success rate than that of Erodium seeds. This technology may improve the effectiveness of aerial seeding to address agricultural and environmental stresses in degraded regions.
Authors: Danli Luo, Aditi Maheshwari, Andreea Danielescu, Jiaqi Li, Yue Yang, Ye Tao, Lingyun Sun, Dinesh K. Patel, Guanyun Wang*, Shu Yang*, Teng Zhang*, Lining Yao*.
Collaborative Institutes:
# – # – # – # – #
Wow, what feat of engineering. Very impressive. A six minute video is worth watching.
How little we know and how little we exploit what is from of our eye.
Trees on Mars is a little farfetched, but for reforestation it seems unbelievable.
I see the list of Gooferment grants funding this and unlike most of the ridiculed one (like why do fish mate), this one seems like a real winner.
Guess that excuses at least 100 boondoggles.
—30—
Duck alla Pest Control—This Horde of Ducks Have Been Protecting 140 Acres of Vineyards for a Half Century (WATCH)
By Andy Corbley – Jul 21, 2022
*** begin quote ***
An antique vineyard in South Africa has ditched toxic pesticides for a horde of hungry ducks, as they attempt to make their wines more sustainable.
In reality, Vergenoegd Löw, the wine estate outside Cape Town, South Africa, has been running ducks through their grape vines since the 1970s, but recently they’re trying to introduce this method of pest control to their industry allies.
The idea first came from east Asia where ducks are used to clear harmful invertebrates out of rice paddies, and it’s become so successful on the estate, that a quacking 1,600 ducks are used.
“I call our ducks the soldiers of our vineyards,” managing director Corius Visser told CNN. “They will eat aphids, they will eat snails, they will eat small worms; they keep (it) completely pest-free.”
*** end quote ***
Now this is an idea that needs more publicity. Like using goats in Riverside Park to trim brush and poison ivy. Ot train crows to recycle aluminum cans. I love when someone comes up with a way to harness “nature”.
I’d buy a bottle of their wine just to support the ducks.
(Whom, by the way, are pretty funny in the video. Who knew about flightless ducks?)
—30—
https://modernfarmer.com/2022/02/new-lebanon-farmers-market/
This Market Stepped Up to Feed a Town With No Grocery Store
FEB 13, 2022
Robin Catalano
*** begin quote ***
When Josh Young took over management of the decade-old New Lebanon Farmers Market (NLFM) in rural upstate New York in 2020, he needed to think creatively to mitigate the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. He didn’t anticipate those efforts would result in a new hybrid market model that would garner a major grant from the USDA, and serve as a fresh-fare blueprint for food deserts.
Like many Northeastern towns that prospered during the Industrial Era, New Lebanon declined when the passenger rail shuttered in the 1950s. The town’s only grocery store closed more than a dozen years ago. Residents had resigned themselves to the 10-plus-mile haul for shopping.
As the coronavirus rocked the supply chain, Josh Young, a freelance software engineer, and his sister, Eleanor Young, who runs a butchery and sausage-making business, took the NLFM virtual, with online ordering and weekly pickup and deliveries. It was an immediate hit.
*** and ***
The Youngs are confident the New Lebanon Farmers Market can serve as a model for food deserts across the country. “Anyone can do this,” says Josh. “You can start small, and grow it a little bit every week. The next person to bootstrap an effort like ours will be able to point to us as an example in order to solicit capital for an even larger market.”
*** end quote ***
Now I am not keen on the term “food deserts”, but I’d like to patronize their NLFM. I find that “food” today doesn’t taste the same as when I was a kid. I remember the rolls from the bakery more like what Ben Franklin described than the “hockey pucks” we buy today.
I’ve read posts after posts in the survivalist sites about how crops are “poorer” in nutritional value from Big Ag than home grown “victory gardens”.
Maybe our taste buds are detecting that and telling our primal brain to forage elsewhere.
Sigh!
—30—
This drone flies using da Vinci’s 530-year-old helicopter design – CNET https://www.cnet.com/news/this-drone-flies-using-da-vincis-530-year-old-helicopter-design/#ftag=CAD590a51e
Billionaire Mark Cuban Opens Online Pharmacy To Provide Affordable Generic Drugs
By Good News Network – Jan 26, 2022
*** begin quote ***
Mark Cuban has officially launched his newest venture—the online pharmacy Cost Plus Drugs.
GNN previously reported on Cuban’s support for Texas radiologist Dr. Alex Oshymansky, who started a public benefit company to provide cheap pharmaceutical drugs.
The launch comes just weeks after the company’s pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) operation was established; both are efforts in the pursuit to help shield consumers from inflated drug prices.
*** end quote ***
I’m trying it out.
YMMV
—30—
https://www.the-sun.com/news/4280850/scuba-diver-cold-case-missing-solved/
EXCLUSIVE News US News
DEEP DIVE I’m a scuba-diving sleuth and I help crack cold cases by searching for human remains and clues in water
Luke Kenton
8:25 ET, Dec 19 2021
Updated: 8:25 ET, Dec 19 2021
*** begin quote ***
A SCUBA diver who uses sonar equipment to solve cold cases has opened up to The Sun about how he may have cracked a 21-year-old missing persons case last month when he discovered a car in a Tennesee lake.
Jeremy Beau Sides, 42, who runs the YouTube channel Exploring with Nug, found a black 1988 Pontiac Grand Am during a dive in Sparta on November 30, with human remains inside that are yet to be identified.
*** end quote ***
Seems to do it “ethically” by not raising false hopes and not getting involved other than notifying the proper authority.
Great that he can earn enough from YouTube to keep doing it.
Well done.
—30—
15 uncoupled pendulums of increasing lengths dance and produce visual traveling waves, standing waves and beating [source, by Harvard Natural Sciences Lecture Demonstrations: http://bit.ly/1eKRJUB
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Wow. Eye-blowing
—30—
I have a ring full of “unknown” keys.
Where’s the phone app that can, with a database of “my” keys, can use AI to match with an “unknown” one?
Argh!
—30—
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ev-owners-switch-gas-power-study/#ftag=CAD590a51e
Surprising number of EV owners switch back to gas power, study says
The study looked at owners in California specifically and found home charging was a huge factor in people dropping the EV lifestyle.
Sean Szymkowski
May 4, 2021 9:14 a.m. PT
*** begin quote ***
As so much of the world works to pivot away from fossil fuels and the internal-combustion engine, a new study from the University of California, Davis, published in the journal Nature Energy last week, showed some concerning signs for what the auto industry still needs to get right. According to this study, which looked at California EV owners specifically between 2015-2019, 18% of electric vehicle owners switched back to a gas-powered car. For plug-in hybrid owners, 20% of them flipped back to a car solely powered by an engine.
The major takeaway from the EV flip-flopping lands in the lap of charging — specifically at-home charging. The lack of reliable Level 2 charging at home (that’s a 240-volt plug) was a major factor leading to EV “discontinuance,” as the researchers called it. That makes sense. If you don’t have a place to charge reliably, it makes it a lot harder to enjoy the benefits associated with an EV, including an overall lower cost of ownership. Public charging infrastructure remains just OK, with many stations down for maintenance, or simply not close enough to drivers, even in California, where chargers are more common than the rest of the US. And charging times at a public station still aren’t on par with gassing up a car.
According to the research, about half of the respondents who bought another EV had access to Level 2 charging, compared to the 30% who dumped the electric lifestyle, but had a proper plug at home. The research found owners were 53% less likely to buy another EV if they did not have access to convenient, at-home charging. Essentially, it was a coin toss over whether an EV owner either stuck with it or returned to gas pumps.
*** end quote ***
It’s hard to imagine without HUGE tax subsidies, a major oil disruption, or a Gooferment diktat, that “We, The Sheeple” will give up the cheap reliable option of a gas powered car.
—30—
https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/8/22374749/elon-musk-neuralink-monkey-pong-brain-interface
*** begin quote ***
There’s probably no substitute better than just watching the 3m 27s long video as it runs through how the macaque monkey is playing Pong without a joystick.
But in case you don’t want to click or watch or engage, here’s the outline on what’s going on from The Verge:
Pager, a 9-year-old macaque monkey, had a Neuralink implanted about six weeks before the video was shot, the video’s unnamed narrator says.
*** end quote ***
Glad I won’t be around for the mandatory chipping!
But for the souls who are “differently abled”, or whatever the politically correct term is today, this could be a Godsend.
For others, it might be a curse.
To me a beer flavored smoothie might entrap me.
—30—
https://nypost.com/2021/01/05/atomic-clock-scientists-suggest-subtracting-a-second-from-minute/
Atomic clock scientists suggest shortening minute to 59 seconds
By Hannah Sparks
January 5, 2021
*** begin quote ***
Nevertheless, Earth slows down for no one. In fact, according to global time officials, it’s speeding up, prompting suggestions to shorten the minute by a second, the Telegraph reported.
*** end quote ***
Who would think that “time” is not a physical constant like Ππ Pi, ΕεEpsilon, or any of the many other ‘constants’?
—30—
$130,000 for an 8-foot-by-8-foot shed? That’s what L.A. is paying in a bid to house the homeless
By DOUG SMITH, SENIOR WRITER
DEC. 12, 2020
*** begin quote ***
Combining public and private funds, the nonprofit now manages 550 tiny homes in villages on public property, private property and church property around the Seattle area. It costs from $300,000 to $500,000 to set up 40 or 50 homes, depending on the sewer connection, Lee said. Portable toilets initially used have been replaced by permanent bathrooms and showers.
The villages function as communities, with residents all performing chores and, at some, taking part in self-governance.
Seattle’s citizen-driven model never got traction in Los Angeles.
When a self-styled homeless activist started delivering hand-made tiny homes to people living on the streets, the city ruled the structures illegal and quickly stamped out the movement.
*** end quote ***
Too bad the Gooferment squashes any private attempt to solve the problem that the Gooferment created!
—30—
https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article247859110.html
In the age of COVID, give parents ‘school choice’ on best way to educate their children | Opinion
BY ED POZZUOLI
DECEMBER 15, 2020 05:13 PM
*** begin quote ***
Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida’s Department of Education rightly have continued to urge, and require, all public schools to provide the choice of live in-person instruction for all students. Plenty of attention has been paid — correctly — to the public-health issues involved in opening public schools safely during the COVID-19 pandemic, but one aspect has been mostly overlooked: The question of keeping schools open, like other matters of educational opportunity, is also a civil-rights issue.
*** end quote ***
It’s hard to imagine a more “broken system” than “education” in the USA.
Remember that the origins of Gooferment Skrules comes from Horrace Mann emulating the Prussian schools.
The true purpose of these “systems” was to create: cannon fodder for the Army, willing morons for the factories, and useful idiots to vote for and be led by the elite!
If the WuFlu is real, and I think that’s still an issue for further discussion, then perhaps the birth of “remote education” is the silver lining.
Could it break the strangle hold that the teachers’ unions have on the politicians and bureaucrats?
One can only hope!
—30—
Drudge Report Sold?…
🚨CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE🚨
November 25, 2020 3:40 PM
In interviews with over a half-dozen various former Drudge associates, about half suggested that the site may no longer be under his control. For these people, politics alone couldn’t explain all the changes at the site. The humor, the oddball stories about sex robots and exorcisms, and the obsession with weather events are all almost entirely gone, along with any pretense to original reporting.
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It was clear that the “Drudge Report” had sold out when it became the anti-Trump. Prior to that it was pretty even handed. It looked “hard right” when compared to the “(L | M) stream media”.
Nature abhors a vacuum!
So, here comes a successor?
—30—
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