I’ve been thinking about getting one of these Zepii electric scooters from The London Electric Scooter Company (they’ve just launched their website). You can watch a hands-on review here by Jason Bradbury of the UK’s Gadget Show, when they were first released a year ago. Relatively low carbon footprint. No emissions (if you’re electrical supply is renewable). No road tax. No congestion charges. Costs about £60 in electricity to run a year.
Great chart by Information is Beautiful:
It’s a “balloon race”. The higher a bubble, the greater the evidence for its effectiveness. But the supplements are only effective for the conditions listed inside the bubble. You might also see multiple bubbles for certain supplements. These is because some supplements affect a range of conditions, but the evidence quality varies from condition to condition. For example, there’s strong evidence that Green Tea is good for cholesterol levels. But evidence for its anti-cancer effects is conflicting.
Sharp decline in public’s belief in climate threat, British poll reveals:
The proportion of adults who believe climate change is “definitely” a reality dropped by 30% over the last year, from 44% to 31%, in the latest survey by Ipsos Mori.
What I don’t understand is that we’ve been here so often before. Why do people listen to the propaganda of oil companies and the like over scientific evidence? How many times do you have to have the wool pulled over your eyes by propagandists denying that smoking causes cancer, denying that CFCs lead to ozone depletion, denying that certain pollutants cause acid rain or denying that climate change is manmade (or, originally, that it even existed)?
This is a great time to be born, a great time to be alive. This generation gets to completely change the world we live in. We have a chance here to reimagine every single thing we do. But, no, perhaps we’d rather go down with the ship and listen to rich old men trying to squeeze every last dollar, euro and yen from their investments in outdated industries.
A company called Bloom Energy and founded by K.R. Sridhar is set to launch a new energy device tomorrow that he says is a breakthrough in fuel cell technology—namely making it affordable (the Holy Grail of fuel cell research) and thus providing a localised and comparatively cleaner and cheaper form of electricity than that which we currently get from the grid.
There was a segment covering the topic on CBS’s 60 minutes Sunday night, including an interview with K.R. Sridhar, which can watch online here.
While correlation doesn’t necessarily prove causation the study doesn’t need to. It only needs to prove correlation to challenge the claim that “religion leads to better societies.”
Back in 2003 and 2004 over 70% of American’s polled were telling pollsters not only that they believed Saddam Hussein had WMDs but that he was personally involved in the attack on the World Trade Centre.
Now they’re at it again, with over 70% telling pollsters that they think Iran has nuclear weapons.
Should this country really be allowed to deal in international politics?
How to defend the Enlightenment:
On the publication of his new book In Defence of the Enlightenment, Tzvetan Todorov tells British philosopher AC Grayling why the Enlightenment must be separated from scientism and cultural chauvinism.
Demonstration by Blaise Aguera at TED of the impressive work they’ve been doing behind the scenes on Bing Maps.
Nicholas D. Kristoff, writing for the New York Times:
Researchers have found, for example, that some humans are particularly alert to threats, particularly primed to feel vulnerable and perceive danger. Those people are more likely to be conservatives.
Chatroulette (chat roulette). A new website that randomly connects you to other people via webcam doing the same the thing. I just watched a couple having sex on their couch, amongst other things…
Haven’t met the Chatroulette Mystic yet though.