Date archives "April 2019"

Society Wow Cool

One Woman, 100 Marathons, 200 Food Banks

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I Volunteered At 200 Food Banks Across The U.S. Here’s What I Learned About Hunger In America.
I Volunteered At 200 Food Banks Across The U.S. Here’s What I Learned About Hunger In America.

I set a goal to road-trip across the country, running a marathon in all 50 states (I’d later up it to 100 marathons), volunteering at each of the 200 Feeding America food banks, and visiting friends and family as I went.

I set out in July 2014. I ran my 100th marathon last month and volunteered at my 200th food bank on April 11. Am I done? Not even close. Not while there are millions of hungry Americans. Not when there is more that I — that we all — can do.

Society

Guerilla Gappistas Repair Rome When Public Services Fail

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Filling a gap: the clandestine gang fixing Rome illegally
Filling a gap: the clandestine gang fixing Rome illegally
As Italys capital falls apart, a secret organisation is doing the repairs the authorities won’t.
They always leave their signature, a logo of a hammer and screwdriver, either painted with stencils on the ground or on a piece of paper. They also leave leaflets exhorting their fellow Romans to follow their example: “The Gap are a secret organisation – instead of carrying out sabotage actions the gappisti make repairs where bureaucracy fails. Find your goal, organise and repair: become a gappista yourself!”
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/apr/10/filling-a-gap-the-clandestine-gang-fixing-rome-illegally 

 

Society Uncategorized

Utah Tests Out Preferential Voting, Eliminates Primaries

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Payson, Vineyard will pilot ranked choice voting for state
Payson, Vineyard will pilot ranked choice voting for state

Payson and Vineyard will likely be the only cities in the state of Utah trying out a new form of voting, called ranked choice voting, for their municipal elections in 2019, after multiple other cities that had expressed interest ended up backing out of the new pilot program.

Ranked choice voting is a system that allows people to rank all candidates in a race from first to last. If a candidate receives more than half of the first-choice votes, they win the election. If no one receives more than half, however, the last-place candidate is eliminated. When a voter’s first choice is eliminated, their second choice is included in the count for the second round. That process continues until a candidate receives more than 50 percent of the total vote.

Advocates of the system say benefits include obtaining a true majority winner and more civil races because candidates are trying to appeal to all voters, rather than just their base, because the candidate wants to be that voter’s second choice.

The concept was discussed at a Payson City Council meeting last week, with the council opting to stay with the pilot program. Payson Mayor Bill Wright said there will be a cost savings for the city, since ranked choice voting eliminates the need for Payson to hold a primary.

 

Society

Norway’s Halden Prison is a ‘Campus’

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How Norway designed a more humane prison
How Norway designed a more humane prison
Halden Prison in Norway looks sort of like a fancy dorm room or a hotel — much different than the barbed wire and cramped cells we often associate with prison design. Its look is all part of a plan to create a more humane prison, one where the architecture isn’t part of the punishment. Most prisons around the world are consolidated into one single building. This style makes it easy and efficient for inmates to move around, but the design is monotonous and full of visually unappealing materials, like steel and concrete. Plus, tight quarters inside these spaces can foster conflict.
Halden has a different structure: a campus design, where inmates move from one building to another, and are surrounded by lots of windows and construction materials that help muffle noise and take advantage of natural light. The prison’s layout also encourages guards to interact with inmates face-to-face, which fosters better relationships and reduces security-related incidents.
Halden’s design style is expensive — which is why we mostly see it implemented in places with good social support systems, like Western Europe and Scandinavia. Still, the design is setting new standards for what prisons could be like in the future.

 

 

Environment

Sustainable Straws from Vietnam

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Compostable Wild Grass Straws Are Vietnam's Newest Zero-Waste Straw Option
Compostable Wild Grass Straws Are Vietnam’s Newest Zero-Waste Straw Option
A Vietnam company is making compostable, chemical-free straws out of wild grass.
Tran Minh Tien is the owner of Ống Hút Cỏ, a Vietnam-based company that makes two kinds of straws out of sedge grass, which grows wild along the Mekong Delta, The Epoch Times reported. As explained in a Facebook video by VnExpress International, the sedge grass has a hollow stem, so it is naturally straw shaped. 

 

Society Technology

Floating Cities Recommended by United Nations

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UN partnership backs "floating city" research
UN partnership backs “floating city” research
Oceanix City, or the world’s first sustainable floating city, would essentially be groups of hexagonal platforms – anchored to the seabed – that could each house around 300 people, effectively creating a community for 10,000 residents. Cages under the city could harvest scallops, kelp, or other forms of seafood. Marc Collins Chen, the chief executive of Oceanix, said the technology to build large floating infrastructure or housing already exists.
https://boingboing.net/2019/04/08/un-partnership-backs-floatin.html