Slow TV
An Icelandic public broadcast station aired 24 hours of live sheep birthing, part of its “slow TV” campaign, which also featured chess, knitting, and wood-burning.
Read moreCategory: Facts & Trends
IS CLIMATE CHANGE LARGELY THE RESULT OF HUMAN ACTIVITY?
The pollster Ipsos MORI put the question to people in 20 countries. Here’s a sampling of how many said yes:
Read moreGod vs. Harvey Weinstein
Number of Academy Award winners in the past twenty years who thanked God in their acceptance speeches: 7 Who thanked Harvey Weinstein: 30
Read moreBy the numbers
141: The number of seasonal former IRS employees rehired by the agency between 2010 and 2013 despite having botched or failed to file their own tax returns, according to a February report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. 8.8 Million: The number of tons of plastic waste dumped into the oceans every year, according to a study in the journal […]
Read moreHOW HAPPY ARE YOU?
Gallup ranked 143 countries by how great a share of respondents said they had recently had positive experiences such as laughter or enjoyment. A sampling, from greatest to least: 1 – Paraguay 8 – Costa Rica 15 – U.S. 134 – Afghanistan 143 – Sudan
Read moreA BIG MARKET
Americans spend $100 billion annually on cocaine, heroin, pot and meth. Many users spend small amounts at a time—$10 may buy a day’s supply of heroin, for instance. But over time users may build a tolerance to a drug and need more of it to feel high.
Read moreHow Pot Affects Driving
Reduced awareness Brain imaging shows that it’s harder for people who are high to focus on several things at once, such as a changing stoplight, an approaching bicycle and a car signaling a turn. Hallucinations Research is sparse, but pot-related cases can happen and are an “underappreciated” threat on the road. Slower decisions Being high can impair users’ executive function and problem-solving […]
Read moreLake Mead Level Lower Than Ever
Lake Mead, the main reservoir on the Colorado River, is now just 38 percent full — lower than at any time since it was filled in the 1930’s. If the lake sinks lower still during summer months, officials may cut water allotments to Arizona farmers by 50 percent.
Read moreMost Indebted Graduating Class In History
The graduating class of 2015 is the most indebted in history, owing a total of $56 billion in student loans. About 71 percent of college students graduating this year took out loans, at an average of $35,051 each. In 1996, just 58 percent of students took out loans, owing less than $20,000 each at graduation.
Read moreMonitoring your tweets
What happened to the Conservatives’ promise to roll back the surveillance state? said James Ball. The British are already the most-spied-upon people on the planet, with hundreds of thousands of video cameras recording our comings and goings. Junior-level bureaucrats have the authority to “ping” our mobile phones to find out where we are at any given moment. Now they also […]
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