De-privatisation

Is the tide now turning against privatisation? In the 1990s, a wave of sell-offs swept away countless publicly owned enterprises (though privatisation's fans would say that "enterprise" was the wrong word to describe them).

Hard-pressed governments everywhere sold power stations and electricity grids to private companies. If the taxpayer could not afford the huge bills for investment and modernisation, then why not let capitalism bear the burden - and reap the benefits? So ran the argument.

But now the trend is being reversed in Germany. In a referendum in Hamburg a month ago, 51% voted to buy back the energy grid the city sold.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24763311

e-trike

http://www.gizmag.com/hp-velotechnik-double-battery/29427/

German trike manufacturer HP Velotechnik plans to launch a new dual-battery option on its entire e-trike line next month. Double the battery will mean double the range.

Folding vehicles

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/11/tech/innovation/folding-origami-oru-kayak/index.html?hpt=hp_c4



and more.

e-cigarettes

What is the harm?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24440091

Facebook is bad for you - get a life!

http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21583593-using-social-network-seems-make-people-more-miserable-get-life?spc=scode&spv=xm&ah=9d7f7ab945510a56fa6d37c30b6f1709'


THOSE who have resisted the urge to join Facebook will surely feel vindicated when they read the latest research. A study just published by the Public Library of Science, conducted by Ethan Kross of the University of Michigan and Philippe Verduyn of Leuven University in Belgium, has shown that the more someone uses Facebook, the less satisfied he is with life.

Past investigations have found that using Facebook is associated with jealousy, social tension, isolation and depression. But these studies have all been “cross-sectional”—in other words, snapshots in time. As such, they risk confusing correlation with causation: perhaps those who spend more time on social media are more prone to negative emotions in the first place. The study conducted by Dr Kross and Dr Verduyn is the first to follow Facebook users for an extended period, to track how their emotions change.

Do It Yourself

a simple solar heater
http://www.motherearthnews.com/renewable-energy/build-a-simple-solar-heater.aspx#axzz2cy1Fp6Yq

My share of bad luck

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130827-why-other-queues-move-faster

Sometimes I feel like the whole world is against me. The other lanes of traffic always move faster than mine. The same goes for the supermarket queues. While I’m at it, why does it always rain on those occasions I don't carry an umbrella, and why do wasps always want to eat my sandwiches at a picnic and not other people's?

It feels like there are only two reasonable explanations. Either the universe itself has a vendetta against me, or some kind of psychological bias is creating a powerful – but mistaken – impression that I get more bad luck than I should. I know this second option sounds crazy, but let's just explore this for a moment before we get back to the universe-victim theory.

My impressions of victimisation are based on judgements of probability. Either I am making a judgement of causality (forgetting an umbrella makes it rain) or a judgement of association (wasps prefer the taste of my sandwiches to other people's sandwiches). Fortunately, psychologists know a lot about how we form impressions of causality and association, and it isn't all good news.

Estimations of shale gas

http://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/worldshalegas/
http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2012/01/u-s--shale-gas-reserve.html
technology http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/blog/2013/05/pioneer-using-stacked-laterals-in.html?page=all

Will the internet be intelligent?

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20121121-will-the-net-become-conscious

The internet is a new lifeform that shows the first signs of intelligence. So says brain scientist and serial entrepreneur Jeff Stibel.

He argues that the physical wiring of the internet is much like a rudimentary brain and some of the actions and interactions that take place on it are similar to the processes that we see in the brain.

At the same time, he says, it is forcing us as humans to interact and think in new and different ways.

And voice recognition, you know... if you're in a lift, and...

http://dotsub.com/view/6c5d7514-5656-476a-9504-07dd4e2f6509  

Future constructions

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130624-architecture-for-a-changing-world

By the middle of this century, our cities are likely to be hotter, experience more dramatic changes in weather, be noisier and have an increasingly tenuous relationship with our natural world.

Festivals and Midsummer Solstice

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23000963

I know what you're thinking. Norway, Sweden, Finland… these are the lands of the midnight sun. Here in Britain, it would be nice to have some midday sun, let alone midnight.

True. But it's not just in northern latitudes that midsummer is taken seriously. In many Catholic countries, such as Portugal and Brazil and Argentina, the festival of St John has recuperated midsummer, and turned it into a celebration that needs no midnight sun to be meaningful.

Music may help!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21661691