Both Adichie and Emmett Tyrrell were discussing the role of racism in the U.S. presidential election, particularly in relation to President-elect Trump’s campaign, when Adichie made a salient point about the conversation around racism that has resonated with viewers, creating a viral clip that’s being shared across the internet.
Electors have a simple choice: vote with the principle of “One person, One vote,” or vote against it, by voting for the candidate who got fewer votes. Nothing in the Constitution creates this inequality. They make it, by their vote.
You’d be forgiven if the phrase “Portland goes green with
innovative water pipes” doesn’t immediately call to mind thoughts of
civil engineering and hydro-electric power. And yet, that’s exactly what
Oregon’s largest city has done by partnering with a company called Lucid Energy to generate clean electricity from the water already flowing under its streets and through its pipes.
Portland has replaced a section
of its existing water supply network with Lucid Energy pipes containing
four forty-two inch turbines. As water flows through the pipes, the
turbines spin and power attached generators, which then feed energy back
into the city’s electrical grid. Known as the “Conduit 3 Hydroelectric
Project,” Portland’s new clean energy source is scheduled to be up and
running at full capacity in March. According to a Lucid Energy FAQ detailing
the partnership, this will be the “first project in the U.S. to secure a
20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for renewable energy produced by
in-pipe hydropower in a municipal water pipeline.“
A short promotional video describes the technology and benefits involved in harnessing energy from municipal water pipelines.
As the video explains, Lucid Energy’s system isn’t affected by the
sort of external conditions (namely: the weather) upon which
other renewable energy sources–like solar and wind power– are reliant.
Nor does the technology, completely ensconced within a pipe, have
adverse effects on a surrounding environmental ecosystem, as an
exposed hydroelectric dam might.
Fast Company points out that, in
order to be cost and energy effective, Portland’s new power generators
must be installed in pipes where water flows downhill, without having to
be pumped, as the energy necessary to pump the water would negate the
subsequent energy gleaned. However, Fast Company also notes
that the system does more than simply provide electricity: It
can monitor both the overall condition of a city’s water supply
network as well as assess the drinking quality of the water flowing
through it.
That is SO COOL! West of the cascades we certainly don’t lack hills (excepting a few towns in the Willamette valley and the tiny places basically built on glorified sandbars like Ocean Shores). Water towers are built on hilltops anyway.
The long-debated idea of a guaranteed minimum annual income for Canadians moves a small step closer to reality this week.
Former Conservative senator Hugh Segal delivers a report this week on how the “basic income pilot” announced in Ontario’s February budget might work.
The Ontario government earmarked $25 million this fiscal year to establish a pilot project in the province sometime before April 2017, and appointed Segal in late June as an unpaid special adviser.
In an interview with CBC News, Segal gave some hints about his report, which is expected to be made public in mid-September for three months of public consultations.
He’s quick to dismiss suggestions that guaranteed incomes foster laziness.
“For all those good folks on the right … who say that if you pay people to do nothing, they will do nothing, I remind them that 70 per cent of the people who live beneath the poverty line in Ontario … have jobs.
“They just don’t earn enough through minimum wage to be above the poverty line,” he said.
“So the notion that this is about chocolate, and couches, and popcorn, and watching TV is actually without any substantial basis in fact.”
Segal, long an anti-poverty advocate, says any pilot project in Ontario must be in place for at least three years to be able to measure impacts effectively.
OK folks: Game night is ON. I have 2 neighbors donating board games appropriate for all ages.
I’m still sick, so this’ll probably start in early December. It’ll be at Burial Grounds in Oly. The new location is at the old Darby’s Cafe.
Thanks to Linda and Elisa, we’ll have all ages board games. Kate’s bringing Jenga and @shadesofmauve is bringing mahjong (right? That was you, wasn’t it?)
That was me, and I’ll also bring RoboRally and Dominion. :)
(We can thank @tinierpurplefishes for Roborally – that’s where my game comes from! She hand-painted all the figures!)
EDIT: All this is assuming I can actually make it – my nights are pretty booked. But you’d be welcome to pick up my games even if I couldn’t come.
Uh! You have RoboRally? That game is teh awesomes. I always meant to get a copy…
“Authoritarianism has now become viral in America, spreading its toxic ideology into every facet of American life. The threat of totalitarianism with its legions of alt-right political zombies has now exposed itself, without apology, knowing full well that it no longer has to code or apologize for its hatred of all those who do not fit into its white-supremacist and ultra-nationalist script.
[…] This is a time for those who believe in democracy to both talk back and fight back. It will not be easy but it can happen and there are historical precedents for this. The main vehicle of change and political agency has to be young people. They are the beacon of the future and we have to learn from them, support them, contribute where possible, and join in their struggles.”
The worst part of this is going out on the street and suddenly wondering if everyone you see is a trump voter. 59 million people out there, including my state that swung red, subscribed to his hateful, racist, xenophobic rhetoric, to pence’s violent and anti-lgbt policies. Random white people on the street, in the store, next door, everywhere- all I can think is, “Was it you? Do you hate me and everyone like me?”
