I’ve long been amazed by traffic lights. That seems like a pretty dumb thing to say, for sure, but think about it: in a world where daily life can be incredibly chaotic, how did we manage to implement a system… Continue Reading
Felix Reed-Tsochas of Oxford University (video of him speaking embedded above) and five other academics have a new paper out which uses longer-term observational research on how we develop, and shift, our social circles over time. There’s a good write-up in The… Continue Reading
Americans lose their shit over cheap beer prices. If you ever meet someone from western New York state, they will — not a question of if, a question of when — tell you about Genny Cream Ale and how it’s something like… Continue Reading
Chicago has been almost the one-word association for U.S. violence over the past 30 months, but their 2013 data seems promising: crime’s down 16 percent and homicides are down 18 percent. New York, Houston, and Los Angeles also saw pretty significant… Continue Reading
You can read all about Tvilight at the Smithsonian’s website, but essentially the idea is simple: we have smart phones and we’re developing smart houses and smart umbrellas, so why not smart street lights? Tvilight’s lights will dim when no one is… Continue Reading
The Milken Institute released its annual Best Performing Cities list this week. Here’s the methodology, and here’s the list of “best large cities” and “best small cities.” There are a bunch of cool features, including the ability to compare different cities,… Continue Reading
A little over a year ago, I was applying to graduate school. I’ve lived in Houston for something like 10 percent of my life, which is odd, but other than that it had been all Northeast. I wanted to do… Continue Reading
Here’s Bhutan: It’s near Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma, China and India. It’s extremely insular, and tourism only even began in 1974. To this day, you need to enter with some type of group; just booking a flight to Bhutan isn’t something one… Continue Reading