Imagine a city where public housing is widely available to citizens from diverse economic backgrounds. We're talking about 80% of a city qualifying. Now imagine that once you qualify, you always qualify. No stigma. No massive rise in living expenses. No suffocating mortgage. In short, imagine Gemeindebauten, which is described as "social housing" but also roughly translates as the rent is not too damn high. Francesca Mari in the NYT Mag (Gift Article): Imagine a Renters’ Utopia. It Might Look Like Vienna. "To American eyes, the whole Viennese setup can appear fancifully socialistic. But set that aside, and what’s mind-boggling is how social housing gives the economic lives of Viennese an entirely different shape ... Imagine having to think about [your housing expenses] to the same degree that you think about your restaurant choices or streaming-service subscriptions. Imagine, too, where the rest of your income might go, if you spent much less of it on housing." As an American, I'd probably spend the extra money on a vacation home. (The song is already in your head, so here's Billy Joel's Vienna. Come to think of it, maybe I'd spend the savings on piano lessons...) 2Screenage Wasteland"Our children have become unknowing participants in a decades-long experiment." Vox: How far should the government go to control what your kids see online? "Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on May 23 that outlined social media’s perceived risks and benefits to children, saying that 'we do not have enough evidence to conclude that [social media] is sufficiently safe for them.' Lawmakers, the advisory said, can mitigate possible harm with policies such as age minimums, increased data privacy for children, and age-appropriate health and safety standards for platforms to implement." I'm not sure government intrusion is the answer and I am sure that any such efforts would instantly devolve into culture war nonsense. But the notion that our kids spending their entire lives glued to their devices is harmless is patently (and parently) absurd, and I'm quite sure my kids would agree (although they haven't returned my texts about this). 3Tiny Troubles"Only a fraction of the plastic produced gets recycled: About 9 percent worldwide and about 5 to 6 percent in the United States." There's also a very big (and very small) problem when it comes to the plastic that does get recycled. "A recent peer-reviewed study that focused on a recycling facility in the United Kingdom suggests that anywhere between 6 to 13 percent of the plastic processed could end up being released into water or the air as microplastics — ubiquitous tiny particles smaller than five millimeters that have been found everywhere from Antarctic snow to inside human bodies." WaPo (Free Article): The little-known unintended consequence of recycling plastics. 4To the Hoyts"The father-and-son team began running races in 1977, competing in more than 1,000 marathons, duathlons and triathlons, according to the Team Hoyt website. In a custom racing chair, Rick -- who had cerebral palsy that left him a quadriplegic -- told his father that running in the race made him feel like his disability disappeared." Rick Hoyt, the man whose father pushed him in a wheelchair for 32 years in the Boston Marathon, has died at the age of 61. 5Extra, ExtraHurt Grokker: "Even though pain is universal, there has not been a way to objectively measure its intensity." That could change. New research suggests chronic pain can be objectively measured using brain signals. (What, the smile-frown pain chart wasn't accurate enough for you?) 6Bottom of the News"In the U.S., housing inventory is low. In underdeveloped countries, it can be prohibitively expensive to build. In all cases, green and sustainable methods are useful. Which is why researchers in Japan have pursued a novel way of crafting a low-cost home: recycled diapers." (This gives new meaning to load bearing structures.) Get a copy of my 📕, Please Scream Inside Your Heart, or grab a 👕 in the Store.
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See the post that he shared. Facebook 📄 Liaqat Ali Ali shared Waheed Zaman 's post. 26 April at 12:09 View This message was sent to ludomallam@idiot.cloudns.cc . If you don't want to receive these emails from Facebook in the future, please unsubscribe . Facebook, Inc., Attention: Community Support, 1 Facebook Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025 To help keep your account secure, please don't forward this email. Learn more
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