In 2016, the French government announced it would build a 620-mile highway out of solar panels instead of asphalt. The claim was these panels would generate 790 kilowatts per day, enough to power five million homes. It didn’t work, of course. In the first year, the road only generated half the expected solar power, with
For anyone with privacy concerns, let me feed your paranoia, especially if you have a digital assistant. New research is showing that many everyday words and phrases in normal conversation can trigger your assistant, which means part of what you say can be sent to your device’s manufacturer. If you mention you’ve received “a letter,”
I was always taught to be honest. I would never think of lying to my parents. But it wasn’t until much later, when I was well into adulthood, that I finally realized my mother had a subtle way of bending the truth to adjust my behavior. Like saying ” _________ is talking about you because
Have you ever wondered why some items come in odd weights and sizes? In this photo from the Marketplace website, notice the Ziploc quart-size freezer bags are packaged 19 to a box. Why the odd number? I ran across this in an October 20, 2019 article entitled “The Marketing Tactics Behind Those Odd Weights and
We hear a lot about languages that are disappearing. For example, some Native American languages are down to a handful of speakers. So it may surprise you to learn that languages are still being created. Where? Australia. At one time, as many as 300 languages were spoken on the continent. Then Europeans arrived and the
I know Mother’s Day is over for this year, but… I’ve been catching up on some favorite podcasts recently, and happened to hear about a tremendous feat of mothering. We all know that octopuses are remarkable animals. But in 2007, a robot submarine stumbled across an octopus settling in to brood her eggs at the
Just before school ended, one of the permanent teachers asked if I’d ever seen anything like this pandemic before in my lifetime. At first I was a bit taken aback, but when I realized I was (by far) the oldest person in the room, I said no, I hadn’t. This crisis is going to upend
My first memory of my uncle’s workshop was a dirt floor. It was tacked onto the side of his dairy barn, so it was no big deal. I think it stuck in my memory because it was my first natural floor that wasn’t intended for animals. Such floors are fine for barns, but problematic for
I know this is ferociously bad timing, but once we get past this pandemic, what will be the next problem to hit us? There are many ways to approach this, depending upon which experts you listen to, but here is one viewpoint, under the catchy title “Experts Knew a Pandemic Was Coming. Here’s What They’re
The coronavirus pandemic is causing a serious reexamination of our lives, including our priorities. At times the need for medical supplies has become so acute we’ve been forced to deal with some very uncomfortable questions. For example, if the curve isn’t flattened and the hospitals are overwhelmed, who gets priority treatment? Should it be the