flux-capacitor

Quartz Magazine features a very engrossing and inspiring profile of the unsung inventor, John Bannister Goodenough, who gave the world its mobility and galloping pace of miniaturisation with the lithium-ion battery. This robust and rechargeable power-source is in every electronic gadget worldwide and in the motors of hybrid vehicles, and I could imagine that the world might look very different if Goodenough had not found the right balance and combination to improve upon the transistor. Goodenough achieved his breakthrough at the age of fifty-seven—and now at the age of ninety-two, he’s far from ready to retire, believing that he can develop the next generation of storage-medium that could help finally wean the world off oil and start to reverse climate change. I wager that he’ll be about to deliver.

quod numquam

Though the popular myth that no one expected the Spanish Inquisition has been dispelled for the most part, it’s a pretty fun thing to proclaim and the phrase might have its origins in another Church culture struggle. In 1875 on this day, Pope Pious IX issued the encyclical called Quod Numquam, “What we never Expected” to Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and Prussian King Wilhelm I during the height of what was known as the Kulturkampf, the systematic dissolution of Church holdings in Protestant territories and discriminatory measures taken against the congregation, including the forced exile of priests and bishops. What was never expected was that the House of Prussia might turn its back on Catholicism, and though no on the level of the Crusades, clerics ignited a holy war to sue for the freedom of religious worship.

redirected from berenstein

Via Reddit, an older speculative post on a blog called the Wood between Worlds by the self-described world’s worst scientist puts forward such a profoundly baffling psychological blind-spot that the imaginative explanation—that we are in our own parallel universe, seems pretty plausible.

Like the cognitive dissonance that occurs when the seating arrangement of the Last Supper (with Mary Magdalen next to Jesus) is pointed out or a revisionist Orwellian memory hole, the Berenstein Bears—and I distinctly remember the book covers and the stories that my Mom read to me, though I knew nothing about an animated syndicate in the mid-80s or relaunch—is and always was Berenstain. Either we’re all remembering it incorrectly, like some famously misquoted line from a movie that no one bothers to correct, or there’s an element of time travel or dimensional engineering involved. One ought to read the whole post through, and I am glad it’s of the right vintage to have garnered a lot of responses, to be rewarded with a comment from the son of the authors with an explanation about the spelling of the family name. Can you think of other examples were something false was so broadly ingrained? I hope the Scientist is continuing his intrepid research.

empty nest oder relocation bonus

A consortium of architects and civil engineers and some elements that advocate for the welfare of senior citizens in Germany are proposing (DE) that one way to address the housing shortage in metropolitan areas would be to provide pensioners with support and an incentive to move out of apartments that have gotten to be too big for them that would better accommodate young families with children. No one is proposing to force homesteaders out and of course retirees have the liberty to do what they want, but the logistical and financial help, finders’ fees and helping to arrange and pay for relocation, may prove amiable to some who feel otherwise tied to too big a place. What do you think about this idea? Most Germans are apartment dwellers and no one is occupying a McMansion but that still comprises a vertical neighbourhood, and I am sure something changes when the most veteran residents leave and are replaced with up-and-comers.