The San Diego Public Library system just wiped out overdue fines for 130,000 people. It’s part of a growing trend, reports NPR: The changes were enacted after a city study revealed that nearly half of the library’s patrons whose accounts were blocked as a result of late fees lived in two of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. “I never realized it impacted…
Tag: Chicago
‘Doom’ Creator John Romero Explains What’s Wrong With Today’s Shooter Games
An anonymous reader quotes the Guardian: “Give us more guns!” is a common battle-cry among players of first-person shooters, the videogame industry’s bloodiest genre. Doom co-creator John Romero has a rather different opinion. “I would rather have fewer things with more meaning, than a million things you don’t identify with,” he says, sitting in a Berlin bar mocked up to resemble…
NASA moon rocks help form new picture of early moon and Earth
Most people only ever encounter rubidium as the purple color in fireworks, but the obscure metal has helped two University of Chicago scientists propose a theory of how the moon may have formed. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-10-nasa-moon-picture-early-earth.html…
40% Of America’s Schools Have Now Dropped Their SAT/ACT Testing Requirement
“A record number” of U.S. schools are now accepting nearly all of their students without requiring an SAT or ACT test score, reports the Washington Post: Robert A. Schaeffer, public education director of FairTest, which opposes the misuse of standardized tests, said the past year has seen the “fastest growth spurt ever” of schools ending the SAT/ACT test score as an…
The Death of Cars Was Greatly Exaggerated
Personal car ownership in the US has increased in the past 10 years, even in the frenzied urban places where Uber and car-share have become verbs. From a report: According to research from former New York City transportation official Bruce Schaller, the number of vehicles has grown faster than the population in some of the cities where ride-hail is most popular:…
Founder of ‘Tesla Killer’ Faraday Future Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Faraday Future’s founder and former CEO Jia Yueting has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware court in a bid to satisfy his myriad debts in China. From a report: The Chinese tycoon claims he still owes around $3.6 billion to more than 100 creditors, thanks, in large part, to the collapse of LeEco, the tech conglomerate he founded there. The…
Today’s Politics May Be Bad for Your Health
An anonymous reader shares a report: An Iowa man is so bothered by the political climate that his psychologist says he asked for a higher dosage of his anxiety medication. A Chicago woman is so uneasy about politics that she has needed two dental implants to deal with her teeth-grinding habit. And a New York woman says she suffered her first…
Motorola, Known For Cellphones, is Fast Becoming a Major Player in Government Surveillance
Jon Schuppe, reporting for NBC News: The surveillance tools have been installed in schools and public housing, deployed on roads and public transit, and worn by police officers. They’ve been developed by an array of technology firms competing for government business. And many are now owned by a company seeking to grab a bigger piece of a booming market. Motorola, a…
Did an asteroid collision cause an ice age on Earth?
Could a collision between 2 asteroids millions of miles away cause an ice age on Earth, some 460 million years ago? A new study of earthly rocks and sediments – plus micrometeorites that fell in Antarctica – suggest it’s possible. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/did-an-asteroid-collision-cause-an-ice-age-on-earth…
22 Million Pounds of Plastics Enter the Great Lakes Each Year
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Chicago Tribune: Plastic debris makes up about 80% of the litter on Great Lakes shorelines. Nearly 22 million pounds enter the Great Lakes each year — more than half of which pours into Lake Michigan, according to estimates calculated by the Rochester Institute of Technology. Regardless of size, as plastics linger in the water,…