Grist List
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Critical List: Operators say the grid can handle the heat; green tech investment down
Grid operators say they're ready to handle the extra load that air conditioners and other cooling devices will put on electricity supplies during the heat wave.
Venture capitalists invested less money on green tech projects last quarter; they're hot on "internet-specific" companies. (Think businesses like Twitter or Spotify.) So if you’ve got an internet-specific green startup idea burning a hole in your laptop cover, now may be the time.
Apparently it's cool with Republicans if the government interferes with private businesses' decisions, if those decisions would mean being involved in the E.U.'s airline carbon trading program. -
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Limbaugh: Heat index is a liberal government conspiracy
[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.1011854&w=425&h=350&fv=] Heat wave? What heat wave? That’s just the government TELLING you it’s hot outside, for its own nefarious reasons. You know the (evocative but false) parable about the frog and the boiling water? Rush is the frog standing in the pan, slowly dissolving into soup, wearing a lumberjack hat and yelling “BOY IT […]
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Monkeys go on looting spree in Rio
This video is in Portuguese, so just mute it and cue up a bit of old Ludwig Van as you watch sneaky monkey thugs infiltrate a Brazilian home. With humans perpetually up in their business, monkeys in Rio de Janeiro are fighting back by turning to a life of crime.
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Announcing this year's most walkable cities
Walk Score has announced its 2011 list of most walkable cities, with a twist -- this year there's also a "fan favorite" category, where you can vote for what city you think is the easiest to navigate on foot.
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Everything that's wrong with our oil-soaked industrial economy, in one amazing poster
Max Temkin is a brand designer for, among others, Barack Obama. You can buy prints of this poster here, or at least you could until it sold out because it is f*cking amazing.
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The only weather map you'll need this summer
Linda Sharps (@Sundry) has preempted your need to check Weather.com for at least the next week or so.
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States can't be trusted to monitor their own drinking water
Lest you think we were getting all worked up for no reason, here is some evidence that states should not be left to their own devices when it comes to making sure our water is clean. A GAO report released yesterday found that states were underreporting or misreporting 84 percent of safe drinking water monitoring violations.
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'Solar highways' transform our crumbling infrastructure into something useful
Okay, we know YOU ride your bike everywhere. But the country’s 4 million miles of roads, and 50,000 miles of interstate highway, probably aren’t going anywhere any time soon. Isn’t there anything productive we can do with this giant car playground? Well, we can cover it with solar photovoltaic panels, so it’s at least providing some energy.
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Toilet 2.0 will turn waste into energy, fertilizer, and clean water
Think poop is funny? Well, it’s DEADLY SERIOUS. Here are the unsavory facts about poor sanitation infrastructure, according to the Gates Foundation: 2.6 billion lack access to safe toilets. Food and water that's come in contact with waste leads to 2.5 billion cases of diarrhea in children each year, and 1.5 million of them die as a result. People with diseases connected to poor sanitation fill half of the hospital beds in the developing world. So the Gates Foundation is trying to polish this turd by developing the next generation of toilet.
If you watch the video above (which you should! It's funny!), you'll find that the Gates Foundation is taking a cheeky approach to publicizing its new campaign to design "Toilet 2.0."
