Coffee and Provocation

All Dogs Are Designer Mutts

If all dogs descended from wolves, than the only pure-breeds are wolves.

A Culture and a Country Founded by Wolves

Italy's wolf population numbers over 3,300.

European Catholic Countries Have Low-cost Abortion and Contraceptives

It's not just Italy that has legal and low-cost abortion and contraceptives. Spain is going to allow girls 16 and over to opt for abortions without parental consent. The mostly-Catholic country has some of the most progressive women's health laws in Europe, including low-cost or free over-the-counter emergency contraception pills, and heavily subsidized abortion. 

Billions of Miles Away and Still Working 

The Voyager 1 spacecraft was launched in 1977 (45 years ago) and is still working, sending back signals from outside the solar system 14.5 billion miles away.  Voyager is now so far from earth it takes light 20 hours and 33 minutes to travel that difference, and it take roughly two days to send a message to Voyager 1 and get a response back. Voyager 1’s twin, Voyager 2, also launched in 1977, is currently 12.1 billion miles from Earth, and also continues to operate.

Killing Rats to Improve Island Health

When Lord Howe Island, a remote Australian island, completely eradicated its non-native rat and mouse populations, the ecology recovered almost immediately. Today Lord Howe has a diversified ecosystem with fruiting trees, increasing numbers of terrestrial invertebrates, and one of Australia's rarest birds, the flightless woodhen, whose population has quadrupled to 565 in the last three years.

Our Aging Grid Is Not Not Ready for Electric Cars

Texas and California -- to name just two large states -- can barely keep their electrical grids running now during the peak Summer months.  Like many places, these states will need to invest in huge infrastructure upgrades to deal with the massive expansion of electric cars that is right around the corner. Globally, the number of electric vehicles is expected to swell from 7 million to 400 million by 2040, a transition that will result in a 40% increase in electrical demand.

Georgia is an Electric Car Epicenter

South Korean automaker Hyundai is spending $5.5 billion to build a factory for electric vehicle assembly and EV batteries near Savannah, Georgia. The negotiation for the factory, which will bring 8,100 job to Bryan County, Georgia, was shepherded by Georgia Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.  This is the second big electric vehicle plant slated to come to Georgia. Electric truck and van maker Rivian also plans to build a $5 billion factory east of Atlanta, employing as many as 7,500 people.

They Changed the City's Name to Toyota 

Toyota is headquartered in the city of Toyota, Japan which was renamed after the car company in 1959.  The city was originally called Koromo. 

The DDT Superfund Site Off the California Coast

Five decades ago, between 100,000 and 500,000 DDT waste barrels were dumped in 3,000 feet of water off of California's Catalina Island.

Written in Blood

Algeria’s national anthem “Kassaman” was first written by poet Moufdi Zakaria on the wall of his prison cell using his own blood after he was arrested and tortured during the Algerian independence movement. Yes, I once lived in Algeria.

Incentivizing Lies and Penalizing Truth

One reason sensational misinformation and disinformation is so prevalent is that it's free on Facebook and Twitter where it is incentivized by a pay-per-click advertising model, while access to steady but  reliable sources backed by data and cogent analysis is too often behind a pay-up-front paywall.