Who Stands Where In A Crowded Elevator And Why? : NPR
When a bunch of people get into an elevator, do they segregate in any predictable way? Do tall ones stand in the back? Do men stand in different places than women? Who looks where?
Gay Political Power—Or Good Survival Skills?
Following Wednesday’s Supreme Court arguments on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, there has been a lot of discussion of whether gays and lesbians individually, and the gay-rights movement in general, have become so politically powerful as to hardly warrant the safeguards of the equal-protection clause of the Constitution.
Substantial attention focussed on an exchange during the argument between Chief Justice John Roberts and the attorney for Edith Windsor, who is challenging the law. Justice Roberts asked Roberta Kaplan, “You don’t doubt that the lobby supporting the enactment of same-sex-marriage laws in different states is politically powerful, do you?” When she disagreed with him, the Chief Justice somewhat snarkily responded, “As far as I can tell, political figures are falling over themselves to endorse your side of the case.”
The issue is legally important—so important that it merited its own front-page story in the Times today—because in order for the court to apply what’s known as “heightened scrutiny” in an equal-protection context, it has required, in the past, a finding that the group seeking redress has historically lacked political power. Heightened scrutiny would mean, for example, that a court would look especially skeptically at a law that treated people of different races dissimilarly—the law would be suspect from the start. (One of the reasons that gay-rights groups may have been initially reluctant to take Windsor’s case for a large tax refund was that it looked like a claim for more money by an already affluent person.)
What is often lost in this discussion is that the legal test requires a finding of lack of political power historically. It has much less to do with political power, or lack thereof, in the present moment. In the DOMA context, what the court would need to look at, if it wanted to remain true to its precedents, would be the political power of gays and lesbians in 1996, when the law was enacted. Perhaps the best evidence of the lack of political power at that time is that the law—one of the most discriminatory anti-gay measure in American history—was passed by veto-proof margins in both houses of Congress and signed by a President who, even though he personally opposed the goals of the legislation, was unwilling to stand up against it in an election year out of fear that doing so would require that he defend himself against the charge that he supported the group stigmatized by the bill’s sponsors.
Behind the Scenes in Barcelona's Innovative Solar Energy Program
I am quite fortunate to be in Barcelona, which is not only host to spectacular modernista architecture and the world’s best futbol team but also a city with considerable green ambition. From clean redevelopment of brownfields to a sophisticated intermodal transit system to bike sharing to waste reduction and recycling, the city has strived to be innovative in implementing green practices.
It is in the field of solar energy, though, where this sunny city has made its greatest impact so far. All new and significantly rehabbed buildings are obliged by law to install solar panels for the production of domestic hot water. Sports arenas, hospitals, schools and any building that uses more than 2,000 liters of water per day have been required to retrofit their facilities to incorporate solar panels. This video tells the story:
Watch the video at TheAtlanticCities.com
Power Outlets for the People
New York is in the midst of two energy crises: the old-fashioned, Carter-era gas-shortage kind, and a very Millennial kind, in which personal gizmos are dying as their owners helplessly cradle them.
The fuel emergency is for the officials to solve. But the question of how to revive ebbing smart-phones and iPads in a city where hundreds of thousands remain without power has largely been left to the public. In Midtown Manhattan, where the lights are still on, residents have strung extension cords out to their stoops. A pizza shop made power strips available, whether or not you were buying a slice. Con Edison’s 14th Street headquarters opened its doors and its outlets to the public. “Now we’re standing around the electrical plugs like cavemen around fire,” one iPhone charger told Vice magazine.
It’s all very inspiring, if not a little third-world. And it makes you wonder why, in the year 2012, we’re still crawling under tables in coffee shops and reaching behind couches in hotel lobbies, searching for outlets meant for vacuum cleaners and lamps, when it’s painfully obvious that what people need are convenient, accessible power sources for their many portable devices. “Common sense says that at one point electricity was expensive and unreliable, and you wouldn’t just let anybody walk up and use yours, but these small electronic devices use such a small load,” says Malcolm McCullough, professor of architecture and information design at the University of Michigan. “Recharging is becoming a basic infrastructural need in cities, like subways or lights.”
Keep reading at TheAtlanticCities.com
"Where Should We Build Utility-Scale Solar Power Plants?"
“It’s accepted fact that solar projects will continue to multiply and will one day be cost-competitive with other forms of energy. But it’s unclear where all of the solar capacity will be built. Large-scale solar projects take up expansive tracts of land, and certain features make some areas more attractive than others.
Obviously enough, the land needs to be sunny so the panels can harvest the greatest possible amount of solar energy. The process is smoother if the land is flat. And the energy needs to travel to its destination, so land near existing or planned transmission lines also has an advantage. The federal government began working a couple of years back to fast-track solar projects on public land. But officials discovered a couple of features that can make land unattractive for solar development. Most of the utility-scale solar projects that exist or are in development are in the desert of the Southwest. Most people don’t think of those areas as valuable land, but some of the proposed solar sites have cultural significance. The Native American group La Cuna de Aztlan Sacred Sites Protection Circle sued the Department of the Interior over plans to build projects near or over geoglyphs—gigantic designs etched into the desert generations ago. And solar development threatens desert species like the sage grouse, the desert tortoise, and the burrowing owl. Some environmental groups have argued that digging up the desert’s scrubby plant life will have a carbon impact similar to cutting down a forest.”
"In DOMA Challenge, John Boehner's House Lawyers Argue Gays Are Powerful"
“House lawyers under the direction of Speaker John Boehner arguing in support of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) say gay men and lesbians are politically powerful and influential, the AP reported.
Because of this power, gay people do not meet the legal criteria for groups such as racial minorities and women who receive heightened protection from discrimination, the lawyers argued in a filing Friday in San Francisco’s U.S. District Court.”
"Why You Should Cut Disgruntled DMV Employees Some Slack"
“A new study shows why interactions with DMV employees and other clerical workers can be so fraught, and why it can feel like they are picking on people who just want to register a car. The research, titled The Destructive Nature of Power Without Status, concludes that people in positions with power but low social status often use their authority to demean others.The lesson is not just that power corrupts, but that putting people in demeaning roles leads them to demean others. In other words, it’s a real life reminder of the trope that “misery loves company.”“
"Who Needs Nukes? Japan Plans a Massive Shift to Solar Power"
“Japanese officials are set to unveil a new “Sunrise Plan” at the G8 meetings tomorrow. The plan would require all new buildings to be covered by solar panels by 2030, and result in 10 million solar powered homes. The solar rooftop goals are just part of a broader initiative to shift the country to clean, renewable energy sources.”
"Racism= Prejudice Plus Power"
“Racism is the systematic discrimination, denial of rights and benefits by whites against non-whites in all areas of human activity. (economics, education, labor, law, politics, religion, sex and war). “
I disagree with this definition on a very deep level. I don’t believe that racism must include power. Instead, I see racism as a particular prejudice. I also don’t like that this assumes white people always hold the most power everywhere in the world. In most places, white people do, but not everywhere. So to say that racism is only when white people are oppressive is to universalizing a statement for me. But nonetheless, the article is great food for thought.
"Across the Globe, Solar Power Just Keeps Getting Cheaper"
“Within the next four years, solar power in China could be as cheap as coal for generating electricity, according to a think tank with ties to the Chinese government. In some regions of Australia, it’s already as cheap to buy solar-powered electricity as it is to buy coal-fired power, theSydney Morning Herald reported this week. Two years ago, a U.S. solar company called FirstSolar announced that it had created a solar panel that costs just a dollar per watt to manufacture. According to a reportpublished this summer by Ernst & Young, by 2013, making a solar module for that price will no longer be an achievement, it will be the industry average.”
