On the streets of early 20th Century America, nothing moved faster than 10 miles per hour. Responsible parents would tell their children, “Go outside, and play in the streets. All day.”
And then the automobile happened. And then automobiles began killing thousands of children, every year.
http://99percentinvisible.org/post/47063460311/episode-76-the-modern-moloch
This week the state of Nevada finalized new rules that will make it possible for robotic self-driving cars to receive their own special driving permits. It’s not quite driver’s licenses for robots — but it’s close.
Tagged with robots cars technology
Conspicuous conservation is the theme of our latest podcast, called “Hey Baby, Is That a Prius You’re Driving?” It centers around a paper by Alison and Steve Sexton, a pair of Ph.D. economics candidates (who happen to be twins, and who happen to have economist parents), called “Conspicuous Conservation: The Prius Effect and Willingness to Pay for Environmental Bona Fides.”
Includes an appearance by Tim Harford.
Tagged with cars consumption environment freakonomics-radio toyota tim harford
Jim and Greg have talked on the show before about France’s “3 Strikes” downloading law before on the show, and they’ve been wondering when they US will present its own anti-piracy initiative. Well, the Senate just did. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont introduced the “Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act”, a bipartisan bill that would allow the D.O.J. to shut down websites with pirated content. Record labels and Hollywood studios have been waiting for this for some time. Jim points out that a similar bill was introduced during the Bush administration, but, perhaps rightly so, some lawmakers didn’t feel the government should be footing the bill for these legal actions. With President Obama’s appointment of an Intellectual Property Czar, Greg sees a trend toward supporting corporate copyright holders in this administration.
In related news, U2’s manager Paul McGuinness recently published his own manifesto about the future of the music industry as it relates to downloading. There are few men as powerful in music today, so his words carry a lot of weight, but Jim and Greg aren’t sure McGuinness is being very forward thinking. He feels that internet service providers are not doing enough to catch pirates, and that the solution is to bundle royalty costs into your internet fee. U2 is one of the few bands, like Radiohead, who could choose to revolutionize their business model. But, disappointingly it’s business as usual for them.
They say that it takes a lifetime to make your first record and only a few months to make your second. If that’s true, then it’s no surprise that most artists face the dreaded “sophomore slump.” But, a rare few release second albums that meet or even exceed the first. Here are Jim & Greg’s picks for Sophomore Success Stories:
Jim
Greg
Now it comes time to look at a new sophomore effort: Grinderman 2. Nick Cave’s blues punk side project wowed Jim and Greg with its debut. And with this one, they’ve proved they can do more than just pure, raw energy. Jim hears a lot more experimentation, but also a lot more melody. Greg even found some songs just plain creepy. He calls Cave a wonderfully “nasty rock and roll machine.” Grinderman 2 gets a double Buy It.
http://www.soundopinions.org/shownotes/2010/092410/shownotes.html
When two cars collide, in that split second, a chain reaction is set in motion which reverberates through so many lives: victims, families, witnesses and friends, along with many professions - emergency services, accident investigators, doctors and lawyers.
Most crashes merit just a few column inches in the local press. From the moment of impact to the coroner’s verdict, this programme traces the search for explanations and the background of grief that follows.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/06/090529_anatomy_car_crash.shtml
Tagged with bbc documentary cars crash