Philanthropy and the Challenge of Quantifying Success

If you looked at how many people check books out of libraries these days, you would see failure. Circulation, an obvious measure of success for an institution established to lend books to people, is down. But if you only looked at that figure, you’d miss the fascinating transformation public libraries have undergone in recent years.…

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An Electric Pickup Truck Really Could Pull a Freight Train—Here’s How

In a recent stunt, a Ford crew hitched an all-electric F-150 pickup truck to a freight train filled with 42 more F-150s. Then a driver hit the throttle, and the pickup truck towed the 1.3 million-pound train. This raises some interesting questions. How hard is it for a truck to pull a train? Is that…

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Review: The Unagi Model One Is A Better Lighter Scooter

Earlier this summer, my already low opinion of scooter shares was cemented by the news that more than 50 rental scooters had been pulled from the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. In theory, I understand that any type of electric vehicle is better than a car, but riding a vehicle with a lifespan of just…

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Strap on Your Exoskeleton and Dance, Dance, Dance

I'm in the middle of the dance floor. The strobe lights above me are popping in time with the thundering kick drums and violent synth-bass rolling out of the speakers at 110 beats per minute. I'm shuffling to the rhythms, but I'm only able to control the lower half of my body. All of my…

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