RBEbersole
@rbebersole.bsky.social
📤 247
📥 325
📝 114
Retired Public Servant
spectrumlocalnews.com/hi/hawaii/ne...
Hawaii Act 011: “It simply defines the powers that the State grants to artificial entities [e.g., corporations] and makes clear that participation in election activity and ballot-issue activity is not among them.” How interesting!
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Green signs bill to restrict corporate political spending
Green signs bill to restrict corporate political spending
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/hi/hawaii/news/2026/05/15/green-signs-bill-to-restrict-corporate-political-spending
1 day ago
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www.glenstone.org
If you haven’t visited Glenstone, in Potomac, Maryland, it’s a *Bucket List* destination 🎨 (Psst, it’s free!)
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Glenstone Museum
Discover the transformative power of Glenstone's experience, where art, architecture, and nature converge.
https://www.glenstone.org/
11 days ago
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www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
In case you don’t have time to read “London Falling,” here is a lengthy excerpt published in 2024. It is a fascinating story, featuring typically outstanding writing from The New Yorker✏️
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A Teen’s Fatal Plunge Into the London Underworld
After Zac Brettler mysteriously plummeted into the Thames, his grieving parents discovered that he’d been posing as an oligarch’s son. Would the police help them solve the puzzle of his death?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/a-teens-fatal-plunge-into-the-london-underworld
15 days ago
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I’m still thinking about this classic book!
18 days ago
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apnews.com/article/king...
Charles III said that the U.S. and the U.K. should “rededicate ourselves to each other in the selfless service of our peoples and of all the peoples of the world.” Quite a speech!
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Read the complete transcript of King Charles III's speech to Congress
“Mr. Vice President, Mr.
https://apnews.com/article/king-charles-iii-us-congress-speech-9ff638ae63a41289dbd9ebfbb550e40e
26 days ago
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Revisiting a classic, which includes this comment: “It is the hallmark of the age—the less you exist the more important it is to make a clear impression.”
28 days ago
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Fascinating on several levels. A key takeaway for me is this quotation: “Happiness is so hard to come by. I don’t understand why anyone would begrudge anyone else for managing to find some of it.” TJR is a wonderful writer ✏️
about 1 month ago
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www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...
In the past fifty years, he said, North American waters have seen three catastrophic spills: Ixtoc I, in 1979; Exxon Valdez, in 1989; and Deepwater Horizon, in 2010….We’re just about due for another.” Aren’t wind & solar safer bets for future generations?
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Donald Trump Wants to “Drill, Baby, Drill.” History Shows the Devastation That Would Wreak
Donald Trump promised to usher in a new era of offshore oil drilling. Scientists know all too well how that story ends.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/how-to-poison-an-ocean
about 2 months ago
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www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
Sharon seems to harbor real affection for the texts he’s reinterpreting. “I’m not tearing down a statue—I am using the same clay,” he told me before an early rehearsal of Tristan last month. “The greatest form of critical engagement is an act of love.”
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Richard Wagner in the Present Tense
A bold restaging of Tristan und Isolde arrives at a moment of intense concern about the cultural inheritance of Western civilization.
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/04/tristan-und-isolde-the-met-wagner/686636/?gift=AsD1H6zmH8L9YzWAJt-KBDtQ_DaPeYxXRBsYCeGmD6A&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
about 2 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
“As the Columbia scholars Erica Downs and Jason Bordoff wrote in Foreign Policy, recently, China has been preparing…’by electrifying its economy, securing domestic sources of energy, amassing stockpiles, and dominating clean technology supply chains.’” Bill McKibben
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The Iran War Is Another Reason to Quit Oil
What if the drone is to warfare as the solar panel is to energy?
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/the-iran-war-is-another-reason-to-quit-oil
2 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
“‘I’m not some tree-hugging fucking hippie,’ an activist named Erik Hayward, who had campaigned to save native forests in Tasmania, told me. ‘It’s not necessarily about the individual trees. It’s about a culture change.’”
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The Tree House and the Oil Pipeline
In the fight against climate change, sometimes you have to go out on a limb.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/03/09/the-tree-house-and-the-oil-pipeline
3 months ago
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Caught in the Net of Lauren Groff's "Brawler"
chireviewofbooks.com/2026/02/24/_...
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Caught in the Net of Lauren Groff's "Brawler" - Chicago Review of Books
The themes of Brawler by Lauren Groff are difficult at first to connect; the overall mood of the stories is what brings them all together, a wiggly feeling difficult to pin down in words. What unites ...
https://chireviewofbooks.com/2026/02/24/__trashed/
3 months ago
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www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-01...
“Published in Nature Sustainability, the findings have grave implications for humanity. The Central African Republic, Nigeria, South Sudan, Laos, and Brazil are predicted to see the most significant increases in dangerously hot temperatures…”
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Global population living with extreme heat to double by 2050 |
A new University of Oxford study finds that almost half of the global population (3.79 billion) will be living with extreme heat by 2050 if the world reaches 2.0°C of global warming above
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-01-26-global-population-living-extreme-heat-double-2050
3 months ago
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Beautifully performed by Virginia Opera and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. The music + libretto = an intense evening at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts.
3 months ago
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“The ethos was one of self-defense.” “In every interview, I asked two questions: (1) why did the radical environmental movement collapse in the early 2000s, and (2) what does the future of radical actions look like?”
3 months ago
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Once again I ask: Does the American Bar Association still exist? If so, a sign of life might be helpful ⚖️
4 months ago
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Trying to escape the madness on Hilton Head Island.
4 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“Yet instruments are also tools, a way of making the marvellous sound from which their value is supposed to derive.” …..and Isserlis is a master craftsman!
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When a Man Loves a Cello
For the concert soloist Steven Isserlis, the perfect instrument is a blessing—and a curse.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/when-a-man-loves-a-cello
4 months ago
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Courage and patriotism run in this family🇺🇸
4 months ago
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I’ve been thinking about this 1965 novel lately. (Is the past prologue, as Shakespeare famously said?)
5 months ago
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A fascinating and tenacious subject—Claire McCardell + a serious researcher and wonderful writer—Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson = a sensational biography. Totally compelling 💯
5 months ago
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www.yahoo.com/news/article...
“In an era of disinformation, polarization and online outrage, democracy depends not on rote recall but on citizens who think critically, collaborate effectively and disagree civilly.”
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Opinion: Rebooting Civics for the Digital Age
Today’s teenagers can produce a viral video in 60 seconds, yet many struggle to name the three branches of government. That failure is less an indictment of them than us. We’ve treated civics as somet...
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/opinion-rebooting-civics-digital-age-153000700.html
5 months ago
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www.fcnp.com/2025/12/23/a...
“These small communities also score well in engagement, so residents have plenty of opportunities to socialize together, work together, build community together and effect positive change together.” Government at its best ✔️
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AARP: Falls Church 2nd Among Small Towns in U.S. for Seniors - Falls Church News-Press Online
The City of Falls Church has been ranked No. 2 in the entire U.S. by the highly-respected American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) as an ideal small community for seniors to live, according to t...
https://www.fcnp.com/2025/12/23/aarp-falls-church-2nd-among-small-towns-in-u-s-for-seniors/
5 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
“[Jefferson] Tester told me….that using electricity for heating is not nearly as efficient as using heat for heating. And geothermal wells for heating, which can be relatively shallow, can work in places with no hot springs or volcanoes.” Fascinating!
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Why the Time Has Finally Come for Geothermal Energy
It used to be that drawing heat from deep in the Earth was practical only in geyser-filled places such as Iceland. But new approaches may have us on the cusp of an energy revolution.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/11/24/why-the-time-has-finally-come-for-geothermal-energy
6 months ago
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www.classical-music.com/articles/196...
What a year 💯; what a list‼️; what music 🫶 My particular favorite is
#8—“Between
the Buttons,” by The Rolling Stones.
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1967 was rock's year of revolution. We've ranked its 21 greatest albums
1967 wasn’t just psychedelia — these 21 albums reveal brilliance across rock, soul, folk, and avant-garde, redefining music forever
https://www.classical-music.com/articles/1967-albums
7 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
A great irony hangs over Pärt’s career: the music that insured his later fame in the West wrecked his career in the Soviet Union. His urge to address religious subjects made his work largely unperformable, except in underground contexts such as the Riga discothèque.
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At Ninety, Arvo Pärt and Terry Riley Still Sound Vital
Both composers remain intriguing outliers, notable for the stubbornness with which they have held to their youthful convictions.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/11/10/at-ninety-arvo-part-and-terry-riley-still-sound-vital
7 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
“[I]n areas near data centers, wholesale electricity costs have risen by more than two hundred per cent in the past five years. And rates will probably continue to increase—power plants can’t produce nearly enough electricity to meet the demand.” Ready or not‼️
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Inside the Data Centers That Train A.I. and Drain the Electrical Grid
A data center, which can use as much electricity as Philadelphia, is the new American factory, creating the future and propping up the economy. How long can this last?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/11/03/inside-the-data-centers-that-train-ai-and-drain-the-electrical-grid
7 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
“You have given the gift of laughter to our people. May we never grow so somber or self-important that we fail to appreciate the humor in our lives.” From the archives—Sound and humble advice from LBJ.
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Before Kimmel, the Smothers Brothers Ate It
President Nixon got the brothers’ variety show cancelled after they wouldn’t let up on Vietnam. In the wake of the new late-night wars, Dick Smothers is having flashbacks.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/10/13/before-kimmel-the-smothers-brothers-ate-it
8 months ago
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“How does one finish the sentence: ‘It is unfortunate that tens of thousands of children are dead, but…’”
8 months ago
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Does the American Bar Association still exist? If so, a sign of life might be helpful ⚖️
8 months ago
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“An unbounded place, a suspended jewel so shockingly bright. Can humans not find peace with one another? With the earth? It’s not a fond wish but a fretful demand.” [p. 108] A very different, but wonderfully written book.
9 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/culture/list...
“Riley replied…’I feel it’s my field to create magic in sound. Magic in the sense of transcendence of this ordinary life into another realm. An awakening, you know. To use music to try to awaken ourselves.’”
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When the Man Tried to Sell Minimalism to the Counterculture
Columbia Records saw Terry Riley’s “In C,” now rereleased for his ninetieth birthday, as a perfect anthem for the psychedelic Zeitgeist, but the mainstream couldn’t contain the composer’s utopian ener...
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/listening-booth/when-the-man-tried-to-sell-minimalism-to-the-counterculture
9 months ago
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Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania—no words are necessary!
9 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/culture/phot...
“What I’m trying to capture,” van Wessel told me, “is a personal emotion, what moves me in the moment—clicking the shutter is not a matter of framing or light but, rather, you could say, a decision of the heart.”
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At the Edge of Life and Death in Ukraine
A new photo book by Eddy van Wessel, with nearly two hundred images taken over the course of three years, offers a visual history of the war’s devastation.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/at-the-edge-of-life-and-death-in-ukraine
10 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/magazine/tak...
“In reporting on the emerging science of pesticides, “Silent Spring” knocked some of the shine off modernity, nailing difficult questions to the door of the Church of Progress. Carson thought that man had grown overlarge and was upsetting a necessary balance.”
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Bill McKibben on Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring”
Her reporting was quickly attacked by the industry she called into question, setting the playbook for companies that profited from tobacco, opioids, and fossil fuels.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/takes/bill-mckibben-on-rachel-carsons-silent-spring
10 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/culture/pers...
“FM classical broadcasting is a shadow of what it once was. CDs are vanishing—vinyl LPs now sell more copies per year. At this point, the major labels are practically giving away disks, throwing them into large boxes…” Raise your hand if you have a CD player🖐️ (😆)
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Can Dave Hurwitz Save Classical Recording?
An unlikely YouTube star surveys the spoils of an overflowing but precarious industry.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/can-dave-hurwitz-save-classical-recording
10 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...
“Now you’ve got the utter devastation of an education system of children. A little girl said to me, ‘Look at me. I used to be beautiful, but now all I do all day is chase water trucks around.’”
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The War on Gaza’s Children
Without safe access to food, water, or medical care, survival has become a daily gamble for the region’s youngest residents.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-war-on-gazas-children
11 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...
“He wasn’t talking about the old guard—it was Sinner against whom he gauged himself. “He and I have already had great battles on all surfaces and in various tournaments, and I believe we will fight together for major titles in the future as well.” Oh, I hope so 🎾
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The Sincaraz Era Is Tennis Reborn
In Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, the sport has not only its next great rivalry but a moment that highlights everything the sport can be.
https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/the-sincaraz-era-is-tennis-reborn
11 months ago
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apnews.com/article/stra...
“As Michael Luo’s “Strangers in the Land” demonstrates, understanding America’s efforts to keep Chinese laborers out, and the violence enacted against those who stayed in, is essential to understanding the evolution of America’s immigration system as we know it today.”
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Book Review: Michael Luo tells the harrowing story of Chinese exclusion in America
Michael Luo’s “Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America” comes at a time when politics and immigration have intertwined once again.
https://apnews.com/article/strangers-land-michael-luo-review-96da4be0ffbf16e430fe6a7774db7f85
12 months ago
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Fabulous music from Raphael Pichon and Pygmalion 🎶
12 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...
“Rather, it’s the result of government policy—knowingly, evilly, maliciously, irresponsibly dictated. Yes, Israel is committing war crimes.” Strong words from the former prime minister!
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Why Ehud Olmert Thinks His Country Is Committing War Crimes
The Former Israeli Prime Minister explains how his view of the conflict in Gaza has shifted.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-ehud-olmert-thinks-his-country-is-committing-war-crimes
12 months ago
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Delightful!
12 months ago
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www.npr.org/2025/05/27/1...
“To his fans, as well as many critics, Carrie & Lowell was an unqualified success. The songs are startlingly intimate and at times spiritually euphoric, and are consistently ranked among Stevens' best and most affecting work.” Yes!
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10 years later, Sufjan Stevens offers a startling reevaluation of 'Carrie & Lowell' : All Songs Considered
In a conversation with All Songs Considered's Robin Hilton, Stevens shares a complex and conflicted view of the album he wrote about his mother in the wake of her death from cancer.Enjoy the show? Sha...
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/27/1253209950/sufjan-stevens-interview-carrie-and-lowell
12 months ago
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www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
“AV exhaled and sank her head into the bed of pale white flowers on top of her mom’s casket. “A tiny sob. Pianissimo.”
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The D.C. plane crash took her mom and sister. She turned to her piano.
Olesya Taylor and her daughter Olivia, 12, both died in the January crash over Reagan National Airport. Anne Valerie Ter, 14, poured her grief into preparations for a piano concerto competition the fo...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/05/25/dc-plane-crash-took-her-mom-sister-she-turned-her-piano/
12 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
“Rodriguez allegedly found two people, whose lives he knew nothing about, and made them die for Israel’s sins. That he killed a Christian and a Jew, one Israeli and one American, only underscores that their particular lives and histories and beliefs did not matter.”
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Murdering Israeli Embassy Staffers Is No Way to Rebuild Gaza
Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky were killed without regard for who they were, or what they believed.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/you-dont-rebuild-gaza-by-bringing-more-injustice-into-this-world
12 months ago
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www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
“From the outset, Putin saw the invasion as a way of forcing a larger conversation with the West on Russia’s terms, in which the whole of Europe’s postwar security architecture would be relitigated.”
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How Russia and Ukraine Are Playing Trump’s Blame Game
With the President intent on delivering a speedy end to the war, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky are competing to make each other the subject of his ire.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/how-russia-and-ukraine-are-playing-trumps-blame-game
about 1 year ago
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reposted by
RBEbersole
Katharine Hayhoe
about 1 year ago
Catawba College in North Carolina is hiring an assistant or associate level climate science faculty member who loves teaching and collaborative research. Check it out!
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Assistant Professor of Climate Science (Tenure Track) - Salisbury, North Carolina (Catawba College) job with Catawba College Department of Environment and Sustainability | 37821993
Catawba College invites applications for a Tenure-Track Assistant or Associate Professor of Climate Science in the Department of Environment and Sus.
https://jobs.chronicle.com/job/37821993/assistant-professor-of-climate-science-tenure-track-/?fbclid=IwY2xjawKIQahleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFFQzJCa3NabWQ5ZFRnemlpAR6d0UAoG-nLz3yh43FPdxeEgZes4l5FCQUHimR_Ko9mj1mWpzeiZKKQOkoLag_aem_aO6pVScx1_PGSGZAqZFMOg
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www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
“Two countries fighting is normal, but you have to protect us when you’re doing that,” she told me, a week after the largest tariff increases. “And I’m worried this change just makes rich people more rich, and poor people lose everything.”
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What the Tariffs Have Done to a Fledgling Small Business
Lei Nichols, who came to the United States thirty years ago, was in the early stages of starting her own tea company. Then the costs of her products started to soar.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/what-the-tariffs-have-done-to-a-fledgling-small-business
about 1 year ago
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wapo.st/4lMEQDA
“….1 in 5 Americans — including one-third of those under 30 — telling the Pew Research Center last year that they get their news from influencers who specialize in current events.” The evolving landscape of news 🗞️
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The 40-something single dad shaping liberal media from his laptop
Acyn Torabi dominates social media with fast-cut clips of political mayhem. Are they news, or something else?
https://wapo.st/4lMEQDA
about 1 year ago
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www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
“Immediately, our conversation appeared as legible lines of translucent green text, which seemed to be floating in the space between us. ‘Holy shit,’ I said (duly transcribed).”
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Subtitling Your Life
Hearing aids and cochlear implants have been getting better for years, but a new type of device—eyeglasses that display real-time speech transcription on their lenses—is a game-changing breakthrough.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/04/28/subtitling-your-life
about 1 year ago
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