It’s Wednesday my dudes, which means you’re likely midway through your work week. If you’re looking for a boost in productivity and happiness you may want to consider working for yourself. People who are self-employed report being happier than people who work for bosses in a recent in study about
Continue readingAuthor: Adam Clare
Things Are Good: Safer Cities Stem from Active Communities
In the 1990s former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani popularized the broken window theory which is a zero tolerance approach to getting rid of crime. At first it proved successful and the approach spread, only later was it revealed that other factors were at work. Today, the solution to fighting
Continue readingThings Are Good: This is Systemic Street Safety
The video above demonstrates how communities can transition from an unhealthy, vehicle focused, urban design to a healthy pedestrian design. Regular readers of this site know that streets designed for people are better for communities by making cities healthier and economically more productive. Cars are an clunky way to move
Continue readingThings Are Good: This Flowchart Helps You Evaluate any Argument
Figure 1 from Cook, Ellerton, and Kinkead 2018. CC BY 3.0 Complex issues with multiple influential factors can be difficult to process for some. Three researchers from George Mason University and the University of Queensland decided to help people evaluate arguments by combining their own knowledge into one handy flowchart.
Continue readingThings Are Good: Don’t Give up on Desalination
How we manage local water sources drastically alters how we grow crops and get drinking water. Cape Town is currently experience a water crisis that was in the making for decades because of poor water use policies. Desalination plants can help coastal cities provide water to their populace by separating
Continue readingThings Are Good: Yoga Breathing Exercises Helps Your Vagus Nerve and You Relax
You’ve been breathing your entire life and some of us can improve our techniques despite years of practice. Go ahead and think about your breathing right now. Are you breathing using your thoracic diaphragm? If you’ve attend a yoga class then you might be familiar with the technique of breathing
Continue readingThings Are Good: Reading is for Winners
It’s easy to fall out of the habit of reading books because of the endless entertainment options we access through our phones. This year you ought to put down your phone and pick up a book. Yes, you can read and you can read a lot! Over at Inc they
Continue readingThings Are Good: How Trent University Preserves Canadian Architecture
Like other art forms styles come and go in architecture; and when styles go in architecture it can result in demolition of buildings (and thus history). In Canada university and college campuses sprung up in the 60s to accommodate the influx of baby boomers so the style of these campuses
Continue readingThings Are Good: China’s Efforts to Fight Pollution are Working
Back in 2014 China decided it was sick of producing so much pollution and decided to do something about it. China started to close coal plants, spent $120 billion cleaning air in cities and launched similar initiatives throughout the country. The results have been longer life spans for people in
Continue readingThings Are Good: Jaywalking Shouldn’t be Illegal
So far in 2018 a car driver has killed a person every week; if this continues Toronto will see yet another year in which more people die from vehicles than guns. Automobile advocates argue that it’s the victim’s fault for dying and demand stricter punishment for trivial things like jaywalking.
Continue readingThings Are Good: Resistbot Makes it Easy for Americans to Reach Politicians
The inability to easily take action is a leading factor in why people don’t engage in political change. The creators of a new service, Resistbot, want to make it simple for Americans to have their voices heard. Resistbot is a bot you can interact with via SMS or using it
Continue readingThings Are Good: Teens are Fighting for our Collective Climate Future
Teens today are doing something their parents didn’t do: act on the knowledge that climate change is happening. Boomers did a great job of gobbling many of the worlds resources and dumping carbon into the atmosphere, subsequent generations dealt with proving that to be true. Now the current generation of
Continue readingThings Are Good: For Inspiration Follow the Local Learning Process of a Gardener
Bees are amazing little creatures that have been around far longer than humans but now they need our help. As byproduct of industrialization and the overuse of pesticides colony collapse disorder has hit the bees and hard. There is something we as individuals can do to help the bees -start
Continue readingThings Are Good: Floating Wind Farm in Scotland is a Success
Oil and gas companies have seen the writing on the wall about the future of energy: it’s all about renewables. The Norwegian state-owned company Statoil installed a massive wind farm off the coast of Scotland and it’s a roaring success. The wind turbines float in the water and are operating
Continue readingThings Are Good: Six Shorts on Sexual Harassment
The Oscars last night were overshadowed by the many of the sexual harassment scandals that were revealed last year in Hollywood. Harvey Weinstein being one the more notable harassers exposed last year has gotten a lot of attention, but there are many men who don’t get called out on their
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Healthy Mind Comes from Autonomy and a Sense of Control
A new book authors William Stixrud and Ned Johnson describe a healthy way to raise children is to let me e themselves. In the book, The Self-Driven Child, they argue that children – and adults – benefit from a sense of control over their lives. Indeed, stress and anxiety increase
Continue readingThings Are Good: Why the Parkland Shooting can Change the Gun Conversation in the USA
Out of the tragedy of the Parkland school shooting might come some good. You might be sceptical as Americans are used to schools being attacked by gunmen and we’ve heard before that the most recent shooting will change things. Indeed, school shootings are still so common that the Onion runs
Continue readingThings Are Good: Celebrate Silence for a Clear Mind
For a healthy body and mind one ought to embrace silence. It turns out that silence is really helpful for our minds and can bring health benefits. The research into how good silence is for us is still up and coming but the results are looking good! Indeed, silence is
Continue readingThings Are Good: Signal Foundation Launches to Fund Cryptography for All
The privacy rich messaging app Signal continues to make the world of communication safe from prying eyes. With an announcement yesterday of the launch of the Signal Foundation the group will have a long lasting impact on the world of privacy. Private communication is healthy for a democratic society and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Let’s Save Brutalism
Saving architecture through Twitter seems a little odd, yet the #SOSBrutalism movement has engendered an appreciation for an architectural style and saving buildings from demolition. Critics of brutalism describe the style as ugly and oppressive despite its rich history and beauty. As a result of the under-appreciation brutalist architecture many
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