Week of January 31st

What caught my attention the Week of January 31st?

A Shell First 

Shell opened its first all-electric fueling station in Hammersmith and Fulham, London. Not a gas or diesel pump in site. Ultra rapid chargers bring car battery capacity from 0% to 80% in less than ten minutes. 

Built of sustainable construction materials, the charging hub features solar panels to generate some of the required electricity.

Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering is an ugly political process designed to rig election results. Most democracies have eliminated the practice. However, in most US states, both political parties employ the process to rig the vote. Don’t understand how it works? The New York Times created an online game that helps.  Play and you will find that electoral map management can return a significant majority of candidates from one party even when the popular vote may be split 50/50.

Canada and its provinces  have independent electoral commissioners. Riding boundary changes are then subject to an all party agreement. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger has made it his mission to “terminate” the gerrymandering process in the US. 

A Digital Decency Manifesto 

Look at this video on digital decency courtesy of Monocle Magazine. Also read my recent newsletter on the politicization of LinkedIn. 

Shop Well, Save the Environment

This dining room set from Norwegian furniture brand, Northern, will stand the test of time. Made from solid oak it comes in three sizes, one round and two rectangular. I don’t know if it will be available outside of the Scandinavian countries. Nonetheless, if you have read my earlier e-mails you will be familiar with my “consumer credo”. Buy the best you can afford, something that will stand the test of time. Stop throwing stuff away.

The Case for Public Luxury

I live in a municipality stuck in an argument over the development of an area known as the Fairview Forest. In its place, the owner has planned a multi-use development next to the Fairview regional mall and a new mass transit hub. The citizenry want to keep the forest. So do I ! But I also see the need for developing areas around public transportation. 

A possible trade-off? The owner of the forest and the mall are one and the same. The mall parking and the transit line that runs along its southern border are ugly heat sinks. In exchange for development of the forest, a treed linear park along the transit line? Require more trees, greenery and amenities in the parking lot? Get some ideas from this article on public luxury for amenities. Don’t oppose  development for opposition sake! Work with developers and urban planners for win-win solutions. 

Lets celebrate: 

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the 90%+ of truck drivers working this week, everyone being first class, Shell”s Hammersmith and Fulham charge station, great British television

Big raspberries to:

The less than 10% of truck drivers who will not be working, gerrymandering, protest without purpose, NIMBYism

Quote of the Week

The Channel 4 television series A Very British Coup from 1988 that features a scene with leftwing Labour leader, Harry Perkins. He is aboard a train from Sheffield to London. Fresh from electoral victory, a journalist asks Perkins if he wants to abolish first class travel. The response:

No, I’ll abolish second class: I think everyone’s first class, don’t you?

Fictional Labour leader and Prime Minister Elect Harry Perkins, A Very British Coup

And that’s a wrap for the Week of January 31st.