THIS. Brilliant.

http://digg.com/video/bench-press-gravity-release-safety

This is so great. I'm not much of a weightlifter -- slices of pizza being my heaviest lift most days -- but this is a great example of a deep insight.

So many problems in society need a dose of this kind of thinking: Instead of adding force and insisting that the solution is more power (more of what is already not working), why not reverse the problem and see an elegant solution.

There's an important lesson here, with applications everywhere, for all who have eyes to see.

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

There's a simple way to end gerrymandering. Too bad Congress made it illegal. - Vox

http://www.vox.com/2015/7/17/8980137/fix-gerrymandering-multiple-member-districts 

Years back, a law professor told me that when she teaches a class on the drawing of legislative districts, she leaves the issue of multi-member districts for last because it solves all the problems too well and makes the rest of the material uninteresting.

I was reminded of that when I read Kim Soffen's Upshot column about the way geography rather than gerrymandering disadvantages Democrats in Florida when it comes to the US House of Representatives. . . .  

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."