newiceberg

To use the Montreal subway (the Métro), you tap a paper ticket against the turnstile and it opens. The ticket works through a system called NFC, but what's happening internally? How does the ticket work without a battery? How does it communicate with the turnstile? And how can it be so cheap that you can throw the ticket away after one use? To answer these questions, I opened up a ticket and examined the tiny chip inside.

After fleeing Hitler, brilliant Jewish economist Karl Polanyi was never welcomed by the British. Now, for the first time in 80 years, his masterwork The Great Transformation has been be published in the UK

Big tech companies are still trying to rally workers back into physical offices, and many workers are still not having it. Based on a recent report, computer-maker Dell has stumbled even more than most.

Dell announced a new return-to-office initiative earlier this year. In the new plan, workers had to classify themselves as remote or hybrid.

Those who classified themselves as hybrid are subject to a tracking system that ensures they are in a physical office 39 days a quarter, which works out to close to three days per work week.

Alternatively, by classifying themselves as remote, workers agree they can no longer be promoted or hired into new roles within the company.

Business Insider claims it has seen internal Dell tracking data that reveals nearly 50 percent of the workforce opted to accept the consequences of staying remote, undermining Dell's plan to restore its in-office culture.

https://archive.ph/9Mq4c

Temperatures are rising as summer kicks off, and psychological scientists are sounding the alarm on what to be aware of in warmer temperatures. It remains to be seen whether summer 2024 breaks the records of last summer: In the United States, heat domes baked the Midwest; El Paso, Texas, saw weeks without a day below 100°F; and Tampa Bay, Florida, issued its first extreme heat advisory. In November 2023, Phoenix reported that at least 569 people had died because of heat-related reasons over the summer.

Extreme heat days are an inevitable consequence of a warming world, and things are not cooling down. Globally, 2023 was the hottest year on record, and the Met Office—the United Kingdom’s national weather service—predicts that 2024 may be worse. It could even be the first year on record to surpass 1.5°C of warming above the preindustrial era.

Institutions alleged to have given billions of dollars to oil and gas companies involved in projects that are harming the rainforests

Five of the world’s biggest banks are “greenwashing” their role in the destruction of the Amazon, according to a report that indicates that their environmental and social guidelines fail to cover more than 70% of the rainforest.

The institutions are alleged to have provided billions of dollars of finance to oil and gas companies involved in projects that are impacting the Amazon, destabilising the climate or impinging on the land and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples.