Very Cool

Source:

NY Times

Description:

Kitty Hawk, a Silicon Valley company backed by Larry Page, a Google founder, began testing a prototype over a lake in Northern California.

Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft today unveiled a database and a website that he and a small army of economists, professors and other professionals have been assembling as part of a stealth start-up over the last three years called USAFacts. The database is perhaps the first nonpartisan effort to create a fully integrated look at revenue and spending across federal, state and local governments.

Want to know how many police officers are employed in various parts of the country and compare that against crime rates? Want to know how much revenue is brought in from parking tickets and the cost to collect? Want to know what percentage of Americans suffer from diagnosed depression and how much the government spends on it? That’s in there. You can slice the numbers in all sorts of ways.

Source:

USAFacts

Description:

We are currently building a first-of-its-kind platform to help interested citizens learn the facts about government in a comprehensive, nonpartisan way.

Awesome Story!

Source:

50 years later, 1st woman runs Boston Marathon again

Description:

Kathrine Switzer ran the Boston Marathon in the same bib number that a race official tried to rip off her in an iconic photo from the 1967 race.

They should try this on every bus and train in the U.S.

Source:

NPR

Description:

Mexico City's "penis seat" aims to raise awareness about sexual harassment, providing a dose of shock and shame that will change men's behavior toward female transit customers.

2 lumps of coal for you this Christmas.

Source:

While Trump promotes coal, other countries are turning to cheap sun power

Description:

Nations such as Chile, which aspires to be the “solar Saudi Arabia,” are leading the switch.