Homelessness, Regulating Space, Scottish Nationalism, Meat, Autism

The Man Who Solved Homelessness

Terrence McCoy | Washington Post | 6th May 2015

It turns out that the best way to solve homelessness is to give homeless people homes. Which may sound obvious, but it amounts to a revolution in American social services, for which a psychologist called Sam Tsemberis is largely responsible. The traditional approach is to use housing as a reward: kick an addiction, get a home. The Tsemberis approach is to give the housing first, then sort out the other problems. It works (1,450 words)

The Democratization Of Space

Dave Baiocchi & William Welser IV | Foreign Affairs | 5th May 2015 | | Read with 1Pass

New rules are needed to regulate travel and traffic in space, as rockets and satellites come within reach of almost every country on Earth and innumerable private actors. When the current Outer Space Treaty was signed almost fifty years ago, space was reserved for superpowers. Now a well-funded high school science club can launch a satellite. Advances in computing and 3D printing will bring costs down even further (2,250 words)

Alex Salmond, Kingmaker And Kingdom Breaker

Alex Perry | Newsweek | 4th May 2015 | Metered paywall

Portrait of Alex Salmond, historic leader of the Scottish National Party, which looks set to hold the balance of power in the British parliament after this week's election. Salmond's party lost last year's independence referendum, but consolidated its grip on Scottish voters, and may soon be in a position to impose its demands on a British government. If so, the break-up of the United Kingdom may be only a matter of time (5,600 words)

The Violent Secret Of Meat

Josh Ozersky | Esquire | 26th February 2013

A taste of food writer Josh Ozersky, who died this week. "I recklessly jacked up the heat under my cast-iron pan and slammed a steak onto its smoking surface. I was rewarded, almost instantaneously, with the violent secret of meat. My rage spent, I found a surface of burnished mahogany and an interior still red and raw. Meat, I now understood, called forth not measured skill but courage and animal aggression" (690 words)

The Boy Who Loved Transit

Jeff Tietz | Harper's / Longreads | 5th May 2015

Sadly compelling portrait of Darius McCollum, a mildly autistic man obsessed with the New York public transit system to the point of impersonating employees, accumulating uniforms and work materials, inspecting tracks, driving trains, going to union meetings — and, inevitably, going to jail. "I know there’s no such program as Trains Anonymous, but if I can get some kind of counseling it would be really beneficial towards me” (8,900 words)

Video of the day: How To Subtract By Adding

What to expect: A computer science lecture compressed into a three-minute video (3'13")

Thought for the day

Common sense seldom anticipates what science is going to discover
Russell Lincoln Ackoff