Economic Update – System Toxicity – 08.16.15

Updates on China’s currency moves, UK’S Corbyn like US Sanders, adjuncts unionize, Pepsi and Coke offer self-serving health advice, Rand Paul’s misunderstanding of economics. We answer questions about what happened to US real wages from 1974 to 2014. We analyze why no consensus about global warming, what are toxic effects of rising inequality, and role of psychologists in advertising.

The future of wind power may not have blades at all – Walter Einenkel

Wired put together a very interesting piece on the renewable energy company Vortex. They are now field testing bladeless wind energy turbines. Instead of capturing energy via the circular motion of a propeller, the Vortex takes advantage of what’s known as vorticity, an aerodynamic effect that produces a pattern of spinning vortices. Vorticity has long been considered the enemy of architects and …