Physical Environment Safety
Bipartisan Safer Communities Bill | Biggest Impacts on School Safety | SDP182
Doc highlights what has changed in school safety since the May 24, 2022, Robb Elementary School shooting that ended the lives of 19 students and 2 teachers in Uvalde, Texas. He interprets how schools will be impacted by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (signed into federal law July, 2022). Doc peruses each website to critically…
Read MoreSmoky Mountains Wildfire | The Collapse of Physical Time | The Velocity of Information | SDP180
[Podcast] It is legally recognized that time is cleanly divided into years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. But in certain chaos conditions, the construct of time might distort and collapse into what is known as a flow state. All that matters is the moment. And while we convince ourselves that we will observe…
Read MoreJuan Browne | Oroville Dam and Citizen-As-Journalist | The Velocity of Information | SDP179
[Podcast] In 2017, America’s tallest dam complex had partially, but catastrophically, failed. The Oroville Dam, located in northern California, left operators scrambling to figure out how to manage a main spillway failure, eroding secondary spillway, and a rising water level in the reservoir. Remember those tense days when America was riveted to the nightly news…
Read MoreMeasuring the Wet Bulb Effect on Attention and Information | The Velocity of Information | SDP177
[Podcast] Stagnant, sweltering summer days cocoon us with unshakable pulsing heat and sticky humidity in what is known as a wet bulb effect. It’s downright uncomfortable. Our attention deviates from things at hand and centers on making an escape to our air-conditioned cars and dwellings, but the reprieve is temporary – and some of us…
Read MoreDeep Fakes and False Takes | The Velocity of Information | David P. Perrodin | SDP176
[Podcast] In June, 2019, U.S. lawmakers held their first hearing devoted primarily to the threat of artificially generated imagery. Then in October, 2019, California banned political deep fakes during election season. But, such actions have raised questions. What might be consequences looming at the intersection of deep fakes and public policy? DIRECT LINK to MP3…
Read MoreCrisis vs. Chaos | Bifurcation and Strange Attractors | The Velocity of Information | SDP174
[Podcast] What are the differences between crisis and chaos? Is a sudden bifurcation better than a gradual bifurcation? How might a “strange attractor” contribute to the sometimes long duration, and difficult-to-recognize, patterns in chaos? Doc will discuss these questions and read an excerpt pertaining to them from his book ‘The Velocity of Information: Human Thinking…
Read MoreJosh the Locksmith | Security 101 and Avoiding Scams | Worst Locksmith Experiences | SDP170
[Podcast] Guest Josh the Locksmith has been helping people get into their cars and homes for the past decade. He informally learned the craft on the side and then became a business owner and a successful locksmith. Working from Minneapolis-St. Paul metro, it’s not uncommon for a service call to result in a 200 mile…
Read MoreThe Braess Paradox | Psychological Impact of I35W Bridge Collapse on Driving Behavior | SDP169
[Podcast] WHAT IS THE BRAESS PARADOX? Braess’ Paradox states that, counterintuitively, adding a road to a road network can slow down overall traffic through it. The paradox was discovered in 1968 by German mathematician Dietrich Braess as he examined humans driving behavior. At the root of this paradox is that every driver thinks for themselves…
Read MoreTruckers Getting Trounced | Essentially Forgotten Freight Haulers | Guest Jonathan Burger | SDP168
[Podcast] In March 2020, you awoke to find that the government deemed you essential or nonessential. Over-the-road (OTR) haulers, or truck drivers, were deemed essential. But as the arrival of healthcare workers was celebrated with fire engine parades, truck drivers were spared recognition and told to shift into overdrive and deal with peeled back restrictions,…
Read More3D Printing | The Future Has Arrived | 3D Printers For Every Home | 3D Printing in Disasters | Guest flyingRich | SDP165
[Podcast] When his pool vacuum cleaner’s bearings failed, a Florida man didn’t bolt to Amazon to order an expensive replacement vacuum (in the slight chance it was in stock). Instead, he found open source code for a similar bearing, modified it, and then programmed his home 3D printer to make a new bearing. With the…
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