Reshared post from +Dan Gillmor

Talking Points Memo's +Josh Marshall asks a pointed — and entirely reasonable — question regarding coverage of the latest Republican claim about the healthcare law:

"Just how stupid are all you reporters?"

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Stop the Stupid!
I’ve got a question: Just how stupid are all you reporters? No, that’s not a rhetorical question. Whether you want to call the ACA health care mandate a tax or not is mainly a semantic point. It’s a p…

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One of the things that most people don't realize about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is that they are first and foremost electric vehicles.

While FCVs don't use a battery as their primary energy storage medium, they are propelled by electric motors and produce zero emissions. Plug-in vehicles like the +chevrolet Volt, +Nissan Leaf and +Honda Fit EV rely on lithium ion batteries that are recharged from the grid to store energy.

FCVs use compressed hydrogen to generate electricity on the fly in a chemical process in the fuel cell that has water as a byproduct. That means that aside from the choice of battery or fuel cell and hydrogen storage, the rest of the drive system is common to both types of electric vehicles.

Honda has leveraged the enormous amount of development it has done on fuel cell vehicles over the past decade http://green.autoblog.com/2007/11/18/first-drive-2009-honda-fcx-clarity-worlds-first-series-produc/ to implement more efficient drive motors and power electronics for the new plug-in Fit. The result is the most energy efficient car yet tested by the EPA.

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Automotive News
One reason electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles have hit the market with a thud is that there are strings attached. Models such as the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf are tethered. Drivers need to plug…

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Until now most of the ideas from the standard politicos about rejuvenating the city have revolved around tax breaks to get companies to move offices downtown and opening casinos. While having some more working stiffs in the central city helps, the reality is that the vast majority of them head straight for 'burbs as fast as they can come 5pm.  Meanwhile the casinos have really only benefited the gambling companies like MGM Grand.

Detroit has huge swaths of abandonded property and turning it back to farmland and reconcentrating the populace in a smaller area is a great idea.  We just need someone to help make it happen.

Reshared post from +Joichi Ito

Announced the Innovators Guild with IDEO and the Knight Foundation.

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MIT Media Lab: Innovating Innovation
Detroit Riverfront. Since I joined the Media Lab a year ago, I've been constantly amazed and amused by the tribe of iconoclasts, risk-takers, and renegades here who look to the edges for new ideas. On…

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My friend +John Voelcker asks the question "When will +Tesla Motors start reporting monthly sales figures?"

Throughout the 3 1/2 year of the Roadster, Tesla only reported sales a couple of times, when they managed to hit records of over 100 deliveries. After the initial rush of delivering pre-orderded cars in late 2008 and early 2009, they wouldn't even talk about the orders they had trumpeted for so many years up to that point.

From that point onward though, CEO Elon Musk and his spokespeople refused to get specific on the numerous occasions that I and other writers asked http://green.autoblog.com/2009/10/22/are-tesla-roadster-sales-dead-order-online-now-for-christmas-de/

As a privately held company they certainly had the right to do that.  Even now as a public company they are not compelled to break out the number of cars sold, other automakers do it because registrations are public information and those interested in doing the research can eventually find out anyway. 

Tesla certainly doesn't have to be open, Apple certainly doesn't breakout specific sales most of the time, but it would certainly help build confidence in a company that builds products costing fro $50,000-100,000.

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Why Is Tesla Scared To Release Its Electric-Car Sales Data?
Frankly, we understand why Fisker Automotive and Coda Automotive might not want to release their sales data. Both companies have struggled mightily with delayed rollouts of their first plug-in electri…

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A cursory observation of statements and policies from conservatives in the past couple of decades makes it clear they don't actually want people to think.

The Republican Party of Texas has now made it official. In its 2012 platform the party has explicitly stated that it doesn't want our kids to be taught how to think.

"Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority."

Without critical thinking, we'd still be living in caves, trying to capture fire, hoping that we could spear our next meal. The only reason our lives today are as good as they are is because of critical thinking. 

America's existence is all about undermining authority. Without that fundamental idea, there never would have been a Boston Tea Party or a revolution. The civil war would not have happened and we would still own slaves.

Today more than ever, with all of the sources of "information" that are available our children need to understand how to analyze the "facts" they are being bombarded with and make judgements.

Question Everything!

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GOP Opposes Critical Thinking
Party platform paints original ideas as a liberal conspiracy

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I'm pretty sure I've linked to this TED talk before but it's worth a rerun. Trickle down economics of lower taxes on the wealth while ignoring everyone else only works to spread income and wealth disparity

If we want to create jobs we need a strong middle class with lots of consumer demand. When people buy stuff, people get hired to make stuff. Drive demand and the supply will follow close behind

Reshared post from +Tim O’Reilly

A truly provocative TED talk: bit.ly/MyHB8E Capitalists don't create jobs. Customers do. Which is why we need a vibrant middle class

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