GOOD

Adopt-A-Siren Distributes Responsibility for Tsunami Prep

Sign up to monitor your local tsunami alert siren and report back when there's a problem. So far, nearly a third of the sirens have found parents.

 Zachary Slobig
07.29.12


Code for America has developed a broad range of innovative, localized, civic fixing tools, from a Boston school bus tracker, to Coucilmatic, an app that distills the results of the Philadelphia City Council meetings. CFA has 26 fellows scattered around the nation tech tinkering on city issues. But what happens when the Peace Corps style fellowship for civic-minded geeks comes to Hawaii? The tsunami warning system gets a reboot.

Modeled after an app that harnesses the power of concerned citizens to dig out fire hydrants after a snow storm or unclog storm drains, the adopt-a-siren app makes keeping the island's tsunami warning system fully functional a distributed responsibility. It's a simple idea really. Sign up to monitor your local tsunami alert siren and report back when there's a problem. So far, nearly a third of the sirens have found parents.

Next up for the Honolulu Code for America team is an app that locates and describes public art in the city. By the end of the year, the tech developers aim to have built half a dozen other tools to make Honolulu's neighborhoods quieter, cleaner, and safer.

“This project is bigger than politics,” Forest Frizzell, Deputy Director of Honolulu's Department of Information Technology, says. “We’re able to solve real-world problems. Technology and civic engagement really is the great equalizer for helping solve community problems.”

Image (cc) Flickr user DrBojorn

civic engagement code for america honolulu hawaii forest frizzell tsunami alert natural disasters technology
Articles

The world is rallying around Tori, the Target employee Tweet-shamed by an irate cheapskate

via David Leavitt / Twitter

Anyone who has ever worked in retail knows that the worst thing about the job, right after the pay, are the unreasonable cheapskates who "want to talk to your manager" to get some money off an item.

They think that throwing a tantrum will save them a few bucks and don't care if they completely embarrass themselves in the process. Sometimes that involves belittling the poor employee who's just trying to get through their day with an ounce of dignity.

Twitter is rallying around a gal named Tori who works at a Target in Massachusetts after she was tweet-shamed by irate chapekate, journalist, and Twitter troll, David Leavitt.

Keep Reading
cnn target msnbc fox news tori target employee
Business

The cost of having a baby even with insurance equals average the monthly income of a woman

upload.wikimedia.org

Childbirth is the number one reason American women visit the hospital, and it ain't cheap. In fact, it's getting more and more expensive. A new study published in Health Affairs found that the cost of having a baby with employer-sponsored health insurance increased by almost 50% in the past seven years.

The study evaluated "trends in cost-sharing for maternity care for women with employer-based health insurance plans, before and after the Affordable Care Act," which was signed into law in 2010. The study looked at over 657,061 women enrolled in large employer-sponsored health insurance plans who delivered babies between 2008 and 2015, as these plans tend to cover more than plans purchased by small businesses or individuals.

Keep Reading
babies health insurance healthcare
Health

Scientists just found the crater of one of the biggest meteor crashes in Earth's history

www.nps.gov

A meteorite crashed into Earth nearly 800,000 years ago. The meteor was 1.2 miles wide, and the impact was so big, it covered 10% of the planet with debris. However, scientists haven't been able to find the impact site for over a century. That is, until now. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal believes the crash site has been located.

Tektites, which are essentially rocks that have been liquefied from the heat of the impact and then cooled to form glass, help scientists spot the original impact site of a meteor. Upon impact, melted material is thrown into the atmosphere, then falls back to the ground. Even if the original crater has disappeared due to erosion or is hidden by a shift in tectonic plates, tektites give the spot away. Tektites between 750,000 to 35.5 million years old have been found in every continent except Antarctica.

Keep Reading
science meteor crash