Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Ford is turning McDonald’s coffee waste into headlights

Ford has tapped McDonald’s to help it turn coffee parts into car parts. Starting this year, Ford is incorporating coffee chaff (coffee bean skin that comes off during the roasting process) into the plastic headlamp housing used in some cars. It’s asked McDonald’s, which doesn’t roast its own coffee, to connect it with suppliers. Traditionally, Ford uses plastic and talc to make its headlamp housing. The coffee version is more sustainable because it’s lighter and doesn’t use the talc which, as a mineral, isn’t renewable. In recent years, as consumers become more concerned about plastic pollution and carbon emissions, companies have made sweeping commitments to reduce their impacts on the environment. They’ve also been developing innovative, sustainable materials to build consumer products. (CNN) 

The next full moon occurs tonight

This mean’s December’s full moon, called the “Cold Moon”, will be at its peak on 12/12 at 12:12 AM Eastern time. Twelve has significance when it comes to our relative understanding of space and time. There are 12 months in a year, and our days are split in two groups of 12 hours. This full moon is distinctive for its high trajectory across the sky, causing it to sit above the horizon for a longer period of time. (Farmers Almanac)

Walmart has apologized for an adults-only Christmas sweater on its Canadian website that appeared to depict Santa with cocaine

The retailer pulled the holiday outfit along with several other risque seasonal sweaters after they caused a stir with social media users. “These sweaters, sold by a third-party seller on Walmart.ca, do not represent Walmart’s values and have no place on our website,” a spokesperson told the outlet. “We have removed these products from our marketplace. We apologize for any unintended offense this may have caused.” The sweater showed Santa with three lines of a white substance along with the phrase “Let it snow.” Other duds for sale depicted Father Christmas in compromising situations, including with his pants off — roasting his “chestnuts” — in front of a fireplace. The threads quickly made the rounds on social media, where shoppers expressed shock about Saint Nick’s antics. (Global News Canada)

California nativity scene depicts Jesus, Mary and Joseph as refugees in cages

The Claremont United Methodist Church, about 30 miles east of Los Angeles, posted the photo on its website showing the three held in separate cages topped with barbed wire. The baby Jesus is wrapped in a silver foil blanket. Lead Pastor said “We thought about the most famous refugee family in the world, the family of Jesus”. In a Facebook post, she said the display came from the idea of “What if this family sought refuge in our country today?” The biblical story of Mary and Joseph fleeing from Israel to Egypt to escape King Herod’s decree that all baby boys be killed is symbolic of the plight of thousands of refugees seeking asylum in America, she said. “In the Claremont United Methodist Church nativity scene this Christmas, the Holy Family takes the place of the thousands of nameless families separated at our borders,” she said in the post. “Imagine Joseph and Mary separated at the border and Jesus no older than two taken from his mother and placed behind the fences of a Border Patrol detention center as more than 5,500 children have been the past three years.” It certainly has sparked conversation. Commenters on the Facebook post were sharply divided. (ABC 7)

These male smokers get promoted

Men who share a smoking habit with their boss tend to be promoted faster, a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows. Based on data from a large financial institution, the group also found that women experienced the same incidence of promotion no matter who their boss was — and that men benefited from having a male manager in general. The findings track with research showing that male workers benefit from the fact that three-quarters of executives are men. (Bloomberg)

America’s growing innovation gap

A clustering effect among tech firms is widening America’s innovation divide. Five cities (Boston, Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, California) accounted for 90% of all high-tech job growth between 2005 and 2017, according to a report from the Brookings Institute, resulting in an increased concentration of those resources in just a few places. Other U.S. cities are also ripe for innovation, according to the report, but change would require billions of dollars of government investment and support from lawmakers. (Brookings Institute)

Blue-collar jobs take a degree now

American manufacturers are increasingly seeking workers with college degrees, as new positions that require more advanced skills drive up the education level on the factory floor. Within three years, manufacturing employees with college degrees will outnumber those without due in part to a shift toward automation. Factories need workers who can “manage the machines,” and of more than a million manufacturing jobs added since the recession, most are going to those with degrees. (The Wall Street Journal)

Google probed again over firings

Google is being investigated by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board, following the dismissal of four of its employees at the end of November. The “Thanksgiving four,” as they have been nicknamed, were fired by the tech giant for allegedly participating in union activities. The former employees have filed a complaint with the NLRB, which will carry out a probe to determine whether Google violated labor laws in letting them go. The company recently reached a separate settlement with the NLRB about the dismissal of another employee for allegedly expressing conservative views. (CNBC)

US Presidents impeachment articles unveiled

House Democrats on yesterday introduced two articles of impeachment against President Trump alleging abuse of power and obstruction of Congress regarding his interactions with Ukraine, touching off a rapid-fire sequence that could result in a momentous floor vote in a matter of days. They posted text of the articles, which declare Trump’s actions warrant impeachment, trial and removal from office. The White House swiftly hit back, accusing Democrats of using the Ukraine issue as an excuse for “this partisan, gratuitous, and pathetic attempt to overthrow the Trump Administration and the results of the 2016 election.” The key Democratic committee leaders, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi  outlined their impeachment plans in a brief and pointed statement to the media, and left without taking questions. The impeachment articles unveiled  accuse Trump of “soliciting the interference of a foreign government” and doing so for “corrupt purposes,” explicitly accusing him of conditioning two official acts (releasing the foreign aid and holding a White House meeting with Ukraine President Zelensky) on the announcement of an investigation. The aid was eventually released without such an announcement from Ukraine’s president. (Fox News)

Wednesday Rocks With:

• International Mountain Day
• Kaleidoscope Day
• Magnum P.I. Day
• National App Day
• National Sobriety Day
• UNICEF Birthday