This program lets you be a blind person’s eyes anytime from anywhere in the world.

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Go for launch.

With a simple and cheap rocket, Virgin Orbit aims for the extraordinary.

With a first flight months away, we take a long look at the launch company.

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Important — “Understanding the mind of another person is therefore enabled by getting perspective, not simply taking perspective.”

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I still remem­ber the time I tried to com­fort one of my best friends when her father died. Because I’d lost my own par­ents years before, I thought I under­stood her pain. But, when I offered sym­pa­thy, she balked. Her father’s death had been tran­scen­dent, filled with love and fam­i­ly con­nec­tion. She didn’t feel pain; she felt at peace.

Try­ing to see where anoth­er per­son is com­ing from is often tout­ed as a key to empa­thy. If we imag­ine our­selves in their shoes, the think­ing goes, we’ll be able to pre­dict their feel­ings and their behav­ior, bridg­ing the gap between self and oth­er. This is con­sid­ered a skill—sometimes called “the­o­ry of mind”—that begins in child­hood and devel­ops through­out our lives, help­ing us to nav­i­gate social sit­u­a­tions gracefully.

But a new­ly pub­lished study (see below) sug­gests that try­ing to take anoth­er per­spec­tive may be less ben­e­fi­cial than we think—at least when it comes to tru­ly under­stand­ing anoth­er per­son. The alter­na­tive? Direct ques­tions and answers. If peo­ple can’t read each other’s minds, then we need to use our words.

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Railroads aren’t great if they’re underwater.

Scientists have directly observed sea level rise since the late 18th century. And as they forecast the next 20, 50, and 100 years, sea level rise will continue to accelerate at an alarming rate. That rise won’t just threaten homeowners on the coast — it will also impact the critical infrastructure that supports many of our largest cities.

While sea level rise is often phrased as an issue of concern in the future, we can already see some of the implications. Many coastal communities have witnessed a sharp uptick in flooding, during lunar king tide periods. Other places are forced to consider what life might be like as the land they currently occupy goes underwater.

For further reading on this subject, I recommend starting here:

Regional Plan Association ‘Under Water’ and 4th Plan reports for residents of the greater New York City metro area:
http://library.rpa.org/pdf/RPA-Under-Water-How-Sea-Level-Rise-Threatens-the-Tri-State-Region.pdf
http://fourthplan.org

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The company that owns a geothermal plant near Hawaii’s erupting volcano says lava has burned down a substation and adjacent warehouse at the complex.

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At least it wouldn’t be so hot outside, right?

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