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Kara McDermott

Stories

  • caption: Bertha's launch pit.

    Bertha's Progress

    Bertha, the world's biggest tunneling machine, is a five-story-tall monstrosity of drilling tasked with digging out the tunnel for State Route 99 to...

  • Kids In Europe's "Adventure Playgrounds" Allowed To Take Risks

    A tradition in Europe since World War II, "adventure playgrounds" look like junkyards and may be just as dangerous. Adults watch from a distance, making gentle suggestions like "perhaps you might try putting the fire out this way?" The link below will take you to a fascinating radio documentary that calls into questions all our assumptions about childhood risks - and what kids might miss out on when we eliminate all those risks. Warning to parents: this piece may cause you to ache with a vague sense of unease.

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    Elections 2013 Results

    Below are the results of the Nov. 5 elections. Results are as of 11/5/2013 at 9:21 p.m. Please be aware that due to write-ins, percentages might not add up

  • The Rise And Fall Of The Cul-De-Sac

    Once a symbol of freedom from the city, now despised amongst urban hipsters. Why have culs-de-sac fallen out of favor? Because they don't work very well, but also because wealth has shifted away from suburbs and into cities.

  • Kenya's High Tech Solutions For Low Income Problems

    Kenya had a lot of press coverage during the attack on the Westgate mall last month. The stories revealed deep class divisions in East Africa. Some entrepreneurs from Nairobi's thriving startup economy are using technology to bridge that divide between rich and poor.