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The rise and fall of steel in Pittsburgh

2023-12-26

The furnace proved that coke made from the nearby Connellsville seam of bituminous coal was uniquely able to be used in the blast furnaces that transformed iron ore into pig iron. For decades, coke made with coal sourced elsewhere proved unusable — giving southwestern Pennsylvania an enviable competitive advantage as the second industrial revolution powered explosive demand for iron and then steel.

That technical innovation gave coal-rich Pittsburgh, which was already a successful region for energy-intensive industries like iron and glass, an overwhelming advantage in ore-based steel production.

via Chris Briem. Despite growing up in Pittsburgh, I found this explanation enormously helpful.

The dangers of coal

2023-12-20

An interesting example of status quo bias. We know that coal is dirty and that it is a part of the electricity system, and these negative health effects are a part of normal operations, so we accept them.

Mary Poppins was right

2023-12-18

A spoonful of sugar really does help the medicine go down.

A recent study has found that a fruit-flavored medicine, taken once daily for six months, reduces a child's risk of developing multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) disease by over 50%.

From News Minimalist as reported in Bloomberg.

1) How had this not already been tried? 2) How has this not already been rolled out to all children's medicine?