Author Archives: matt ohern

Internet Privacy – Careful How we Ask for It

In another life, I founded and built a direct marketing company.  We contacted folks using names acquired from “list companies” that offered to rent to us the names of those people with similar backgrounds.   These lists were developed by companies … Continue reading

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Government’s War on the Poor: Parent Plus Edition

Rebecca McEvoy, a retired school teacher coping with multiple sclerosis, borrowed $84,000 under the federal Parent Plus program to help her oldest son through art and design school. When he graduated, the government expunged the debt under a law that … Continue reading

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Manufacturing in Virginia: Producing More with Less

Manufacturing often gets a bad rap. That’s probably because the sector has declined by more than 4.9 million jobs since January 2000. The industry also has perception issues. Who wants to work in a dirty old factory with oil on … Continue reading

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Animal agriculture loses common sense exemption

Senior Judge Stephen Williams, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, wrote on April 11, 2017, that an EPA rule governing air releases of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide from animal waste storage must be reported to state and … Continue reading

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Some Surprising Possible Consequences of Autonomous Vehicles

My in-box these days is flooded by commentaries and studies dealing with our autonomous vehicles (AV) future. It’s hard to keep up, but three recent items struck me as particularly interesting. The first was from Scientific American, “How Pedestrians Will … Continue reading

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