You have probably heard the narrative: since its heyday as the Motor City in the 1950s, globalization has left Detroit in ruins, moving auto-related jobs away to places where wages were cheaper, customers were closer, and climates were nicer. Is it totally true?
Despite huge decline, Michigan is still #1 in US automaking
First, in truth, Detroit and the state of Michigan still have lots of automaking jobs, just a lot fewer than decades ago. The article below shows that Michigan has far more auto jobs--especially assembly jobs, as opposed to sales--than any other state.
http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/storysupplement/stateautoworkers/
But compare the current jobs with the past:
-Detroit lost 90% of its manufacturing jobs since 1950s
-Michigan lost 50% of its manufacturing jobs from 2000-2010
So the decline of Michigan and Detroit has been steep.
Where have Detroit's jobs gone?
In the US, automaking jobs have tended to head for sunnier climates in the "New South" where real estate is cheap. Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama in particular have the highest number of auto assembly jobs outside the traditional midwestern automaking core states.
Case in point: Japanese cars, country music, and tacos
Nissan's Smyrna, Tennessee plant is a good example of the shift in US automaking to the south.
In 1980 Nissan opened its first US plant in Smyrna, TN just 20 minutes outside Nashville, the capital of country music, and 10 minutes from Murfreesboro, a slightly run-down country town but home of Tennessee's largest university, Middle Tennessee State. By 1989 the Smyrna plant had produced 1 million vehicles and by 1994 it was named the most-productive auto plant in the US. Today, Smyrna is the only North American factory producing the Nissan Leaf, the only fully-electric mass-market car in the US.
Meanwhile, Nissan also opened a major North American plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico, a booming city that has attracted massive foreign investment and is one of the cleanest, most orderly cities in Mexico.
Today, Nissan has the goal of producing 85% of all Nissan cars sold in the US in North America--whether in the US, Mexico, or Canada--by 2015.
Shifts in auto production to be closer to foreign markets
A major overall trend in manufacturing has been for companies to relocate factories closer to the customers who buy products, rather than making things far away and shipping them thousands of miles.
Case in point: Bangkok, Thailand has become the largest auto-making hub in Southeast Asia, nearly doubling its output in the past 2 years to 2.5 million cars/year. Toyota alone has five factories in Thailand, along with Nissan and Ford.
See
Boom times for Bangkok the "Detroit of Southeast Asia"
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/09/08/boom-times-for-detroit-southeast-asia/
Chart of Ford operations worldwide.http://corporate.ford.com/our-company/operations-worldwide/global-operations-list
With Mexican Manufacturing Boom, New Worrieshttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/with-mexican-auto-manufacturing-boom-new-worries/2013/07/01/10dd57e8-d7d9-11e2-b418-9dfa095e125d_story.html
Friday, January 31, 2014
Southeast Asian diets: a water world away from the standard American diet
Southeast Asia is a water world where diets revolve around water-intensive foods: fish and rice.
Southeast Asians eat a diet that is about as different from the typical US diet as it gets. Cambodians for example get 70% of their protein intake from fish--dried, pickled, farmed, fresh out of the water, etc. Meanwhile, on the map below, in the US we get less than 10% of our protein from fish.
Also, Southeast Asians get 60% of their overall food intake from one food: rice.
It is fascinating to me to think about the difference in diets around the world and also their relation to human physical differences. How have foods affected the way humans evolved in Asia vs. Europe vs. Africa because of foods they ate over thousands of years?
Rice paddy landscapes are one of the most eye-popping in Geography.
Meanwhile, many US citizens eat only an occasional can of tuna and get most carbs from bread and sugars--both refined carbs--is the primary source of carbs.
Meanwhile, many US citizens eat only an occasional can of tuna and get most carbs from bread and sugars--both refined carbs--is the primary source of carbs.
This page from GeoCurrents shows interesting maps of global beef and fish consumption.
http://www.geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/culinary-geography/global-geography-of-meat-and-fish-consumption
GeoCurrents
http://www.geocurrents.info/about
How deserts turn into grasslands and what to do about it
While conventional wisdom says that livestock grazing is a major cause of desertification (grasslands becoming desert), Allan Savory from Zimbabwe says the opposite is true: introducing livestock actually the only real solution to desertification.
The reason: something has to eat up dead grasses left behind by the dry season in wet-and-dry climates like those found in Africa. He says the dead tall grasses left from the dry season have to decay biologically in order for the new grass to grow when the rains return. In the absence of huge natural herds of wildebeest, elephants, etc. to eat the dead dry-season grasses, he says livestock grazing is the next best thing.
Allan Savory has been seeking solutions to the problem of desertification - grasslands becoming deserts -- for decades. He says desertification has led to the decline of civilizations and that nearly 2/3 of the world's land is affected.
How Can Deserts Turn Into Grasslands? by Alan Savory
http://www.npr.org/2013/11/15/243721657/how-can-deserts-turn-into-grasslands?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=share&utm_campaign=
The reason: something has to eat up dead grasses left behind by the dry season in wet-and-dry climates like those found in Africa. He says the dead tall grasses left from the dry season have to decay biologically in order for the new grass to grow when the rains return. In the absence of huge natural herds of wildebeest, elephants, etc. to eat the dead dry-season grasses, he says livestock grazing is the next best thing.
Allan Savory has been seeking solutions to the problem of desertification - grasslands becoming deserts -- for decades. He says desertification has led to the decline of civilizations and that nearly 2/3 of the world's land is affected.
How Can Deserts Turn Into Grasslands? by Alan Savory
http://www.npr.org/2013/11/15/243721657/how-can-deserts-turn-into-grasslands?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=share&utm_campaign=
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Blue eyes and dark skin?
Blue eyes and dark skin would seem to have opposite geographies: blue eyes are found in mostly northern latitudes and dark skin is a tropical trait found in people around the equator. They say blue eyes lack the brown filter in front so as to allow more sun to enter the eyes in northern regions where sunlight is scarce. Meanwhile, dark skin handles high amounts of sun well and actually requires lots of sun to make vitamin D.
So this new discovery poses the question why would an ancient hunter have blue eyes and dark skin in Spain 7000 years ago?
DNA shows ancient hunter had blue eyes, dark skin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/dna-shows-ancient-hunter-had-blue-eyes-dark-skin/2014/01/28/59aebbe4-8812-11e3-a760-a86415d0944d_story.html?hpid=z2
also
Genetic Mutation Makes Those Brown Eyes Blue
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22934464/#.Uugwh7_0BT4
Friday, January 24, 2014
Water everywhere
Water is a topic that seems to keep popping its head up everywhere you look--in Geography and in the news.
Access to water in the world's exploding, dirty megacities cities; water at the center of climate change in terms of extreme rains and floods; water in the rapidly-melting glaciers in the Himalayas and Polar Ice Caps; water as the medium for increased shipping across the Arctic as more ice melts for longer seasons.
The US burbs that Joel Kotkin is a fan of stand to have major water issues as Laurence Smith also talked about -- Phoenix and Vegas are built in deserts and running on a finite supply of underground water from aquifers.
Matt Damon now has a whole charity involved with water. Some of my students have said they are going for degrees in Hydrology.
Water was the driver of Katrina and Sandy.
In Bolivia in 2012 I noticed giant signs for "MiAgua" i.e. My Water government program in which the indigenous socialist president Evo Morales has given 50% of the funds to local water projects all over the country.
New dams are one of the most controversial environmental topics today. Belo Monte dam being built in the Amazon of Brazil is really coming under fire for contributing to deforestation and disruption of ecosystems. Egypt's Aswan Dam and China's Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest, are also controversial.
Mercury from factory pollution ends up in the ocean water, then in fish we eat. Bigger fish have more mercury from eating smaller fish. East Asians, who on average eat incredible amounts of fish, frequently have toxic blood mercury levels. 1 in 4 New Yorkers has elevated blood mercury levels, but the levels are highest among Chinese immigrants.
Even the health of "normal" tap water is questioned: overuse of fluoride, low pH levels, high copper content from pipes, and even traces of birth control and antidepressants.
Access to water in the world's exploding, dirty megacities cities; water at the center of climate change in terms of extreme rains and floods; water in the rapidly-melting glaciers in the Himalayas and Polar Ice Caps; water as the medium for increased shipping across the Arctic as more ice melts for longer seasons.
The US burbs that Joel Kotkin is a fan of stand to have major water issues as Laurence Smith also talked about -- Phoenix and Vegas are built in deserts and running on a finite supply of underground water from aquifers.
Matt Damon now has a whole charity involved with water. Some of my students have said they are going for degrees in Hydrology.
Water was the driver of Katrina and Sandy.
In Bolivia in 2012 I noticed giant signs for "MiAgua" i.e. My Water government program in which the indigenous socialist president Evo Morales has given 50% of the funds to local water projects all over the country.
New dams are one of the most controversial environmental topics today. Belo Monte dam being built in the Amazon of Brazil is really coming under fire for contributing to deforestation and disruption of ecosystems. Egypt's Aswan Dam and China's Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest, are also controversial.
Mercury from factory pollution ends up in the ocean water, then in fish we eat. Bigger fish have more mercury from eating smaller fish. East Asians, who on average eat incredible amounts of fish, frequently have toxic blood mercury levels. 1 in 4 New Yorkers has elevated blood mercury levels, but the levels are highest among Chinese immigrants.
Even the health of "normal" tap water is questioned: overuse of fluoride, low pH levels, high copper content from pipes, and even traces of birth control and antidepressants.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
China investment in South America
China is scouring the world for resources for its huge population and investing billions to create ports and roads to transport these resources to China.
South America is no exception.
Brazil's huge new port highlights China's drive into South America
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/15/brazil-port-china-drive
South America is no exception.
Brazil's huge new port highlights China's drive into South America
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/15/brazil-port-china-drive
Brazil developing its remote interior with controversial Soy Highway and Belo Monte Dam, facilitating farms and deforestation
Brazil's project to pave the remote "Soy Highway" (BR-163) is nearly complete. The Soy Highway connects new plantations in deforested Amazon regions to the outside world. It is schedule to be totally paved by 2015, right now it is said to be at around 80%. A 2004 Economist article describes the old road as it existed then unpaved as a "river of mud" in rainy season on which a 1000-mile drive from Santarem to Cuiaba (see map below) could take weeks. With a new surface, the road will carry millions of dollars of farm products to the rest of Brazil and the world.
Speeding up agricultural development and deforestation
So much of Brazil's massive agricultural economy takes place in vast newly-deforested regions cleared within the last few decades. Staggering areas of Amazon rainforest and Cerrado dry forest have been razed and are now cattle ranches and plantations of soybeans, sugar, etc. Brazil has the world's highest deforestation rate, over twice the rate of the next highest country, Indonesia.
The Soy Highway addresses the biggest obstacle Brazil's exploding farming sector currently faces: lack of transportation infrastructure to rapidly deliver products from remote, newly-created farmlands to the rest of Brazil, where food processing and exporting takes place.
On the maps below, notice the Soy Highway cuts through the states of Para and Mato Grosso; these two states led Brazil in deforestation in 2013. Environmentalists like Philip Fearnside say the Soy Highway will just exacerbate deforestation. Para likes in the Amazon rainforest and includes the Amazon delta.
Along the highway, tribes and slavery-like conditionsNumerous indigenous tribes live along the Soy Highway, and many have been employed in the plantations that have sprouted up. In these areas, the highest number of cases of slavery-like conditions in Brazil have been cited, with Para state leading the country with 123 cases in 2005 involving over 3000 people.
US company Cargill pioneered soy in the Amazon -- foreseeing the Soy HighwayUS agribusiness company Cargill stands to benefit hugely from the Soy Highway. Cargill foresaw the paving of the Soy Highway and pioneered soy agribusinesses in Para in 2003 by constructing a $20 million soy port/processing plant on the Amazon River. This dramatically increased soy production.
Cargill battled with Greenpeace which reported slave labor conditions under Cargill and also that Cargill deforested indigenous tribal rainforest. Despite these controversies, Cargill remains in Santarem.
The interior: a new frontier for Brazil
Brazil for most of its history was called a "civilzation of crabs" because nearly all settlements were on the coast. These new farming areas are the reason Brazilians decided to delve inward into the areas they neglected for such a long time.
I've never eaten a lot of SPAM, but when I look at the cans they often say "product of Brazil" -- a testament to its beef production.
Norfolk, Virginia is a "transit" point on cocaine network
Speaking of functional regions in class, turns out Virginia
is a node on a major cocaine distribution network.
600 million dollars worth of cocaine (732 pounds) was seized by US customs agents at the port of Norfolk, Virginia last December. It was in orange and grapefruit juice cans coming from Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean country that invented Calypso music. The ultimate destination was supposed to be New York.
Cocaine comes from coca leaf which is grown in three countries: Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. However, drug cartels often take the leaves to remote areas of other neighboring countries to be processed into cocaine (a lengthy chemical process) and shipped.
DEA in T&T to probe $.6b cocaine bust
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/DEA-in-TT-to-probe-6b-cocaine-bust-241030021.html
600 million dollars worth of cocaine (732 pounds) was seized by US customs agents at the port of Norfolk, Virginia last December. It was in orange and grapefruit juice cans coming from Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean country that invented Calypso music. The ultimate destination was supposed to be New York.
Cocaine comes from coca leaf which is grown in three countries: Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. However, drug cartels often take the leaves to remote areas of other neighboring countries to be processed into cocaine (a lengthy chemical process) and shipped.
DEA in T&T to probe $.6b cocaine bust
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/DEA-in-TT-to-probe-6b-cocaine-bust-241030021.html
Geography of non-US Major League players
What countries do you think of when you think of non-US Major League Baseball players?
If you paid any attention to your baseball cards as a kid, you have to know that the Dominican Republic (DR) is the "Hometown" that comes up more than any other. Amazingly, in 2012 11% of the players in the Major Leagues came from the Dominican Republic alone. Venezuela is not far behind. What is it with these guys in the Caribbean?
The best explanation I have heard came from a mixed Afro-Indigenous Nicaraguan guy I met in Costa Rica who had been in Major League farm systems in Nicaragua. He said that in these countries, it's always warm and lots of guys just play baseball every day, all year. They go to baseball academies and schools. They just have a ton of practice.
That can't be the whole story... genetics must be involved. But it definitely could be a piece of the puzzle.
Great movie about DR baseball system
Sugar (Azucar) (2008)
If you paid any attention to your baseball cards as a kid, you have to know that the Dominican Republic (DR) is the "Hometown" that comes up more than any other. Amazingly, in 2012 11% of the players in the Major Leagues came from the Dominican Republic alone. Venezuela is not far behind. What is it with these guys in the Caribbean?
The best explanation I have heard came from a mixed Afro-Indigenous Nicaraguan guy I met in Costa Rica who had been in Major League farm systems in Nicaragua. He said that in these countries, it's always warm and lots of guys just play baseball every day, all year. They go to baseball academies and schools. They just have a ton of practice.
That can't be the whole story... genetics must be involved. But it definitely could be a piece of the puzzle.
Great movie about DR baseball system
Sugar (Azucar) (2008)
Military agility of the far-flung Geography of the "Special Relationship"
The "Special Relationship" as it is called between the US and UK means these countries have each others' back when any
international conflict comes up and have an "exceptionally close" relationship
based on common cultural heritage.
Today, that international cooperation largely extends to all five Anglo-heritage countries in international affairs:
US
Canada
UK
Australia
New Zealand.
Military agility due to wide-ranging Geography
Besides the high standard of living and sheer military and economic strength of these five of these countries, there are major benefits in international relations which stem from Geography:
-These five countries are spread around the world, far and wide
-All of these countries possess numerous islands. The UK and US have islands around the globe. Even tiny New Zealand has over 30 islands including the Cook Islands.
This common Geography provides a seemingly-endless array of bases in which the US can launch air, missile, or naval strikes.
As a US solider noted during the Cold War, “if we ever need to launch a missile at somebody, Britain usually has an island somewhere nearby.”
Today, that international cooperation largely extends to all five Anglo-heritage countries in international affairs:
US
Canada
UK
Australia
New Zealand.
Military agility due to wide-ranging Geography
Besides the high standard of living and sheer military and economic strength of these five of these countries, there are major benefits in international relations which stem from Geography:
-These five countries are spread around the world, far and wide
-All of these countries possess numerous islands. The UK and US have islands around the globe. Even tiny New Zealand has over 30 islands including the Cook Islands.
This common Geography provides a seemingly-endless array of bases in which the US can launch air, missile, or naval strikes.
As a US solider noted during the Cold War, “if we ever need to launch a missile at somebody, Britain usually has an island somewhere nearby.”
British Overseas Territories Map
New Zealand Outlying Islands Map
US border security up, spike in deaths is an unintended consequence
US border security has vastly increased just in the past five years with more
manpower, ATV patrols, drones (probably the least effective tool of the bunch), and helipcopters. Just a decade ago crossing
illegally over the US-Mexico border via the Rio Grande was pretty easy; now it
is much harder.
One unintended consequence of increased border security is that more illegals are dying after crossing the border as they try to avoid checkpoints.
Grim Death Toll Near US-Mexico Border
http://live.wsj.com/video/grim-death-toll-near-us-mexico-border/29E57E77-19E6-45A7-AF3A-EB85C265BAF7.html#!29E57E77-19E6-45A7-AF3A-EB85C265BAF7
Here's a video about how US Border Agents patrol the Rio Grande, the river which makes up 1,255 miles of the 1,969-mile US - Mexico border -- the most frequently-crossed border in the world.
When I show it to my face-to-face classes, at the end I ask "who would want to do that job?" and hands usually shoot up.
CBP Video: Patrols of the Rio Grande Riverhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylqyCmn_DR0
One unintended consequence of increased border security is that more illegals are dying after crossing the border as they try to avoid checkpoints.
Grim Death Toll Near US-Mexico Border
http://live.wsj.com/video/grim-death-toll-near-us-mexico-border/29E57E77-19E6-45A7-AF3A-EB85C265BAF7.html#!29E57E77-19E6-45A7-AF3A-EB85C265BAF7
Here's a video about how US Border Agents patrol the Rio Grande, the river which makes up 1,255 miles of the 1,969-mile US - Mexico border -- the most frequently-crossed border in the world.
When I show it to my face-to-face classes, at the end I ask "who would want to do that job?" and hands usually shoot up.
CBP Video: Patrols of the Rio Grande Riverhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylqyCmn_DR0
Mexico and Brazil - "Pivotal States" and Giants of Latin America
Mexico and Brazil are highly dynamic countries and also the giants of Latin America.
These countries were named among the "Pivotal States" in the world in a book that came out in 2000 (The Pivotal States: A New Framework for US Policy in the Developing World" by Chase et al.) Those authors gave the term "Pivotal States" to countries which are "poised at critical turning points, and whose fate will strongly affect regional and even global security." In other words, Mexico and Brazil could "go either way" so to speak--they could succeed or fail in the nearfuture and the repurcussions would be great.
Mexico is the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. It is swirling with a whole range of issues:
-It's economy is enormous -- Ford and Volkswagen plants, computers assembly, massive agriculture. As part of NAFTA, Mexico's trade with the US only exploded even larger--Mexico is the US' 3rd highest trading partner after Canada and China.
-Drug trafficking and violence is tearing up whole swathes of Mexico -- notably the areas nearest to the US. Mexico's north has a vast, difficult scrub-desert terrain with many places for cartels to hide.
-Mexico's population resides largely far away from the US, down in the latitudes around Mexico City/Guadalajara/Puebla. Many Americans have a skewed impression of Mexican culture because they only have seen Mexican border culture (Tijuana, etc.)
-Be sure to read about Maquiladoras -- US-owned factories that have exploded in Mexico since NAFTA, mostly just across the border.
-Mexico has sent the most emigrants of any country around the world in the past several decades, chiefly to the US.
-Remittances i.e. money sent back to Mexico from Mexicans workign in the US form a giant source of income
Brazil makes up roughly half of South America's land and people.
-Brazil will be in the news a lot in the next few years, hosting the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016
-Brazil has extreme inequality. Read about the favelas that make up 25% of Brazil’s housing in the textbook.
-Brazil’s economy is even bigger than Mexico’, it is the 7th largest economy in the world. They are a world leader in many tropical exports like oranges,
-Brazil is the only other country besides the US which uses ethanol heavily in cars, but they make it from sugar which is much more efficient. All new Brazilian cars by law must run on ethanol—regular gas is becoming a thing of the past there.
-Brazil has the largest black population outside Africa. Brazil is not a chiefly “mestizo” country like much of Latin America. Instead, the racial mixing in Brazil is mostly black and white, not white and Amerindian.
Brazil on the Rise: The Story of a Country Transformed
by Larry Rohter
The Pivotal States: A New Framework for US Policy in the Developing World
by Chase et al
The Three U.S.-Mexico Border Wars: Drugs, Immigration, and Homeland Security
by Tony Payan
These countries were named among the "Pivotal States" in the world in a book that came out in 2000 (The Pivotal States: A New Framework for US Policy in the Developing World" by Chase et al.) Those authors gave the term "Pivotal States" to countries which are "poised at critical turning points, and whose fate will strongly affect regional and even global security." In other words, Mexico and Brazil could "go either way" so to speak--they could succeed or fail in the nearfuture and the repurcussions would be great.
Mexico is the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. It is swirling with a whole range of issues:
-It's economy is enormous -- Ford and Volkswagen plants, computers assembly, massive agriculture. As part of NAFTA, Mexico's trade with the US only exploded even larger--Mexico is the US' 3rd highest trading partner after Canada and China.
-Drug trafficking and violence is tearing up whole swathes of Mexico -- notably the areas nearest to the US. Mexico's north has a vast, difficult scrub-desert terrain with many places for cartels to hide.
-Mexico's population resides largely far away from the US, down in the latitudes around Mexico City/Guadalajara/Puebla. Many Americans have a skewed impression of Mexican culture because they only have seen Mexican border culture (Tijuana, etc.)
-Be sure to read about Maquiladoras -- US-owned factories that have exploded in Mexico since NAFTA, mostly just across the border.
-Mexico has sent the most emigrants of any country around the world in the past several decades, chiefly to the US.
-Remittances i.e. money sent back to Mexico from Mexicans workign in the US form a giant source of income
Brazil makes up roughly half of South America's land and people.
-Brazil will be in the news a lot in the next few years, hosting the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016
-Brazil has extreme inequality. Read about the favelas that make up 25% of Brazil’s housing in the textbook.
-Brazil’s economy is even bigger than Mexico’, it is the 7th largest economy in the world. They are a world leader in many tropical exports like oranges,
-Brazil is the only other country besides the US which uses ethanol heavily in cars, but they make it from sugar which is much more efficient. All new Brazilian cars by law must run on ethanol—regular gas is becoming a thing of the past there.
-Brazil has the largest black population outside Africa. Brazil is not a chiefly “mestizo” country like much of Latin America. Instead, the racial mixing in Brazil is mostly black and white, not white and Amerindian.
Brazil on the Rise: The Story of a Country Transformed
by Larry Rohter
The Pivotal States: A New Framework for US Policy in the Developing World
by Chase et al
The Three U.S.-Mexico Border Wars: Drugs, Immigration, and Homeland Security
by Tony Payan
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Where you live affects your health -- common sense, often forgotten
Where you live affects your health -- common sense, often forgotten.
Do you live in an area with pollution, tainted water, traffic, and hazards? Where it is difficult to walk anywhere so you spend all day in a car or at home?
Or in an area with fresh air, clean water, and moderate temperatures where you can walk around and spend lots of time outside?
Bill Davenhall suggests that where you haved lived should be part of your medical file given to you and your physician. He calls it "Geo-medicine."
Bill Davenhall: Your health depends on where you live
http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_davenhall_your_health_depends_on_where_you_live.html
Do you live in an area with pollution, tainted water, traffic, and hazards? Where it is difficult to walk anywhere so you spend all day in a car or at home?
Or in an area with fresh air, clean water, and moderate temperatures where you can walk around and spend lots of time outside?
Bill Davenhall suggests that where you haved lived should be part of your medical file given to you and your physician. He calls it "Geo-medicine."
Bill Davenhall: Your health depends on where you live
http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_davenhall_your_health_depends_on_where_you_live.html
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Sochi, Russia: an odd choice for the Winter Olympics, but with modern technology, who knows
It reflects the modern impulse to trust heavily in man's ability to overcome nature that Sochi, Russia was chosen to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. Russia is known for it's cold, northern climate, but Sochi defies the norm: it actually lies at the southernmost end in a subtropical climate where winter temperatures aveage 52°F (6°C) -- roughly the same as Moscow's average spring temperature. Last February Sochi hit a high of 63F.
Sochi also lies in one of the least-snowy regions of Russia. To ensure they will have enough snow, the Sochi organizers have both a) stored last year's snow under insulated blankets and b) created the world's largest snowmaking operation. In fact, the Games master snow man Mikko Martikainen, who is Finnish, says the only question is whether they will have too much snow.
You can see the insulated snow blankets here.
Snow in Sochi? Olympic organizers have it under wraps
In fact, Sochi has never been a winter sports town at all. It has been a resort, but a beach resort on the Black Sea. Much of the reason the upcoming Olympics will cost over $50 billion, by far the most expensive ever, is because Russia had to completely construct and overhaul the landscape. $8.7 billion of that went for a single 30-minute rail and highway link between ski sites.
Hence the UK Mail asks "Is Sochi the most insane Winter Olympics ever?"
Geographically, terrorism is a real threatSochi is located on the coast of the Black Sea where many beach resorts are found. But it is also located within a few hundred miles of the Caucasus Mountains, a dicey geopolitical region which includes Christian Georgia, Islamic Azerbaijan, and Russia's Islamic republics including Chechyna and Dagestan in which Islamic insurgencies are ongoing. Russia lost roughly 250 soliders and civilians in the Caucasus region last year, roughly the same as US losses in Afghanistan.
This month's National Geographic describes the scene.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/01/sochi-russia/forrest-text
Allegations of corruptionMany Russians have made allegations that there has been vast corruption in the distribution of contracts for the Sochi games. Corruption is a central part of life in Russia, but this is a world event in which Russia is trying to re-stake its reputation as a world power in the wake of the Cold War.
But in reality, multinational corporations are handling much of the logistics. Microsoft, for example, has a monopoly on handling all of the software.
The "coolest" headline of all: the Jamaican bobsled team has made it to another Olympics. Problem is they don't have any money to cover travel expenses. Maybe they can get a signing bonus up front for "Cool Runnings 2"?
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/organizers-jamaica-qualified-sochi-games-220740973--spt.html
Sochi also lies in one of the least-snowy regions of Russia. To ensure they will have enough snow, the Sochi organizers have both a) stored last year's snow under insulated blankets and b) created the world's largest snowmaking operation. In fact, the Games master snow man Mikko Martikainen, who is Finnish, says the only question is whether they will have too much snow.
You can see the insulated snow blankets here.
Snow in Sochi? Olympic organizers have it under wraps
In fact, Sochi has never been a winter sports town at all. It has been a resort, but a beach resort on the Black Sea. Much of the reason the upcoming Olympics will cost over $50 billion, by far the most expensive ever, is because Russia had to completely construct and overhaul the landscape. $8.7 billion of that went for a single 30-minute rail and highway link between ski sites.
Hence the UK Mail asks "Is Sochi the most insane Winter Olympics ever?"
Geographically, terrorism is a real threatSochi is located on the coast of the Black Sea where many beach resorts are found. But it is also located within a few hundred miles of the Caucasus Mountains, a dicey geopolitical region which includes Christian Georgia, Islamic Azerbaijan, and Russia's Islamic republics including Chechyna and Dagestan in which Islamic insurgencies are ongoing. Russia lost roughly 250 soliders and civilians in the Caucasus region last year, roughly the same as US losses in Afghanistan.
This month's National Geographic describes the scene.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/01/sochi-russia/forrest-text
Allegations of corruptionMany Russians have made allegations that there has been vast corruption in the distribution of contracts for the Sochi games. Corruption is a central part of life in Russia, but this is a world event in which Russia is trying to re-stake its reputation as a world power in the wake of the Cold War.
But in reality, multinational corporations are handling much of the logistics. Microsoft, for example, has a monopoly on handling all of the software.
The "coolest" headline of all: the Jamaican bobsled team has made it to another Olympics. Problem is they don't have any money to cover travel expenses. Maybe they can get a signing bonus up front for "Cool Runnings 2"?
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/organizers-jamaica-qualified-sochi-games-220740973--spt.html
Two Americas?
This article is about "Two Americas":
-Coastal America where jobs revolve around information
-Middle America (aka "Flyover states") where jobs revolve around farming, manufacturing, and natural resources like oil & gas.
In one sense, these two Americas rely on each other economically but in another they are at war with each other as Kotkin points out.
-Coastal America where jobs revolve around information
-Middle America (aka "Flyover states") where jobs revolve around farming, manufacturing, and natural resources like oil & gas.
In one sense, these two Americas rely on each other economically but in another they are at war with each other as Kotkin points out.
In Keystone XL Rejection, We See Two Americas At War With Each Other
http://www.joelkotkin.com/content/00522-keystone-xl-rejection-we-see-two-americas-war-each-other
Major cities have a tendency to forget how reliant they are on farming and natural resource regions; in fact cities would be impossible without the regions that produce raw materials.
Joel Kotkin is the author of several great books on the geography of the US including:
The New Geography
The Next 100 million
Major cities have a tendency to forget how reliant they are on farming and natural resource regions; in fact cities would be impossible without the regions that produce raw materials.
Joel Kotkin is the author of several great books on the geography of the US including:
The New Geography
The Next 100 million
As jobs are "re-shored" back to the US in the next decades, they say the Middle America will see a resurgence in jobs.
Joel Kotkin writes on NewGeography.com and his personal website is worth exploring to see what the future of America holds.
http://www.newgeography.com/
http://www.joelkotkin.com/
Joel Kotkin writes on NewGeography.com and his personal website is worth exploring to see what the future of America holds.
http://www.newgeography.com/
http://www.joelkotkin.com/
New theory on the cause of the bend in the Hawaiian hotspot trail
Hotspots: the theory until now
Up to now it has been believed (and taught by textbooks) that hotspots stay fixed in one place just underneath the earth's crust. These hotspots are huge blobs of super-hot magma which often poke through the crust to form a volcano. Meanwhile, as the hotspot sits there stationary, a tectonic plate moves over them, forming a "conveyor belt" of volcano creation, one volcano after the next in a chain.
This chain of volcanoes, however, can take a turn if and when the tectonic plate a) rotates/turns/spins or b) changes the overall direction of its plate movement/drift.
Case in point: the bend/turn where the Emperor Ridge volcanoes (now extinct seamounts) become the Hawaiian ridge, a roughly 45° turn. From the above, we would assume that long ago when this turn came about the Pacific Plate either rotates or changed direction.
This is confirmed by this Univ. of Hawaii scientist http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/ASK/plate-tectonics2.html who says
a) Pacific Plate is moving overall NW direction
b) Pacific Plate is also rotating around a point south of Australia.
A new theory
However--it turns out that scientists recently changed the theory. They now believe that it was the hotspot itself that moved. According to the article below, the hotspot itself moved southward under the lithosphere until 45 million years ago, creating the Emperor Ridge trail of volcanoes, then it stopped moving and became fixed in one spot. From that point onward, the overall plate moved NW creating the Hawaiian Ridge.
"A sharp bend in the chain about 2,200 miles northwest of the Island of Hawai'i was previously interpreted as a major change in the direction of plate motion around 43-45 million years ago (Ma), as suggested by the ages of the volcanoes bracketing the bend.
However, recent studies suggest that the northern segment (Emperor Chain) formed as the hot spot moved southward until about 45 Ma, when it became fixed. Thereafter, northwesterly plate movement prevailed, resulting in the formation of the Hawaiian Ridge "downstream" from the hotspot."
from
http://geology.com/usgs/hawaiian-hot-spot/
Up to now it has been believed (and taught by textbooks) that hotspots stay fixed in one place just underneath the earth's crust. These hotspots are huge blobs of super-hot magma which often poke through the crust to form a volcano. Meanwhile, as the hotspot sits there stationary, a tectonic plate moves over them, forming a "conveyor belt" of volcano creation, one volcano after the next in a chain.
This chain of volcanoes, however, can take a turn if and when the tectonic plate a) rotates/turns/spins or b) changes the overall direction of its plate movement/drift.
Case in point: the bend/turn where the Emperor Ridge volcanoes (now extinct seamounts) become the Hawaiian ridge, a roughly 45° turn. From the above, we would assume that long ago when this turn came about the Pacific Plate either rotates or changed direction.
This is confirmed by this Univ. of Hawaii scientist http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/ASK/plate-tectonics2.html who says
a) Pacific Plate is moving overall NW direction
b) Pacific Plate is also rotating around a point south of Australia.
A new theory
However--it turns out that scientists recently changed the theory. They now believe that it was the hotspot itself that moved. According to the article below, the hotspot itself moved southward under the lithosphere until 45 million years ago, creating the Emperor Ridge trail of volcanoes, then it stopped moving and became fixed in one spot. From that point onward, the overall plate moved NW creating the Hawaiian Ridge.
"A sharp bend in the chain about 2,200 miles northwest of the Island of Hawai'i was previously interpreted as a major change in the direction of plate motion around 43-45 million years ago (Ma), as suggested by the ages of the volcanoes bracketing the bend.
However, recent studies suggest that the northern segment (Emperor Chain) formed as the hot spot moved southward until about 45 Ma, when it became fixed. Thereafter, northwesterly plate movement prevailed, resulting in the formation of the Hawaiian Ridge "downstream" from the hotspot."
from
http://geology.com/usgs/hawaiian-hot-spot/
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Category killers: The Home Depot and Toys R Us problem
One of the biggest geographic phenomena across the US in the past 30
years is the disappearance of small specialized stores, including family-owned "mom and pop" stores and unique craft/trade stores.
These individually owned stores which specialize in one or two categories of goods like belts, model cars, radios, etc. have been replaced by "big box" stores known as "category killers" such as Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, Best Buy.
What is a category killer?
A category killer is a store sells pretty much everything i..e all categories in a given market. Toys R Us sells just about everything in terms of toys, so categories like "doll store" and "model train store" go out the window.
The good side is that Toys R Us and Wal Mart sell a lot of things for cheap prices. But there are several downsides:
1. Local ownership declines and profits go to big companies far away not to local owners
2. Local know-how and custom-made, specialized good/trades disappear. For example, let's say there was a very specialized doll store in a town where a very artistic store owner crafted custom-made high-end dolls based on decades of experience and also sold cheaper dolls to keep the business going. Toys R Us comes in and just sells plain vanilla mass-produced dolls but a little cheaper than the small local store, which puts him out of business. As a result, we lose a unique, fine craftsman in exchange for saving a dollar on regular dolls. Meanwhile, that craftsman is less likely to be able to pass on his trade to others, because he no longer can make a living at it. This sort of example has occured all over America -- loss of individual specialized trade shps as stores selling mass-produced good move in.
This is just one example of the idea of "creative destruction" that is inherent to capitalism, coined by Joel Schumpeter. New ideas and technologies are great but we have to remember they destroy established businesses, often too fast for people to adapt.
These individually owned stores which specialize in one or two categories of goods like belts, model cars, radios, etc. have been replaced by "big box" stores known as "category killers" such as Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, Best Buy.
What is a category killer?
A category killer is a store sells pretty much everything i..e all categories in a given market. Toys R Us sells just about everything in terms of toys, so categories like "doll store" and "model train store" go out the window.
The good side is that Toys R Us and Wal Mart sell a lot of things for cheap prices. But there are several downsides:
1. Local ownership declines and profits go to big companies far away not to local owners
2. Local know-how and custom-made, specialized good/trades disappear. For example, let's say there was a very specialized doll store in a town where a very artistic store owner crafted custom-made high-end dolls based on decades of experience and also sold cheaper dolls to keep the business going. Toys R Us comes in and just sells plain vanilla mass-produced dolls but a little cheaper than the small local store, which puts him out of business. As a result, we lose a unique, fine craftsman in exchange for saving a dollar on regular dolls. Meanwhile, that craftsman is less likely to be able to pass on his trade to others, because he no longer can make a living at it. This sort of example has occured all over America -- loss of individual specialized trade shps as stores selling mass-produced good move in.
This is just one example of the idea of "creative destruction" that is inherent to capitalism, coined by Joel Schumpeter. New ideas and technologies are great but we have to remember they destroy established businesses, often too fast for people to adapt.
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