If you have seen Buddha statues before, you may be wondering about why they look the way they do and why some are fat while others are not.
This site gives a good explanation. One key point it mentions is that Mahayana Buddha statues can be of people besides just the original Buddha, whereas in Theravada they usually only show the original Buddha himself.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2714/why-do-statues-of-buddha-have-long-earlobes
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Mercury in inland regions of China linked to rice, not fish
In the book Collapse, Jared Diamond notes that the average Chinese person has a blood mercury level twice that which is considered toxic. This has usually been attributed to China's high-fish diet.
In fish, high mercury levels are the result of the methylmercury found in coal that is blown into the air from smokestacks in coal-fired factories and energy plants. The mercury then blows out over the ocean and when it rains enters the sea, where it is absorbed by fish. It is especially high in big fish because they eat smaller fish and absorb all their mercury. When humans eat fish, they are also eating the mercury that fish has eaten.
But now researchers have found that some of the worst mercury-regions of China may be due to eating rice, not fish. The root cause, however, is the same: rainfall carrying the mercury down into rice paddies.
Mercury Surprise: Rice can be risky
from Science News
https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/science-public/mercury-surprise-rice-can-be-risky
2010 Study:
In Inland China, Rice, Rather than Fish, Is the Major Pathway for Methylmercury Exposure
by Zhang et al from Environmental Health Perspectives
In fish, high mercury levels are the result of the methylmercury found in coal that is blown into the air from smokestacks in coal-fired factories and energy plants. The mercury then blows out over the ocean and when it rains enters the sea, where it is absorbed by fish. It is especially high in big fish because they eat smaller fish and absorb all their mercury. When humans eat fish, they are also eating the mercury that fish has eaten.
But now researchers have found that some of the worst mercury-regions of China may be due to eating rice, not fish. The root cause, however, is the same: rainfall carrying the mercury down into rice paddies.
Mercury Surprise: Rice can be risky
from Science News
https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/science-public/mercury-surprise-rice-can-be-risky
2010 Study:
In Inland China, Rice, Rather than Fish, Is the Major Pathway for Methylmercury Exposure
by Zhang et al from Environmental Health Perspectives
Rice paddies in China have more than rice
Chinese rice paddies are increasingly used to farm fish, ducks, crawfish and eels, among other things. This has been done since ancient times but is making a resurgence due to the benefits of not having to use artificial fertilizers and pesticides. The fish and ducks eat insects and also their waste fertilizes the paddies in a symbiotic relationship.
Rice-duck Farming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVL0Ku6iodM
Rice-fish farming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejP1VflTZ4A
article
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/food/2012-02/22/content_15733045.htm
Saturday, April 19, 2014
The Baltic region
Spotlight on the Baltic Region
The Baltic Sea region is a key developing region today. It includes some Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark) which are extremely prosperous and high tech and meanwhile the "Baltic States" Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are enthusiastically bouncing back since the end of communism at the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. See this video about Estonia's tech industry and Skype.
Estonia's hi-tech haven: from Skype to scooters
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-26255966
If you look in the news right now, you will see the Baltic states on the front page: pundits are discussing whether Russia could conceivably launch an invasion into the Baltic States to try to bring them back under Russian influence. However, unlike Ukraine, the Baltics are part of NATO which means that any attack on them would be considered an attack on the US, so a Russian invasion there seems unlikely. Personally, I find the Baltic Sea region to be a very interesting place that I would like to visit because it is so dynamic, people are moving forward and are happy to be free and able to own their own businesses since communism and yet also have ancient traditions as well.
Take a long time to look over the maps in the book around the Baltic region. Maps include all kinds of lessons. If you notice, St. Petersburg, Russia (by far Russia's nicest city) is also on the Baltic, and it has a strong trade relationship with EU ports like Helsinki, Stockholm, and Gdansk. And read in the textbook about the role of Copenhagen as an entrepôt -- you cannot go in or out of the Baltic from the North Sea and Atlantic without going through tiny straits around Denmark, and this has made Copenhagen one of the world's busiest ports.
You can also find a Geographic oddity on the Baltic coast: Kaliningrad, a little chunk of Russia that is separated from the rest of the country. The term for this is an "exclave" (as opposed to an enclave).
Poland and Germany have major ports on the Baltic, and today Germany exports its high-tech goods to all the Baltic countries. Germany has the third largest export economy in the world, sending its products out literally in all directions over the oceans and its many rivers. Meanwhile, in the shipyards of Poland's largest port Gdansk (see map) the Solidarity Movement was formed in 1980, uniting 1/3 of Poland's workforce in the first free trade union in the Soviet Union, which was a step toward the fall of communism in 1991.
The Baltic Sea is actually an estuary i.e. where rivers meet ocean, and thus has brackish i.e. semi-salty water. Roughly 45% of the sea freezes over each winter.
In the Middle Ages, the Baltic was the location of a major European trade organization called the Hanseatic League.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Has Dubai escaped the resource curse?
Dubai and the resource curseCountries that strike it rich with some natural resource often end up worse because of corruption and mismanagement of the wealth.
Here's a solid explanation of the Resource Curse and one suggestion for fixing it:
Oil to Cash: Fighting the Resource Curse through Cash Transfers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8f7MSOLMRk
Has Dubai, a city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) managed to escape the resource curse?
Using oil money to start a world-class airline
Dubai managed to use its oil wealth to start a major airline, Emirates, which now ranks among the world's best and largest airlines. They took advantage of Dubai's relative location at the middle of the peopled world, between eastern and western worlds. Dubai now serves a hub for direct international flights all over the globe.
For example, on my flight back from Kenya, I was heading to Dubai to get an Emirates flight direct Dubai to DC, but the guy sitting next to me was headed for an Emirates flight Dubai to Perth, Australia on the other side of the globe. In Dubai Airport there are literally people from all over the world, it's hard to imagine a more international airport.
Creating a new tourist destination from scratch in the desert
In fact, Dubai has totally transformed itself from an oil-only economy so that now its top 2 industries are airlines and tourism with oil & gas being only 5% of Dubai's economy today.
In Dubai over 80% of the buildings were built in the last 10 years. These include the world's highest density of 5-star hotels. Because Dubai is always warm, it is a year-round beach resort and has a slew of water parks. In fact, Dubai is so hot some pools artificially cool the water rather than warm it. It is also very safe.
This is the country with indoor skiing in a mall, the famous artificial Palm Islands, and the world's tallest building, and the Burj-Al-Arab floating hotel.
The price of development
But there is a flip side to Dubai's development. In Dubai foreign expatriates make up 85% of the population, people from all over the world but especially from Islamic countries like India, Pakistan, and Malaysia. They do construction, man the hotels, malls and food courts, drive the taxis, etc. So traces of native culture on the street are few and far between. Meanwhile, may of Dubai's major corporations have European and Ango-world executives. Emirates airlines, for example, lists among its Senior Management Team execs from Britain, France, and New Zealand.
There is also lot (an understatement) of extravagant waste and spending in Dubai, too. In a 5 hour layover, I saw a Ferrari, 2 Lamborghinis, and a Maserati, more luxury cars than I've seen in the past 5 years in DC. Dubai has countless high-end luxury shops as well and they are not just for visitors. So there are traces of the resource curse and plenty of wasted money by elites...
Environmental sustainability
Dubai suffers from many of the same sustainability issues affecting American suburbia. Like suburban sprawl, Dubai is unwalkable. Sure there are artificial waterfront walkways downtown, but Dubai on the whole is a place where you have to drive everywhere, buildings are extremely spread out--which ties the whole economy back to oil. It's a city of skyscrapers and malls with lots of space between them. Taxi drivers must make a killing in Dubai. Of course UAE has no shortage of oil--a gallon goes for around $2--but sooner or later the oil will run out.
In addition, Dubai's desert location poses many problems. It has to desalinize huge amounts of water from the ocean, which is very costly. Moreover, the hundreds of skyscrapers in Dubai are built on sand, not the ideal foundation.
My friend Matt Ferraton now teaches in Turkmenistan just finished a blog entry about his 6 days in Dubai.
Six days in Dubai
http://burnuptheroad.blogspot.com/2014/03/six-days-in-dubai.html
See
Can Dubai ever be sustainable?
by Leon Kaye, The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/dubai-sustainability-inspiration-city
For longer description of Dubai's issues see
Green Metropolis book by David Owen, NY Times writer
Here's a solid explanation of the Resource Curse and one suggestion for fixing it:
Oil to Cash: Fighting the Resource Curse through Cash Transfers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8f7MSOLMRk
Has Dubai, a city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) managed to escape the resource curse?
Using oil money to start a world-class airline
Dubai managed to use its oil wealth to start a major airline, Emirates, which now ranks among the world's best and largest airlines. They took advantage of Dubai's relative location at the middle of the peopled world, between eastern and western worlds. Dubai now serves a hub for direct international flights all over the globe.
For example, on my flight back from Kenya, I was heading to Dubai to get an Emirates flight direct Dubai to DC, but the guy sitting next to me was headed for an Emirates flight Dubai to Perth, Australia on the other side of the globe. In Dubai Airport there are literally people from all over the world, it's hard to imagine a more international airport.
Creating a new tourist destination from scratch in the desert
In fact, Dubai has totally transformed itself from an oil-only economy so that now its top 2 industries are airlines and tourism with oil & gas being only 5% of Dubai's economy today.
In Dubai over 80% of the buildings were built in the last 10 years. These include the world's highest density of 5-star hotels. Because Dubai is always warm, it is a year-round beach resort and has a slew of water parks. In fact, Dubai is so hot some pools artificially cool the water rather than warm it. It is also very safe.
This is the country with indoor skiing in a mall, the famous artificial Palm Islands, and the world's tallest building, and the Burj-Al-Arab floating hotel.
The price of development
But there is a flip side to Dubai's development. In Dubai foreign expatriates make up 85% of the population, people from all over the world but especially from Islamic countries like India, Pakistan, and Malaysia. They do construction, man the hotels, malls and food courts, drive the taxis, etc. So traces of native culture on the street are few and far between. Meanwhile, may of Dubai's major corporations have European and Ango-world executives. Emirates airlines, for example, lists among its Senior Management Team execs from Britain, France, and New Zealand.
There is also lot (an understatement) of extravagant waste and spending in Dubai, too. In a 5 hour layover, I saw a Ferrari, 2 Lamborghinis, and a Maserati, more luxury cars than I've seen in the past 5 years in DC. Dubai has countless high-end luxury shops as well and they are not just for visitors. So there are traces of the resource curse and plenty of wasted money by elites...
Environmental sustainability
Dubai suffers from many of the same sustainability issues affecting American suburbia. Like suburban sprawl, Dubai is unwalkable. Sure there are artificial waterfront walkways downtown, but Dubai on the whole is a place where you have to drive everywhere, buildings are extremely spread out--which ties the whole economy back to oil. It's a city of skyscrapers and malls with lots of space between them. Taxi drivers must make a killing in Dubai. Of course UAE has no shortage of oil--a gallon goes for around $2--but sooner or later the oil will run out.
In addition, Dubai's desert location poses many problems. It has to desalinize huge amounts of water from the ocean, which is very costly. Moreover, the hundreds of skyscrapers in Dubai are built on sand, not the ideal foundation.
My friend Matt Ferraton now teaches in Turkmenistan just finished a blog entry about his 6 days in Dubai.
Six days in Dubai
http://burnuptheroad.blogspot.com/2014/03/six-days-in-dubai.html
See
Can Dubai ever be sustainable?
by Leon Kaye, The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/dubai-sustainability-inspiration-city
For longer description of Dubai's issues see
Green Metropolis book by David Owen, NY Times writer
Wide range of effects of losing wolves in Yellowstone
Yellowstone's last wolf was dead by the 1930s. The wolf, one of America's flagship species, became locally extinct here as Americans shot hundreds of thousands of them.
The effects of losing wolves have been widespread: loss of new Aspen trees, streamside willows even beavers and dams.
"A wolf kill is not an ending but a beginning. Every wolf kill becomes kind of a small epicenter of animal activity; ravens, magpies, coyotes bald eagles, golden eagles...grizzly bears, even black bears. These kills are extremely important to the ecological community of Yellowstone."
-Doug Smith
A great example of a keystone species.
The importance of predators, the Yellowstone case
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAGEXDlUHDE
The effects of losing wolves have been widespread: loss of new Aspen trees, streamside willows even beavers and dams.
"A wolf kill is not an ending but a beginning. Every wolf kill becomes kind of a small epicenter of animal activity; ravens, magpies, coyotes bald eagles, golden eagles...grizzly bears, even black bears. These kills are extremely important to the ecological community of Yellowstone."
-Doug Smith
A great example of a keystone species.
The importance of predators, the Yellowstone case
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAGEXDlUHDE
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
MLA Language Map
The Modern Language Association, the same one that publishes the guidelines for grammar, also has published a great online interactive map of Languages in the US.
The Modern Language Association Language Map
http://arcgis.mla.org/mla/default.aspx
The Modern Language Association Language Map
http://arcgis.mla.org/mla/default.aspx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)