trend behind China-Africa relations

This article makes a good big picture observation which gets at the heart of the new affinity between Africa (or at least its leaders) and China:

China is now funding projects all over Africa and is accepted largely because its money comes no strings attached. They do not require any environmental or labor improvements.

Western aid, however, does--which many would say is a good thing. But many of Africa's governments are corrupt and happy to take the money now from China rather than plan the future wisely.

"African governments beleaguered by the conditions that come with aid, such as abiding labor and environmental standards, have found a deep-pocketed alternative source of capital in China -- a source willing to let them run their countries as they see fit."

What the Kenya railroad project says about China's approach to Africa
International Business Times
http://www.ibtimes.com/what-kenya-railroad-says-about-chinas-approach-africa-1583863

Luke Nguyen's Vietnam

Australian show by cook Luke Nguyen.

Luke Nguyen's Vietnam
http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/lukenguyen

New Mexico is the driest of the dry Southwest US region

This article claims the entire state of New Mexico is in a drought. Its neighbors Arizona and Nevada are not far behind, with a host of water issues of their own.

The sunny US southwest has exploded with development in the last 50 years as suburban sprawl has taken root in desert and semi-desert climates thanks to air conditioning and the pumping of groundwater from aquifers. However, the aquifers (notably the Ogallala aquifer) are drying up fast and only renew themselves over thousands of years, hence the name "fossil water."

This region is a good example of man's short-term success in overcoming the challenges of climate through technology while lacking a long-term vision that would make these regions sustainable.

New Mexico is the driest of the dry
by Julie Cart
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3544453973261662672#overview/src=dashboard

How geospatial analytics is helping hunt the LRA and al-Shabab

Following Kenya Wildlife Service rangers

This video follows rangers of Kenya Wildlife Service who are armed with automatic weapons to protect elephants and rhinos from poachers.

http://news.yahoo.com/cartel-inside-kenya-fueling-rhino-poaching-deaths-130559373.html

Great short video about the polar vortex

The polar vortex is a spinning mass of cold air in the upper atmosphere which hangs out usually in polar latitudes but during winter can expand down into the midlatitudes where we live and even split into multiple vortexes.

The polar vortex is really just the air returning toward the poles from the polar front within the polar cell, spinning because of the Coriolis effect.

What is the polar vortex?
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/short-film-showcase/140418-polar-vortex-evt

The tropics are getting bigger, hurricanes reaching farther north

New study shows that the tropical Trade Winds which bring hurricanes are spreading over a wider area and therefore moving farther northward toward the midlatitudes. It is due to the expansion of the Hadley Cell, of which the Trade Winds are a part.

Ground breaking study: Hurricanes reaching peak strength farther north as globe warms, tropics expand
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/05/14/ground-breaking-study-hurricanes-reaching-peak-strength-farther-north-as-globe-warms-tropics-expand/

India's new PM has a vision for the future inspired by China

Narendra Modi is India's new PM, which sounds like an incredibly difficult task.

India will soon be the world's largest population by around 2025 and yet contains 1/3 of the world's most impoverished people. To make matters more complex, this gargantuan population speaks a vast variety of languages across the country, and 1/2 of the towns in India cannot be accessed by a car.

India has one third of world's poorest, says World Bank
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10003228/India-has-one-third-of-worlds-poorest-says-World-Bank.html

Narendra Modi dreams of bullet trains and new cities. Can he succeed?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/indias-likely-new-leader-narendra-modi-promises-economic-success-can-he-deliver/2014/05/14/d27864ac-daca-11e3-8009-71de85b9c527_story.html?hpid=z9

US most gerrymandered Congressional districts

Gerrymander is alive and well in America. The "compactness" vs. "irregularity" of the shape of a district is used as the measure of Gerrymandered-ness. Districts with lots of "squiggles...offshoots and tentacle-like protuberances" are scored highest on the gerrmander scale this author uses.

Maryland and North Carolina rank at the top of the list as most gerrymandered.

America's most gerrymandered Congressional districtsby Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/05/15/americas-most-gerrymandered-congressional-districts/?hpid=z1

Qatar

Qatar has the world's highest per capita GDP but some Qatari citizens say they are "crowded out" by foreigners, who outnumber citizens. A similar situation exists in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Qatar: Tiny country asserts powerful influence - 60 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_ZuXbOtBbo

Affluent Qataris Seek What Money Cannot Buyby Michael Slackman, NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/world/middleeast/14qatar.html?_r=3&

Keeping track of China's megaprojects

China's megaprojects are so numerous they are hard to keep track of sometimes. Here is a list in progress:

domestic:
-moving large populations to the western Uyghur regions
-creating new cities from scratch including the world's largest city
-world's fastest train (completed)
-world's largest dam (completed - Three Gorges Dam)
-loess plateau watershed rehabilitation project
-destruction of the hutongs ancient dense urban neighborhoods
-south to north water diversion project - largest water pipeline project in history
-You could throw in the ancient Grand Canal

foreign:
-building new East African Railway
-hydroelectric dams across SE Asia ex. Cambodia
-"string of pearls" bases, routes, and ports to control trade across southern Asia
-new silk road across Central Asia
-Nicaraguan canal - twice size of Panama canal
-natural resource extraction all over Africa

future:
-world's longest undersea tunnel - Dalian to Yanti
-potential undersea train to America, crossing Bering Strait to Alaska

America's dwindling water supply

The amount of water Americans use every day is staggering. In particular, certain areas like Arizona built in natural deserts have used up huge percentages of their underground aquifers, which are non-renewable "fossil water."

CBS News: America's Dwindling Water Supply
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/americas-dwindling-water-supply/

Good explanation of hotspot volcanic processes

This video by the IRIS consortium does a good job of explaining clearly the details of how hotspot volcanoes form.

What is a hotspot?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhSaE0omw9o

Fargo, North Dakota

Fargo, ND "has been enjoying a sutained boom for over a decade" and now has 200,000 people. It is one of many midwestern farm towns that has re-invented itself including industry and technology.

No Joke: It couldn't get much better in Fargo
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2014/04/11/no-joke-it-couldnt-get-much-better-in-fargo/

See also Kotkin's book The Next Hundred Million.

Red Cross logistics in Haiti

After the 2010 earthquake logistics are extremely challenging in Haiti: getting supplies and food across rubble, muddy roads, busted landscapes.

American Red Cross in Haiti
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GclgheBsnbA