The Geography of future careers is not like the past. This article gives several good principles to consider.
#2 especially makes you ask "OK, so what are the exceptions to that rule?"
#1 includes jobs that are face to face like teaching and nursing that can't be outsourced.
http://www.newgeography.com/content/002656-the-three-laws-future-employment
"The three Laws of Future Employment.
Law #1: People will get jobs doing things that computers can’t do.
Law #2: A global market place will result in lower pay and fewer opportunities for many careers. (But also in cheaper and better products and a higher standard of living for American consumers.)
Law #3: Professional people will more likely be freelancers and less likely to have a steady job."
Monday, June 29, 2015
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Calving icebergs > Greenland earthquakes
How can an iceberg cause a major earthquake? Scientists now have a better understanding.
In Greenland immense icebergs 2 miles long and weighing a gigaton i.e. 1 billion tons are calving (breaking off) from the mainland's glaciers, falling into water. Shaped similarly to a piece of bread, they fall into water vertically then "capsize" i.e. fall over onto their sides. As they capsize, the upper part of the iceberg spins into the mainland glacier jamming it backward inland and reversing its normal forward seaward flow. As a secondary effect the falling iceberg also creates a tsunami. All this energy transfers through mainland glacier into the rocks below, causing an earthquake.
Giant earthquakes are shaking Greenland — and scientists just figured out the disturbing reason whyWashington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/06/25/giant-earthquakes-are-shaking-greenland-and-scientists-just-figured-out-the-disturbing-reason-why/?hpid=z4
"An island of ice breaking away from Greenland’s Petermann Glacier (in the center of the photo) in the summer of 2010."
NASA satellite image
In Greenland immense icebergs 2 miles long and weighing a gigaton i.e. 1 billion tons are calving (breaking off) from the mainland's glaciers, falling into water. Shaped similarly to a piece of bread, they fall into water vertically then "capsize" i.e. fall over onto their sides. As they capsize, the upper part of the iceberg spins into the mainland glacier jamming it backward inland and reversing its normal forward seaward flow. As a secondary effect the falling iceberg also creates a tsunami. All this energy transfers through mainland glacier into the rocks below, causing an earthquake.
Giant earthquakes are shaking Greenland — and scientists just figured out the disturbing reason whyWashington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/06/25/giant-earthquakes-are-shaking-greenland-and-scientists-just-figured-out-the-disturbing-reason-why/?hpid=z4
"An island of ice breaking away from Greenland’s Petermann Glacier (in the center of the photo) in the summer of 2010."
NASA satellite image
Water vapor is a core greenhouse gas with a major role in climate change
Water vapor and CO2 - American Chemical Society
http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/climatescience/climatesciencenarratives/its-water-vapor-not-the-co2.html
Water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas, more abundant that CO2. However, a big outstanding question is whether water vapor has an overall effect of warming or cooling the atmosphere.
This is simply because
-on on hand water vapor as a greenhouse gas warms the atmosphere by trapping heat
-on the other water vapor as clouds reflects some of the sun's incoming radiation which actually cools the atmosphere
The article mentions that scientists are working on determining if these two balance out to either a warming or cooling effect overall.
Positive feedback
There is also a positive feedback effect: if the atmosphere is warming due to greenhouse gases including water vapor then more evaporation takes place, which then by definition puts adds water vapor i.e. greenhouse gases. To put it differently, water vapor as a greenhouse gas contributes to the production of more of itself.
Water vapor qua greenhouse gas > atmospheric warming > increased evaporation > more water vapor > repeat
http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/climatescience/climatesciencenarratives/its-water-vapor-not-the-co2.html
Water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas, more abundant that CO2. However, a big outstanding question is whether water vapor has an overall effect of warming or cooling the atmosphere.
This is simply because
-on on hand water vapor as a greenhouse gas warms the atmosphere by trapping heat
-on the other water vapor as clouds reflects some of the sun's incoming radiation which actually cools the atmosphere
The article mentions that scientists are working on determining if these two balance out to either a warming or cooling effect overall.
Positive feedback
There is also a positive feedback effect: if the atmosphere is warming due to greenhouse gases including water vapor then more evaporation takes place, which then by definition puts adds water vapor i.e. greenhouse gases. To put it differently, water vapor as a greenhouse gas contributes to the production of more of itself.
Water vapor qua greenhouse gas > atmospheric warming > increased evaporation > more water vapor > repeat
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
African currency regions: CFA Franc
African currencies: CFA Franc
The CFA Franc is the common currency of two blocs of mostly French-speaking countries in West Africa and Central Africa.
The Western CFA franc (green below) and Central African CFA franc (red) are guaranteed by the treasury of France. They provide a common currency for these wide swathes of Africa that vary widely in development. The monetary region includes both wealthier countries like fossil fuel hub Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, and Gabon and also extremely poor countries like Central African Republic (CAR), Mali, and Chad.
The CFA Franc is the common currency of two blocs of mostly French-speaking countries in West Africa and Central Africa.
The Western CFA franc (green below) and Central African CFA franc (red) are guaranteed by the treasury of France. They provide a common currency for these wide swathes of Africa that vary widely in development. The monetary region includes both wealthier countries like fossil fuel hub Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, and Gabon and also extremely poor countries like Central African Republic (CAR), Mali, and Chad.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Flying in to Everest Base Camp
Why do planes taking tourists to Nepal to visit Mount Everest keep on crashing?
by Ed Douglas, Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-2296381/Everest-danger-Why-planes-taking-tourists-Nepal-climb-mountain-crashing.html
-The runway is 60 feet wide
-If you "undershoot and you plough into the steep hillside beneath."
-If you "overshoot and you crash into the hillside at its end."
-"Because the bottom of the runway is lower than the top, pilots suffer spatial disorientation, with their aircraft lower than they think..."
-Flights are almost always overloaded with baggage due to bribes and short loading time windows
"Landing at Lukla airport in the outskirts of the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu is tricky. Just 1,500ft long and only 60ft wide, the runway ends in a blank mountain wall and has an uphill gradient of 12 per cent."
by Ed Douglas, Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-2296381/Everest-danger-Why-planes-taking-tourists-Nepal-climb-mountain-crashing.html
-The runway is 60 feet wide
-If you "undershoot and you plough into the steep hillside beneath."
-If you "overshoot and you crash into the hillside at its end."
-"Because the bottom of the runway is lower than the top, pilots suffer spatial disorientation, with their aircraft lower than they think..."
-Flights are almost always overloaded with baggage due to bribes and short loading time windows
"Landing at Lukla airport in the outskirts of the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu is tricky. Just 1,500ft long and only 60ft wide, the runway ends in a blank mountain wall and has an uphill gradient of 12 per cent."
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Wild Assam in northeast India
The remote protruded arm of northeast India contains several states centering on Assam, the state straddling the Brahmaputra River. Assam lies in the foothills of the Himalayas not far from China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Bhutan.
While it has long been culturally disconnected from the rest of India, Assam contains many wild areas as well as tea plantations like its neighbor Darjeeling.
Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary holds the last remaining pristine rainforest in Assam. Leopards, tigers, and King Cobras are some of the many wild animals that can be found there.
http://assamforest.in/NP_Sanctuaries/wls_dPatkai.php
Kaziranga National Park lies on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra River and holds 2/3 of the world's Indian rhinoceroses also known as one-horned rhinoceroses.
Kaziranga National Park
Assam: India's little known land - The Telegraph
by Trevor Fishlock
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/india/2798965/Assam-Indias-little-known-land.html
Monday, June 1, 2015
Conflicting claims over the new Northwest Passage
Who owns Arctic waters, especially the Northwest Passage that runs across the length of Arctic North America?
This question has become much more relevant since ice has started melting in the Northwest Passage long enough to open a potential global shipping route that could re-route oil tankers and other world cargo ships.
The answer depends on who you ask. A Canadian company wants to claim historical rights via a sunken ship the Erebus.
How a 19th century shipwreck could give Canada control of the Arctic
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-05-20/how-the-hms-erebus-shipwreck-could-secure-canada-s-arctic-control
"In 2013 the MS Nordic Orion, a Norwegian freighter, made the first cargo transit of the Northwest Passage. That trip, which carried coal from Vancouver to Norway, hasn’t been repeated. But it raised an unanswered question in maritime law: Who really controls the waters of the route and the rest of Canada’s Arctic archipelago, which consists of more than 30,000 islands?"
The Northwest Passage
This question has become much more relevant since ice has started melting in the Northwest Passage long enough to open a potential global shipping route that could re-route oil tankers and other world cargo ships.
The answer depends on who you ask. A Canadian company wants to claim historical rights via a sunken ship the Erebus.
How a 19th century shipwreck could give Canada control of the Arctic
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-05-20/how-the-hms-erebus-shipwreck-could-secure-canada-s-arctic-control
"In 2013 the MS Nordic Orion, a Norwegian freighter, made the first cargo transit of the Northwest Passage. That trip, which carried coal from Vancouver to Norway, hasn’t been repeated. But it raised an unanswered question in maritime law: Who really controls the waters of the route and the rest of Canada’s Arctic archipelago, which consists of more than 30,000 islands?"
The Northwest Passage
Water World
Very good radio panel on world water issues.
Water World
https://soundcloud.com/climateone/cd-version-episode-2015-3-water-world
Water World
https://soundcloud.com/climateone/cd-version-episode-2015-3-water-world
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