Great column by George Will on what's at stake with the Brexit referendum coming up. The EU was a nice idea which, without question, does a lot of good today. It makes trade smoother and runs the ERASMUS exchange program. But the EU has overstepped boundaries into areas in which individual countries need to remain sovereign, respecting the differences of each unique European country. Britain is one of the most "Eurosceptic" countries in Europe today. Others may follow if it breaks away.
The ‘Brexit’ referendum is the most important vote in Europe in a half-century
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-potential-brexit-is-65-years-in-the-making/2016/05/25/1c684318-21d0-11e6-9e7f-57890b612299_story.html
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Egypt's black Nubians could finally be returning to their homelands
Egypt's black Nubians could finally be returning to their homelands. About one percent of Egypt is black, the ancient Nubians who are natives of southern Egypt and across into northern Sudan. This article explains how around 50,000 Nubians were displaced from their homelands along the Nile by several dam projects since the 1960s, including the massive Aswan Dam, which flooded their ancestral lands.
Just recently, however, a national referendum included a measure for the Nubians to return to their original homelands:
"Egypt's new constitution, which passed earlier this month with 98 percent of the vote in a controversial referendum, pledges 'to bring back the residents of [Egyptian] Nubia to their original areas and develop them within ten years.'"
Changing Egypt Offers Hope to Long-Marginalized Nubians
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140131-egypt-nubia-dams-nile-constitution-culture/
This is one potential positive result from the tumultuous aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring, which, as yet, never really ended.
Just recently, however, a national referendum included a measure for the Nubians to return to their original homelands:
"Egypt's new constitution, which passed earlier this month with 98 percent of the vote in a controversial referendum, pledges 'to bring back the residents of [Egyptian] Nubia to their original areas and develop them within ten years.'"
Changing Egypt Offers Hope to Long-Marginalized Nubians
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140131-egypt-nubia-dams-nile-constitution-culture/
This is one potential positive result from the tumultuous aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring, which, as yet, never really ended.
Chasing Ice: largest glacier calving ever filmed
Whoa. Largest glacier calving (breaking off) ever filmed. Ice calving along faces 300-400 feet tall into the ocean to create icebergs.
Chasing Ice - episode 17
https://www.youtube.com/embed/hC3VTgIPoGU?rel=0
Equivalent in size to the entire southern end of Manhattan breaking off.
Part of the documentary Chasing Ice
https://chasingice.com/
Chasing Ice - episode 17
https://www.youtube.com/embed/hC3VTgIPoGU?rel=0
Equivalent in size to the entire southern end of Manhattan breaking off.
Part of the documentary Chasing Ice
https://chasingice.com/
Teaching in Micronesia
Teaching in Micronesia - WorldTeach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2daPSMtq5Os
Would you do it for a year or two? This guy worked on the island of Pohnpei, population 34,000.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2daPSMtq5Os
Would you do it for a year or two? This guy worked on the island of Pohnpei, population 34,000.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
DNA shows some South American tribes are actually descended from Pacific Islanders
It has always baffled me how, in a relatively short span of human history, humans crossed the Bering Strait and then traveled southward through North America, down through Mexico, through Central America, and then through the Amazon and Andes to reach Patagonia.
But it turns out that not all the tribes in South America arrived this way.
DNA shows some South American tribes are actually descended from Pacific Islanders i.e. they floated over to South America from Polynesian islands. One of those tribes is the Surui, the same tribe that have been publicized for working with Google to preserve their homeland.
It makes intuitive sense that Polynesians could float over--hey, if they could make it to French Polynesia or Easter Island, they could make it all the way to South America. And they certainly look physically similar. It marks a second founding group that "discovered" the Americas thousands of years before Columbus, in addition to the First Americans who are thought to have crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia.
Genetic studies link indigenous peoples in the Amazon and Australasia
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150721134827.htm
"We've done a lot of sampling in East Asia and nobody looks like this," said Skoglund. "It's an unknown group that doesn't exist anymore."
"About 2 percent of the ancestry of Amazonians today comes from this Australasian lineage that's not present in the same way elsewhere in the Americas," said Reich.
But it turns out that not all the tribes in South America arrived this way.
DNA shows some South American tribes are actually descended from Pacific Islanders i.e. they floated over to South America from Polynesian islands. One of those tribes is the Surui, the same tribe that have been publicized for working with Google to preserve their homeland.
It makes intuitive sense that Polynesians could float over--hey, if they could make it to French Polynesia or Easter Island, they could make it all the way to South America. And they certainly look physically similar. It marks a second founding group that "discovered" the Americas thousands of years before Columbus, in addition to the First Americans who are thought to have crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia.
Genetic studies link indigenous peoples in the Amazon and Australasia
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150721134827.htm
"We've done a lot of sampling in East Asia and nobody looks like this," said Skoglund. "It's an unknown group that doesn't exist anymore."
"About 2 percent of the ancestry of Amazonians today comes from this Australasian lineage that's not present in the same way elsewhere in the Americas," said Reich.
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Telling stats comparing suburban density in US vs the rest of the world
This page of stats speaks volumes about the huge difference in density between US suburbs vs. the rest of the world.
Suburban, Core & Urban Densities by Area: Western Europe, Japan, United States, Canada, Australia & New Zealand
http://www.demographia.com/db-intlsub.htm
Of note:
-US suburbs are less than half the density of Japanese suburbs and less than one third the density of UK suburbs.
-US is the world leader in low suburban density.
-US urban areas are just over 25% as dense as Japanese urban areas and less than 1/3 the density of UK suburbs.
On a 2014 trip to Japan, I noticed that many of the suburbs of Tokyo feel much denser than the downtown areas of many US cities.
Suburban, Core & Urban Densities by Area: Western Europe, Japan, United States, Canada, Australia & New Zealand
http://www.demographia.com/db-intlsub.htm
Of note:
-US suburbs are less than half the density of Japanese suburbs and less than one third the density of UK suburbs.
-US is the world leader in low suburban density.
-US urban areas are just over 25% as dense as Japanese urban areas and less than 1/3 the density of UK suburbs.
On a 2014 trip to Japan, I noticed that many of the suburbs of Tokyo feel much denser than the downtown areas of many US cities.
Sunday, May 22, 2016
DC housing growth is actually underdeveloped overall, despite condos and gentrification
The lion's share of DCs new housing growth is only going in one part of the city
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/27633/the-lions-share-of-dcs-new-housing-is-only-going-in-one-part-of-the-city/
This article explains how, ironically, much of DCs housing is underdeveloped and below city planners' projections, despite the boom of new condos and gentrification in the city core that most visitors see. This planner Payton Chung says that the vast majority of the new housing in DC is located in just two core areas, while the rest of DC has been neglected.
This is verified each time I take a spin around DC in the car. As soon as you leave the core with its endless condos, flipped old townhouses, and newly-named old neighborhoods, you quickly see a switch--often starting just a block or two outside the core--to old underdeveloped neighborhoods that stretch around the the rest of DC to the periphery.
This helps to explain why DC housing is so unaffordable. In general, affordable housing--including regular middle class affordable--has to be built further out on the periphery where land is cheaper. So if all the development takes place in the core only, it is a virtual guarantee that none of it will be affordable.
Bottom line: there is great untapped potential to rejuvenate whole neighborhoods in DC beyond the core with affordable housing.
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/27633/the-lions-share-of-dcs-new-housing-is-only-going-in-one-part-of-the-city/
This article explains how, ironically, much of DCs housing is underdeveloped and below city planners' projections, despite the boom of new condos and gentrification in the city core that most visitors see. This planner Payton Chung says that the vast majority of the new housing in DC is located in just two core areas, while the rest of DC has been neglected.
This is verified each time I take a spin around DC in the car. As soon as you leave the core with its endless condos, flipped old townhouses, and newly-named old neighborhoods, you quickly see a switch--often starting just a block or two outside the core--to old underdeveloped neighborhoods that stretch around the the rest of DC to the periphery.
This helps to explain why DC housing is so unaffordable. In general, affordable housing--including regular middle class affordable--has to be built further out on the periphery where land is cheaper. So if all the development takes place in the core only, it is a virtual guarantee that none of it will be affordable.
Bottom line: there is great untapped potential to rejuvenate whole neighborhoods in DC beyond the core with affordable housing.
Friday, May 6, 2016
Children of Syria
Children of Syria - PBS Frontline
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/children-of-syria/
This video shows so many of the elements of human migration: push factors, pull factors, intervening obstacles, and transit countries. What a vivid illustration of the process of migration and the decisions and issues the migrants face.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/children-of-syria/
This video shows so many of the elements of human migration: push factors, pull factors, intervening obstacles, and transit countries. What a vivid illustration of the process of migration and the decisions and issues the migrants face.
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