Bitcoin in cold Tibet
The bizarre world of bitcoin ‘mining’ finds a new home in Tibet - Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-chinas-tibetan-highlands-the-bizarre-world-of-bitcoin-mining-finds-a-new-home/2016/09/12/7729cbea-657e-11e6-b4d8-33e931b5a26d_story.html
more server farms in polar regions of Scandinavia
Scandinavian countries are attractive sites for server farms - PRI The World
http://www.pri.org/stories/2012-06-01/scandinavian-countries-are-attractive-sites-server-farms
Inside Facebook's green and clean arctic data centre - BBC
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-22879160
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Interersting conversation with a US consulate worker on Mexican border
I bumped into a US consulate worker today in Tyson's Wal Mart of all places. He had worked previously in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on the border across from El Paso, TX, I saw the offical insignia on his polo shirt and starting asking questions. Ciudad Juarez was in 2010 the world's murder capital but has made a turnaround since then.
He had some very interesting perspectives:
-Border walls are often easy to climb. Some drug cartels bring trucks with ladders. Some guys can just jump up and climb over in a matter of "seconds." There is no barbed wire or electrification so there is no reason not to give it a try, other than the risk of getting caught.
-Mexican students "in the hundreds" are picked up on the border by US schoolbuses every day to go to US schools. Many come from far away, some getting up at 3 am to travel to the border then get picked up and go to school. They are either US citizens by virtue of being born in US hospitals or have some other legal right to US education.
-We talked about how border security has vastly improved in the last 5-10 years. Obama rarely talks about it, but there has been a major increase in US enforcement of border laws and protections.
-His biggest suggestion to curb illegal migration is to fine US employers $100,000 for each illegal worker they hire. Makes sense to me, that would reduce the magnet for illegal workers to come over direct the punishment toward the US companies who would have a lot to lose.
When I asked what he was doing here, interestingly the consulate worker said he was studying Hungarian because his next post is in Budapest. I told him that, in a way, that's another border region, the border between the EU and non-EU. Hungary and Serbia share a long border that marks the end of the EU, and there is a 109-mile Hungarian Border Barrier i.e. a fence with Serbia. This border has been a major issue with the mass migrant influx from Syria.
He had some very interesting perspectives:
-Border walls are often easy to climb. Some drug cartels bring trucks with ladders. Some guys can just jump up and climb over in a matter of "seconds." There is no barbed wire or electrification so there is no reason not to give it a try, other than the risk of getting caught.
-Mexican students "in the hundreds" are picked up on the border by US schoolbuses every day to go to US schools. Many come from far away, some getting up at 3 am to travel to the border then get picked up and go to school. They are either US citizens by virtue of being born in US hospitals or have some other legal right to US education.
-We talked about how border security has vastly improved in the last 5-10 years. Obama rarely talks about it, but there has been a major increase in US enforcement of border laws and protections.
-His biggest suggestion to curb illegal migration is to fine US employers $100,000 for each illegal worker they hire. Makes sense to me, that would reduce the magnet for illegal workers to come over direct the punishment toward the US companies who would have a lot to lose.
When I asked what he was doing here, interestingly the consulate worker said he was studying Hungarian because his next post is in Budapest. I told him that, in a way, that's another border region, the border between the EU and non-EU. Hungary and Serbia share a long border that marks the end of the EU, and there is a 109-mile Hungarian Border Barrier i.e. a fence with Serbia. This border has been a major issue with the mass migrant influx from Syria.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
USC helping preserve Atayal tribal language in Taiwan
Cool program sending university students and faculty to the rural mountain regions of Taiwan to help learn and preserve an endangered language Atayal. Part of USC's Problems Without Passports program.
Taiwan is a super-dense island country yet still has major rural areas in its mountainous interior with tribes.
Saving an Endangered Language - USC Dornsife
https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/1219/saving-an-endangered-language/
Taiwan is a super-dense island country yet still has major rural areas in its mountainous interior with tribes.
Saving an Endangered Language - USC Dornsife
https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/1219/saving-an-endangered-language/
Pennsylvania natural gas is #3--in the world
Heard on the news this morning that if Pennsylvania was a country it would be the #3 gas producer in the world. This map shows the gas is all in the western part of the state which lies in the Appalachians, stretching out from Pittsburgh. This is the Marcellus Shale region, which is by far the largest natural gas producing region in the US and one of the top five natural gas fields in the world.
Notice on this map below of US natural gas pipelines that there is a major cluster in western Pennsylvania along with its neighbor West Virginia.
Saturday, August 27, 2016
What's up at the poles
This video discusses both myths and recommendations for the polar regions.
Laurence Smith is also author of The World in 2050 an excellent book which I used a few years ago in a class I made up called Geography of the Future.
Laurence Smith at the Arctic Circle 2014 Conference
https://vimeo.com/111328012
Laurence Smith is also author of The World in 2050 an excellent book which I used a few years ago in a class I made up called Geography of the Future.
Laurence Smith at the Arctic Circle 2014 Conference
https://vimeo.com/111328012
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Big time
Occured to me in the car: add up
Big Energy (oil, gas, coal)
Big Ag (Monsanta, Cargill, etc.)
Big Pharma (Pfizer, Roche, etc.)
Big Auto (GM, Ford) +
= what % of our economy?
Also add Big Telecom (Verizon, Sprint, etc.), Big Food (Nabisco, Nestle) and Big Ed--the massive education industry in which most of the money goes to administrators, not to teachers.
But a lesson from Seth Godin: if you want to compete as a small guy entrepreneur, there's room if you do something the big guys don't/can't. Ex.:
-be a middleman for some smaller-market product like import/export
-set up in smaller market where the big guys don't go
-provide a customized product or service beyond what the cookie-cutter world of mass production can
Big Energy (oil, gas, coal)
Big Ag (Monsanta, Cargill, etc.)
Big Pharma (Pfizer, Roche, etc.)
Big Auto (GM, Ford) +
= what % of our economy?
Also add Big Telecom (Verizon, Sprint, etc.), Big Food (Nabisco, Nestle) and Big Ed--the massive education industry in which most of the money goes to administrators, not to teachers.
But a lesson from Seth Godin: if you want to compete as a small guy entrepreneur, there's room if you do something the big guys don't/can't. Ex.:
-be a middleman for some smaller-market product like import/export
-set up in smaller market where the big guys don't go
-provide a customized product or service beyond what the cookie-cutter world of mass production can
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Japan in Cambodia
Japan is investing in high quality infrastructure in Cambodia. Amid the rush to modernize in Asia, quality is often left by the wayside, with long term consequences. The video mentions that Japanese projects are sometimes thought of as "slow" but they do quality work.
Infrastructure Funding Puts Cambodia on Front Line of Global Politics
Infrastructure Funding Puts Cambodia on Front Line of Global Politics
http://www.voanews.com/a/infrastructure-funding-puts-cambodia-on-front-line-of-international-politics/3338556.html
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