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/