DC urban farm plan a bust

DC urban farm plan a bust
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/12/d-c-greenhouse-highly-touted-by-mayor-gray-may-not-happen-110083.html

Bright Farms, Inc. was set to break ground in December 2014 on what would have been DC's largest urban farm. However, the Anacostia location was recently found to be an unofficial landfill and dump and too toxic to build on. Bright Farms had invested $700,000.

Nordic model - would it work for America?

Two great pieces recently came out about the applicability of the Nordic model to the US.

American expat Ann Jones living in Oslo thinks the world of the Nordic model and finds it hard to explain what is wrong with America but is sure there is a lot wrong.

British author Michael Booth has a different view. He is married to a Danish woman and has lived in Denmark off and on for a decade. His recent book "The Almost Nearly Perfect People: the truth about the Nordic miracle" points out that while the Nordic countries have achieved high ranks on many international indicators of quality of life, they have their share of problems as well. His Washington Post article below mentions that Nordic countries are world leaders in coffee drinking, anti-depressant use, and violent crime.

Either way, reading both is a good primer on a region which often escapes the international eye.

The American way over the Nordic model: are we crazy?by Ann Jones
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0111-jones-ex-pat-american-20150111-story.html

Stop the Scandimania: Nordic nations aren't the utopias they're made out to be
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/stop-the-scandimania-nordic-nations-arent-the-utopias-theyre-made-out-to-be/2015/01/16/8f818408-9aa0-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html

Great video on German mittelstand companies

Great video on German mittelstand companies

Germany's Mittelstand Companies - CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/24/business/german-economy-mittelstand/

Incredible commentary by the exec on how public listing of companies takes away from long-term vision. Determination to pass the company on rather than sell it and buy a yacht.

Interesting comparison of French vs. German management styles

French and German management styles : practical case study

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWhKMYwLFGM

Is it true across the board in each country? Even if not, interesting comparison.

Great sheet from a UK elementary school about site & situation and other urban topics

Great sheet from a UK elementary school about site & situation and other urban topics

http://geography.amesburyschool.co.uk/revision/ce4settlement.pdf

EEZs in the European Atlantic

EEZs in the European Atlantic
Notice on this map that Norway, which has chosen not to join the EU, has an Atlantic EEZ nearly as large as that of the EU, due to its long coast and remote islands. Iceland also has an EEZ that far outsizes the country and the population and also is not part of the EU. Greenland, with just a tiny population of 57,000, has an enormous EEZ. See the book Windfall: the booming business of global warming for a chapter on Greenland's move to independence driven by the promise of wealth from natural resource futures (oil, gas, fish, minerals) to be found in their EEZ and from new land exposed as its massive glaciers slowly melt.

Great blog entry on the history and geography of nightshades

Great blog entry on the history and geography of nightshades
https://botanistinthekitchen.wordpress.com/2013/08/21/making-ratatouille-like-a-botanist/#more-1154

Nightshades all come from the New World i.e. the Americas originally and include many common plants: potatoes, tomatoes, chili peppers, eggplant, tobacco, etc. Most nightshades made it to Europe only after the era of exploration and the Columbian Exchange began.

However, the article makes an interesting note about halfway down under "Old World nightshades" answering the question how did a few nightshades make it to the Old World (Europe/Asia/Africa) before the era of Transatlantic exploration? The article suggests that is was birds which carried them over oceans to new continents:

"Long before European ships began transporting charismatic Solanaceae [nightshade] species home from the Americas, a few American nightshades made the transoceanic voyage on their own, probably assisted by birds.  Something like 15 to 17 successful dispersal events are necessary to account for the present-day distribution of Solanaceae native to Pacific Islands, Africa, Australia, and Eurasia (Olmstead 2013).  Some modern descendants of three of these dispersal events are shown on the phylogeny in red: Chinese goji berries (Lycium barbarum and L. chinense); European deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna); and, of course, the eggplants."