Someone was asking me the other day about the trajectory of the continents when we were discussing plate techtonics. I referenced some work I recently heard of that was being done at Yale university, and a graphic of their predicitons are found at the fiollowing site:
http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/08/americas-asia-will-fuse-to-form-amasia/?hpt=hp_c3
You will not be around to see this, however, even if things go remarkably well for you as an individual and us as a species.
ANTHRO and GEO: Gender imbalances and human trafficking.
An article in the ECONOMIST about cultural preferences for males and the resulting demographic imbalance in societies today.
Also, from CNN: Five things you should know about human trafficking.
Also, from CNN: Five things you should know about human trafficking.
GEO: Using geography to increase your chances of finding a mate
Who knew? Your most reliable wing-man when it comes to dating is not your best friend, but rather, GEOGRAPHY! Richard Florida (if you look carefully you can find some of his work mentioned in your geography text) reveals how dating prospects are related to geography. For a map and discussion of the distribution of possible mates, look no further than HERE. While the midwest in general is a haven for men, Chicago itself seems to favor women (sorry guys, but hey, there's always Springfield).
Take my advice: if you lack charm, wit, money, or good looks, you can always resort to geography- it worked for me!
GEO: The Geography of Government Benefits
From the New York Times this week: a story about the "safety net" and a related set of coropleth maps showing the distribution by county of government benefits.
It's no surprise, but it might surprise many nevertheless, that the states that harbor tea partiers and conservatives who are most critical of government programs are, at the same time, among the largest recipients of the government benefits they so loudly decry. This is no secret- but you won't hear about it from the likes of Rush Limbough (who wan't too proud to go on the government dole before he became rich and infamous).
It's no surprise, but it might surprise many nevertheless, that the states that harbor tea partiers and conservatives who are most critical of government programs are, at the same time, among the largest recipients of the government benefits they so loudly decry. This is no secret- but you won't hear about it from the likes of Rush Limbough (who wan't too proud to go on the government dole before he became rich and infamous).
ANTHRO:Facial recreations of hominid ancestors
From Discovery News- interesting 3D black and white imigaes that reconstruct the facial
characteristics of some of our hominid ancestors. Some of this is based on scientific data, some on informed conjecture, but it's probably a pretty close estimatin of what these folks looked like.
http://news.discovery.com/human/early-human-ancestors-faces.html
characteristics of some of our hominid ancestors. Some of this is based on scientific data, some on informed conjecture, but it's probably a pretty close estimatin of what these folks looked like.
http://news.discovery.com/human/early-human-ancestors-faces.html
ANTHRO: National Geographic weighs in on large mammal evolution.
Evolving bigger bodies takes longer than getting small, mammal study says.
Elephants Took 24 Million Generations to Evolve From Mouse-Size.
Elephants Took 24 Million Generations to Evolve From Mouse-Size.
ANTHRO: Birthplace of Native Americans?
From National Geographic: The headline on the website says " Birthplace of Native Americans found." On another part of the site, it becomes "Birthplace of Native Americans found?" and that question mark turns the original assertion into a quastion. The headline fo the actual story is Is This Russian Landscape the Birthplace of Native Americans? There's some interesting preliminary information here, but the last word has yet to be determined. So it goes.
GEO: Stopping The 'Brain Drain' Of The U.S. Economy
Brain Drain is usually something that poor countries experience, and rich countries benefit from. So what's going on here?
The story from NPR.
The story from NPR.
Anthro and GEO: What is the IMF?
The folks at NPR's "Planet Money" podcast (which often wind up on news programs Morning Edition and All things Considered) offer a primer on the IMF while explaining Why IMF Loans Always Get Repaid.
Planet Money is a great resource because the folks there explain everything as if the listener knows ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about the subject, and indeed, most people fall under that category when it comes to finance and economics. And it's actually entertaining!
Planet Money is a great resource because the folks there explain everything as if the listener knows ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about the subject, and indeed, most people fall under that category when it comes to finance and economics. And it's actually entertaining!
Anthro: An indroduction to postmodernism
One of my honors students asked me in my cultural anthropology class "Is anthropology influced at all by philosophy?" or something like that. I held my breath. Then I let it out. What a can of worms. I am the WRONG person to be asked that question, for the very reason that I was both a philosophy major and an anthropology major. You would think that I would be the best person to answer that question, but if it came up at a cocktail party and you and I were chatting by the food table, after 10 minutes you would be stuffing as many nachos into your mouth that you could manage and mumbling something about a cat that need to be fed at home before you beat a hasty retreat.
I started with a discussion of postmodernism and I've decided to look online for a good, brief introduction that someone else wrote that I could steal, in order to save myslef the work of having to write one myself. In true postmodern form, the first one I encountered immediately took the position that it was wrong, even insulting, to attempt to distill postmoderism down to any sort of "essence" because postmoderism itself repudiates the very enterprise of distilling ideas down to essences. (I hear that cat calling...)
Here's a site that has what is for better or worse a fairly good explanation of postmodernism along with examples after placing it into a breif but comprehensive historical context of ophilosophical and artistic movements. General Introduction to the Postmodern
Oh, and Wikipedia might be helpful as well if you want to figure out what this is all about.
I started with a discussion of postmodernism and I've decided to look online for a good, brief introduction that someone else wrote that I could steal, in order to save myslef the work of having to write one myself. In true postmodern form, the first one I encountered immediately took the position that it was wrong, even insulting, to attempt to distill postmoderism down to any sort of "essence" because postmoderism itself repudiates the very enterprise of distilling ideas down to essences. (I hear that cat calling...)
Here's a site that has what is for better or worse a fairly good explanation of postmodernism along with examples after placing it into a breif but comprehensive historical context of ophilosophical and artistic movements. General Introduction to the Postmodern
Oh, and Wikipedia might be helpful as well if you want to figure out what this is all about.
GEO: An interesting take on vernacular regions and contemporary politics
Here's an article from the Washington Monthly that discusses regionalism in the US in terms of political culture: A Geography Lesson for the Tea PartyI'm not saying that I buy this entirely, but it certainly raises the question "Who ARE we really? Are we "One nation, under God"? If not, then what?
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