Epidemiologists are always trying to get one step ahead of the next big outbreak - and often the best clues we have come from outbreaks of the past.
16 April 2019
The Guardian: Fears of 'white decline' show how a minor dent to domination can be catastrophic for some
Images of Asians, Indigenous people, Arabs, and black people dominating, exploiting, and enslaving white Europeans abound throughout the history of colonialism. This is so even at the height of the “classical” European colonial venture when colonialists were, relatively speaking, most secure about their entitlements and their transnational supremacy.
As Stephen Arata, a professor of English at the University of Virginia, has pointed out, such narratives of “colonial reversal” where the “civilized” world is on the point of being overrun by “primitive” forces, and where the colonisers become colonised and the exploiters become exploited, were frequent in late-Victorian popular fiction in Britain. Arata argues that these discourses of reversal intensified when the empire was in crisis. [...]
Indeed, novels moved by an imaginary wherein the plant and animal world “reclaim” the human domain of the built environment abound. And in much the same way as with the colonial fantasies of reversal, humans have ended up imagining worlds where we are ruled by the very animals we have dominated. Planet of the Apes is the most obvious example of this imaginary circulating in popular culture. In his novel 2007 the Australian naturalist Robyn Williams (2001) also takes us into a world where a more generalised process of reversal is under way: whales sink Japanese whaling vessels, pelicans occupy Heathrow airpot, cows invade Tullamarine airport in Melbourne, Amazonian pythons attacking developers’ bulldozers, etc.
Quartz: The urban farming ‘revolution’ has a fatal flaw
They focused on New York City, where CEA has dramatically increased in the last decade. Looking at 10 farms that produce roof- and indoor-grown vegetables at commercial scales, they investigated how much food the farms are producing, who it’s reaching, and how much space is available to expand CEA into.
They found that the biggest of these 10 commercial farms is around a third of an acre in size. Most are on roofs spread across New York City, and some are inside buildings and shipping containers. Mainly, these farms are producing impressive amounts of leafy greens such as lettuce, and herbs; some also produce fish. [...]
Furthermore, the predominantly grown foods—such as lettuce—aren’t of great nutritional value for the urban population, especially those threatened by food insecurity. Most produce from CEAs is sold at a premium, something that partly reflects the cost of the real estate used to grow the food. Consequently, that produce is typically grown for high-end food stores and restaurants, meaning it’s unlikely to reach low-income urban populations who need it most.
The Atlantic: Photos: The Devastation of Notre Dame Cathedral
Earlier today, smoke was observed billowing from the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral, in central Paris; it was undergoing renovation work. The smoke grew and was followed by flames, which consumed the roof and caused the central spire of the cathedral to collapse. The gothic cathedral is visited by millions of tourists and locals every year. Authorities report no injuries or deaths at the moment, and have tentatively linked the fire to the renovations, which were due to have been completed in 2022. Below, some images of the disaster, and a handful of images from inside Notre Dame before the fire.
15 April 2019
Haaretz: Netanyahu May Have Won, but Israel's Political Landscape Has Fundamentally Changed
So now we are back to two big parties, just without Labor. With its 35 seats, Kahol Lavan has received more votes than any other centrist party in Israeli history. Even Kadima, the only centrist party to ever hold power, never won more than 29. [...]
Why did Likud succeed in coming back from the double whammy of direct elections and the Kadima “big bang” while Labor has been all but obliterated? There are several factors. In Sharon, and now Netanyahu, Likud had strong, persuasive and experienced leaders who were also brilliant campaigners. Of the seven men and one woman who led Labor in the corresponding period, most lacked these skills. There were two who rivaled Sharon and Netanyahu’s stature — Peres and Barak — but they also failed to overcome the failure of Labor’s key policy: A historic compromise with the Palestinians, which had only resulted in more bloodshed during a second intifada and clashes with Gaza. [...]
The only issue really setting Kahol Lavan apart from the right wing is its support for the legal system, in the face of the governing coalition’s campaign to curtail the power of the Supreme Court and shield Netanyahu himself from the criminal indictments he faces. [...]
Kahol Lavan ran its campaign on being the antithesis to Netanyahu but didn’t present an alternative vision. Most of those who voted for it did so in the hope of simply seeing a change in government. That hasn’t happened and Kahol Lavan has no clear idea what to do with its 35 Knesset members.
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