CHANGING CITIES
As some of my previous posts have made clear, I am fascinated by the way geography and time interact, particularly in cities. In the last two days there have been three articles that really reflect this.
First, the Moscow Times reports that Shanghai's city government is contemplating a limitation on building skyscrapers in the city. This measure would have three benefits. First, it would help minimize the very high winds that can be created between very tall buildings. Second, it would help alleviate overcrowding by lowering housing density. Third, and this is really something, it would help slow the rate at which Shanghai is sinking. It turns out the city is sinking between 1.5 and 3 centimeters per year. Even more amazing is that this sinking is largely due to the overpumping of underground water. So, a city like Shanghai—which once was set t house the world's tallest building—creates a vicious cycle for itself by growing to 15 million, which causes them to pump more water and create more dense housing, which causes the city to sink.
The Christian Science Monitor carried a story on the way the Arab-Israeli conflict is changing the geography of Jerusalem. The Israelis are currently building what is essentially a new Berlin Wall to cut huge sections of the West Bank off from Israel proper. This barrier is directly impacting Jerusalem. This is especially problematic because Jerusalem has tremendous emotional meaning for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and is claimed as the capital of both an Arab entity and Israel. Interestingly, the current route of the Wall through Jerusalem is actually dividing Arab neighborhoods, rather than creating a barrier between Jews and Arabs. The article also discusses how the Israelis have used urban planning to change the demographic and cultural mix of parts of Arab East Jerusalem, by barring building, or only giving rare approval for new buildings. Thus, while this area becomes more run down, people start to look elsewhere for nicer places to live, and they are replaced by people more agreeable to the government, who then get permission to build. This is very similar to practices in the United States until the Supreme Court outlawed them. 54% of the Arab areas are under a "building forbidden" order. This article is interesting because it reminds me of the design of the apartheid city I learned in Geography 110 back in college. Contain, restrict, and contain.
Finally, the Chicago Sun Times carried a story about a proposal to convert the site of a steel manufacturing and warehousing facility into a mall. The city of Chicago often opposes moves like this, since the new development destroys any infrastructure that may be used to lure manufacturing jobs to the city on the future. However, apparently this site is "better suited for retail use." And thus, a city on the make continues to change and try to maximize its resources.
CHANGING WORDS
Two articles in the last few days really highlighted the importance of words. The first is from the Boston Globe and is about the "director of defining" for Merriam-Webster, Inc. The role of the director of defining is to "look for evidence of new vocabulary." Thus, "barista," "wack," "burn" in the sense of burning CDs, and "dead presidents" for money all made the cut. The important thing is that a word be used in writing, not just spoken. Thus, "gnarly" got a boost when Drew Barrymore used it in a published Rolling Stone interview. Three things coming up in the future: (1) the word "spendy" for expensive is supposed to be moving from the Left Coast across the country; (2) the word "blog" as an up-and-commer for the dictionary; and (3) MW is planning a "Learner's Disctionary" for residents of foreign countries who want to learn American English. While this last is certainly interesting to Wife L, it could also be of use to too many people I know—who were born here!
The New York Times (registration required) reports that officials at Guantanamo are concerned that some of the Arab-language translators they used may have sabotaged interviews by mistranslating (on purpose) the questions and/or answers of Taliban and al Queda suspects. This is an amazing bit of work to pull off at Guantanamo, but it also touches on a statement I read in an article about interrogation in the Atlantic Monthly. They spoke to an Israeli interrogator who did all of his interrogations in Arabic, locally accented for the suspect. This not only was intimidating to the suspect, but also served to cut out any possible mistranslation of the type we are concerned about. It is hard to believe that we do not have Arabic speakers who can do this…
CHANGING RELIGION
Staying with the theme of change, there were two interesting articles about tensions in different religious communities around the world and the changes they are creating. The Nation's Finest Newspaper somehow stumbled on a substantive story about the Jewish community in Baghdad. The Iraqi Jewish population once numbered approximately 130,000, and had been in Iraq for about 2,600 years. However, in the wake of the Israeli declaration of independence, a wave of anti-Jewish violence swept through Iraq (and much of the Arab world), sending about 120,000 Jews to Israel by the end of 1940s. Under Saddam this number dwindled to about 200. Now, two men observed Yom Kippur together in Baghdad. One is planning to emigrate, the other is an 82 year-old diabetic who refuses to leave Iraq. They believe that there may be about 22 other Jews in all of Iraq right now. Thus, one small commuter plane flight to Israel could represent the end of 2,600 years of Jewish history in Iraq. That is an amazing thought.
The Christian Science Monitor reports on the way the issue of homosexuality is tearing the Anglican church apart across the world. Africa is now home to half of the world's Anglicans, with Nigeria alone having 17 million Anglicans (there are about 2 million Episcopals in America). However, while Anglicans and Episcopalians in the West are becoming more liberal with regard to homosexuality, in Africa homosexuality is often against the law and is taboo. Thus, the African Anglicans are very upset with the actions of the West, and are pressing for changes like the creation of a separate conservative Anglican province in North America as an alternative to the more liberal Episcopal Church. This is an interesting issue that is a preview (to a certain extent) of the sort of conflict the Catholic Church could expect if it attempted to move sharply to the left to satisfy some of its American and European members. It bears watching.
CHANGING COUNTRIES
The Christian Science Monitor (again) also carried a report on the continued emigration to Argentina. For many in the United States, it is easy to think of Argentina as a relatively homogenous country, with mostly descendants of the Spanish and Indians. In the past three years, 10,000 Ukrainians have moved to Argentina, joining the other one million foreigners among Argentina's 38 millions. Argentina has large Italian, Spanish, and German populations, along with a large Jewish community, Arabs, Armenians, and other South Americans. The most amazing thing is that the Ukrainian woman they interviewed wanted to go to the United States, then to Canada (both English-speaking). However, after 9/11 that was too difficult, so she opted for Argentina (Spanish-speaking) instead. I guess if you are going to change alphabets and language families anyway, Spanish is as easy as English.
CHANGING FORTUNES
By the way, for the first time since 1908, the Cubs won a post-season series. Now, I know that they are no closer to being world champions than they were in 1984 or 1989. On the other hand, winning a post-season series is a necessary step to winning a World Series and with a young pitching staff, and some good young players, it is a good start.
As some of my previous posts have made clear, I am fascinated by the way geography and time interact, particularly in cities. In the last two days there have been three articles that really reflect this.
First, the Moscow Times reports that Shanghai's city government is contemplating a limitation on building skyscrapers in the city. This measure would have three benefits. First, it would help minimize the very high winds that can be created between very tall buildings. Second, it would help alleviate overcrowding by lowering housing density. Third, and this is really something, it would help slow the rate at which Shanghai is sinking. It turns out the city is sinking between 1.5 and 3 centimeters per year. Even more amazing is that this sinking is largely due to the overpumping of underground water. So, a city like Shanghai—which once was set t house the world's tallest building—creates a vicious cycle for itself by growing to 15 million, which causes them to pump more water and create more dense housing, which causes the city to sink.
The Christian Science Monitor carried a story on the way the Arab-Israeli conflict is changing the geography of Jerusalem. The Israelis are currently building what is essentially a new Berlin Wall to cut huge sections of the West Bank off from Israel proper. This barrier is directly impacting Jerusalem. This is especially problematic because Jerusalem has tremendous emotional meaning for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and is claimed as the capital of both an Arab entity and Israel. Interestingly, the current route of the Wall through Jerusalem is actually dividing Arab neighborhoods, rather than creating a barrier between Jews and Arabs. The article also discusses how the Israelis have used urban planning to change the demographic and cultural mix of parts of Arab East Jerusalem, by barring building, or only giving rare approval for new buildings. Thus, while this area becomes more run down, people start to look elsewhere for nicer places to live, and they are replaced by people more agreeable to the government, who then get permission to build. This is very similar to practices in the United States until the Supreme Court outlawed them. 54% of the Arab areas are under a "building forbidden" order. This article is interesting because it reminds me of the design of the apartheid city I learned in Geography 110 back in college. Contain, restrict, and contain.
Finally, the Chicago Sun Times carried a story about a proposal to convert the site of a steel manufacturing and warehousing facility into a mall. The city of Chicago often opposes moves like this, since the new development destroys any infrastructure that may be used to lure manufacturing jobs to the city on the future. However, apparently this site is "better suited for retail use." And thus, a city on the make continues to change and try to maximize its resources.
CHANGING WORDS
Two articles in the last few days really highlighted the importance of words. The first is from the Boston Globe and is about the "director of defining" for Merriam-Webster, Inc. The role of the director of defining is to "look for evidence of new vocabulary." Thus, "barista," "wack," "burn" in the sense of burning CDs, and "dead presidents" for money all made the cut. The important thing is that a word be used in writing, not just spoken. Thus, "gnarly" got a boost when Drew Barrymore used it in a published Rolling Stone interview. Three things coming up in the future: (1) the word "spendy" for expensive is supposed to be moving from the Left Coast across the country; (2) the word "blog" as an up-and-commer for the dictionary; and (3) MW is planning a "Learner's Disctionary" for residents of foreign countries who want to learn American English. While this last is certainly interesting to Wife L, it could also be of use to too many people I know—who were born here!
The New York Times (registration required) reports that officials at Guantanamo are concerned that some of the Arab-language translators they used may have sabotaged interviews by mistranslating (on purpose) the questions and/or answers of Taliban and al Queda suspects. This is an amazing bit of work to pull off at Guantanamo, but it also touches on a statement I read in an article about interrogation in the Atlantic Monthly. They spoke to an Israeli interrogator who did all of his interrogations in Arabic, locally accented for the suspect. This not only was intimidating to the suspect, but also served to cut out any possible mistranslation of the type we are concerned about. It is hard to believe that we do not have Arabic speakers who can do this…
CHANGING RELIGION
Staying with the theme of change, there were two interesting articles about tensions in different religious communities around the world and the changes they are creating. The Nation's Finest Newspaper somehow stumbled on a substantive story about the Jewish community in Baghdad. The Iraqi Jewish population once numbered approximately 130,000, and had been in Iraq for about 2,600 years. However, in the wake of the Israeli declaration of independence, a wave of anti-Jewish violence swept through Iraq (and much of the Arab world), sending about 120,000 Jews to Israel by the end of 1940s. Under Saddam this number dwindled to about 200. Now, two men observed Yom Kippur together in Baghdad. One is planning to emigrate, the other is an 82 year-old diabetic who refuses to leave Iraq. They believe that there may be about 22 other Jews in all of Iraq right now. Thus, one small commuter plane flight to Israel could represent the end of 2,600 years of Jewish history in Iraq. That is an amazing thought.
The Christian Science Monitor reports on the way the issue of homosexuality is tearing the Anglican church apart across the world. Africa is now home to half of the world's Anglicans, with Nigeria alone having 17 million Anglicans (there are about 2 million Episcopals in America). However, while Anglicans and Episcopalians in the West are becoming more liberal with regard to homosexuality, in Africa homosexuality is often against the law and is taboo. Thus, the African Anglicans are very upset with the actions of the West, and are pressing for changes like the creation of a separate conservative Anglican province in North America as an alternative to the more liberal Episcopal Church. This is an interesting issue that is a preview (to a certain extent) of the sort of conflict the Catholic Church could expect if it attempted to move sharply to the left to satisfy some of its American and European members. It bears watching.
CHANGING COUNTRIES
The Christian Science Monitor (again) also carried a report on the continued emigration to Argentina. For many in the United States, it is easy to think of Argentina as a relatively homogenous country, with mostly descendants of the Spanish and Indians. In the past three years, 10,000 Ukrainians have moved to Argentina, joining the other one million foreigners among Argentina's 38 millions. Argentina has large Italian, Spanish, and German populations, along with a large Jewish community, Arabs, Armenians, and other South Americans. The most amazing thing is that the Ukrainian woman they interviewed wanted to go to the United States, then to Canada (both English-speaking). However, after 9/11 that was too difficult, so she opted for Argentina (Spanish-speaking) instead. I guess if you are going to change alphabets and language families anyway, Spanish is as easy as English.
CHANGING FORTUNES
By the way, for the first time since 1908, the Cubs won a post-season series. Now, I know that they are no closer to being world champions than they were in 1984 or 1989. On the other hand, winning a post-season series is a necessary step to winning a World Series and with a young pitching staff, and some good young players, it is a good start.
posted by David at 1:44 PM
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