Posts Tagged ‘American history’
How ya gonna keep ’em down on the farm?…
Urban Density “Shadow”
TOKYO: Population 42,607,376 – Area 7,408 km² – Density 5,752 pp/km²
From Cotonou in Benin, with just more than 1.5 million people, to the Tokyo metropolitan region, with more than 42 million inhabitants, a total population of 1.2 billion people– 35 per cent of the world’s urban population in 2010– live in one of 129 ‘extended metropolitan regions’ across the world. LSECities has taken a closer look:
Using Google Earth satellite imagery, we captured a ‘snapshot’ of where people live and estimated ‘net densities’ by systematically tracing the built-up area of each metropolitan region – including central zones, satellite towns and the peripheral areas (a detailed methodology can be found online). The fact that 23 million people in Manila occupy a space one eighth the size of the same number of New Yorkers, or that Atlanta in the USA is 25 times larger than Hong Kong with roughly the same population, says something about the capacity and resilience of urban form as well as physical and geographical constraints…
Explore further at LSECities’ “Measuring the World’s Urban Footprint.”
[TotH to Flowing Data]
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As we hail a cab, we might recall that it was on this date in 1864 that Union General William T. Sherman ordered residents of Atlanta, Georgia, to evacuate the city. Sherman had taken Atlanta with little effort, and had promptly destroyed rail lines that might connect the city with Southern reinforcements. Preparing to march on, Sherman didn’t want to be responsible for the civilian population of the city, so decided to evict them: from September 11- 16, 446 families, about 1,600 people, left their homes and possessions and were “dropped” by Sherman’s men far south of the city, in the vicinity of the remains of the defeated army of Confederate General John Bell Hood. In November Sherman and his men, having resupplied themselves with the goods that remained in Atlanta set out on their infamous “March to the Sea,” destroying nearly everything that lay in their path.
Sherman’s men destroying rail lines in Atlanta at the time of the evacuation order
ATLANTA TODAY: Population 7,506,267 – Area 6,888 km² – Density 1,090 pp/km²
Top of the Pops…
It was 80 years ago (more specifically, 80 years ago last month) that the BBC conducted its first experimental broadcast. In grateful commemoration, Paste has created a list of its favorite BBC TV series. Like any “best of” list it begs for bickering (e.g., while Jools Holland’s wonderful series is included, the honoree of this post’s title is not); but then, that’s the fun– and there’s not a ringer in the bunch.
Check them out– and then add your own– at “The 16 Best BBC TV Shows.”
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As we acknowledge our Anglophilia, we might recall that this was not a banner date for British-American relations in 1774: in response to Parliament’s enactment of the Coercive Acts in the American colonies, the first session of the Continental Congress convened at Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia.
Colonists had gathered before to protest the Stamp Act (1765) and the Tea Act (1773); indeed, the “Tea Party” (and related acts of violent protest)– “Intolerable Acts” as they were called by Parliament– precipitated the Coercive Acts, which closed Boston to merchant shipping, established formal British military rule in Massachusetts, made British officials immune to criminal prosecution in America, and required colonists to quarter British troops. The Continental Congress was called to consider a united American resistance to the British… and so it did.
Creating shame…
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As we sniff, we might spare a tidy thought for H. Cecil Booth; on this date in 1901 he received the patent that cemented his place as inventor of the motorized vacuum cleaner.
Maps that make a point…
More amusing maps-as-propaganda at La Boite Verte.
[TotH to EWW’s friend AH]
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As we remember that the map is not the territory, we might send bellicose birthday wishes to Donald Henry Rumsfeld; he was born on this date in 1932. A successful businessman, Rumsfeld served as U.S. Secretary of Defense twice, first under Gerald Ford, then under George W. Bush. Early in that latter tour, as the groundwork was being laid for the invasion of Iraq, he remarked:
…there are no “knowns.” There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don’t know… the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence
(NATO press conference, June 6, 2002)
Then several months later,
I can’t tell you if the use of force in Iraq today would last five days, or five weeks, or five months, but it certainly isn’t going to last any longer than that.
(CBS Radio interview, November 14, 2002)
Then a few month later still,
We know where they [Iraq’s WMD] are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat…
(in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News, March 30, 2003)
Though two years later (November 20, 2005), on a return visit to Stephanopoulos’s show, Rumsfeld suggested,
I didn’t advocate invasion…I wasn’t asked.
Interestingly, it was also on this date (in 1962) that Bob Dylan recoded “Blowin’ in the Wind”
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ‘n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ‘n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
Hold that pose!…
Painter and Monty Python-inspiration Paul Gaugin, playing Alphonse Mucha’s harmonium
Madame and Monsieur Monet, birding
See more “Extremely Silly Photos of Extremely Serious Artists“… and as a bonus, check out “Extremely Silly Photos of Extremely Serious Writers,” e.g….
a kneeling Marcel Proust on air guitar
Readers might also enjoy Mark Crick’s Household Tips of the Great Writers, and his previous assays of advice, Sartre’s Sink: The Great Writers’ Complete Book of DIY, Kafka’s Soup: A Complete History of World Literature in 17 Recipes, and Machiavelli’s Lawn: The Great Writers’ Garden Companion…
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As we say “cheese,” we might recall that it was on this date in 2002 that President George W. Bush invoked the 25th Amendment to transfer executive authority to Vice President Dick Cheney while the president underwent a colonoscopy. President Bush transferred authority to Cheney again when he had another colonoscopy five years later.
from The Washington Post
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