When India and Pakistan became independent of the UK in 1947, the maharaja of the state of Jammu and Kashmir had to make a choice: join India, join Pakistan, or try to go it alone? This article from National Geographic is an excellent primer on that pivotal moment in the history of Kashmir and the issues that forced the maharaja's hand: www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/03/kashmir-conflict-how-did-it-start
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Are real estate values being affected by concerns about climate change? In Florida, at least, the answer is increasingly "yes." "[C]oastal real estate, especially in Florida, may be on the cusp of delivering that harsh wake-up call. The peninsula has outsized exposure: nearly 2 million people live in coastal cities. On the list of the 20 urban areas in America that will suffer the most from rising seas, Florida has five: St Petersburg, Tampa, Miami, Miami Beach and Panama City. In 2016, Zillow predicted that one out of eight homes in Florida would be underwater by 2100, a loss of $413bn in property. ... I spoke with a developer who wanted to remain anonymous, given business interests. He told me that he’s surprised that people are still buying, building and investing in coastal Florida. He estimated that a decade ago, only one in 10 buyers asked about the property elevation, or expressed concerns about rising seas. Today, nearly six of 10 ask and many decide not to buy in these same critical areas. 'I’m worried we’re one bad storm away from a rush for the exits,' he told me." www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/15/florida-climate-change-coastal-real-estate-rising-seas
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal has a series of fascinating maps highlighting the geographic dispersal of recent college graduates. "A college education is often a ticket to the best career opportunities. For most graduates, that means moving to the nation’s biggest metropolitan areas, boosting the intellectual capital that helps those cities thrive. But the patterns vary widely by city and by institution. ... More than one-quarter of graduates from Ivy League schools, such as Cornell, live in New York City, San Francisco or Washington, D.C., data covering the past 10 years show. Those cities' already-robust economies gain further by drawing from some of the nation's leading schools. Las Vegas is one of the nation’s 30 largest cities, but it draws relatively few college graduates. This reflects the large role of entertainment and construction in the city's economy. ... Washington, D.C. ranks sixth in the nation in population but second in drawing power. It attracts 2% or more of alumni from 218 schools, second only to New York." The site also gives users the option of tracking a particular school's graduates or a particular city's draw. www.wsj.com/graphics/where-graduates-move-after-college/?shareToken=st74c7f4e48f6d49c7b5fa03b75f8779d7&mod=djmc_Pocket0226&tier_1=22354781&tier_2=dcm&tier_3=22354781&tier_4=0&tier_5=4508749
"The marketplace of ideas" is a powerful metaphor that guided much of 20th century political discourse. But is there really a marketplace of ideas? In The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread, two philosophers of science consider how our social networks are reshaping the dissemination of ideas. nautil.us/issue/69/patterns/why-misinformation-is-about-who-you-trust-not-what-you-think
Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday. This map highlights the cities mentioned on the circus circuit in Horton Hatches the Egg: "They took him to Boston, to Kalamazoo, Chicago, Weehawken and Washington, too; to Dayton, Ohio; St. Paul, Minnesota; to Wichita, Kansas; to Drake, North Dakota" and, of course, at the end "in a town way down south, not so far from Palm Beach" "that old good-for-nothing bird, runaway Mayzie" bumps into Horton one more time. (Can you match them all up?)
The Chincoteague Bay Field Station in Wallops Island, VA, is hosting a marine science program for home school families April 1-3. (Students must attend with a parent or chaperone, but there is both a residential and a commuter option for families who prefer to make their own accommodations.) Participants will learn about barrier islands and coastal ecology and will engage in estuarine sampling and identification. For more information or to register, see www.cbfieldstation.org/marine-science-adventure.html Summer camp information is also available: www.cbfieldstation.org/youth-camps.html
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