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The True Size of Africa (2015)

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Re: The True Size of Africa (2015)

#211

Post by birdyrooster »

industriousthou wrote: post #159
birdyrooster wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does it mean to be an African? Is there unifying culture of all of Africa? Like when I say I am an American, I don't mean the continent, I am talking about living in the US, but when someone calls themselves an African, what can I glean from that other than they live on a large, heterogenous continent?

I think you'll find lot's of people from North and South America would take issue with your definition of "American".

Totally but they would also know I was just speaking of the US. I don’t have any frame of reference for someone who says they are African.

Re: The True Size of Africa (2015)

#212

Post by carapace »

init wrote: post #73
JackFr wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you say the US is homogenous for it’s size, are you referring to the physical geography or the demographic make up of the population, or something else entirely? (I think I would disagree, but good faith requires I actually try to understand what you meant before I take issue with it.)

As the other commenter responded, I'm referring to the linguistic, socioeconomic and judicial homogeneity. Even though the US is culturally diverse, it still has a single currency, a single dominant language and a single jurisdiction (with minor state specific legal requirements). I only need one US visa to travel to all 52 states. A software company taking payments in the US has access to all 52 states. A peach cobb…

Also, FWIW, I've read that Africa has more human genetic diversity than the rest of the world put together.

Re: The True Size of Africa (2015)

#213

Post by ClumsyPilot »

e3bc54b2 wrote: post #132
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you measuring to determine over or underpopulation? Food production? We grow more food that is required to feed current population, much of world's farming is not efficient, done without modern equipment, etx., and then there is the subject of meat - if we stopped growing feed for animals, and instead seitch to vegetarian diet, we could feed a lot more people. Then there is the argument that glasshouses are…

The modern agriculture just means automating depleting natural aquifers and using up topsoil and abusing chemicals at massive scale. Its the agricultural equivalent of optimizing for next quarter, but losing out on next decade.

Ancient equivalent is slash-and-burn agriculture, and famines from crop diseases and droughts. I dont think modern vs oldschool juxtaposition is helpfull

Re: The True Size of Africa (2015)

#215

Post by Judgmentality »

KineticLensman wrote: post #187
sheepdestroyer wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We all do : Google Earth. Is there still a point to 2D maps?

> Is there still a point to 2D maps? Hiking away from cell towers and wifi Historical maps Maps that aren't owned by Google

> Hiking away from cell towers and wifi

Just download the map in advance.

> Historical maps

Agreed on this.

> Maps that aren't owned by Google

I agree with this in principle, but there are alternatives to Google Maps and some of them are even gaining popularity because developers in general are terrified of ever relying on Google for anything besides ads.

Re: The True Size of Africa (2015)

#216

Post by KineticLensman »

Judgmentality wrote: post #215
KineticLensman wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is there still a point to 2D maps? Hiking away from cell towers and wifi Historical maps Maps that aren't owned by Google

> Hiking away from cell towers and wifi Just download the map in advance. > Historical maps Agreed on this. > Maps that aren't owned by Google I agree with this in principle, but there are alternatives to Google Maps and some of them are even gaining popularity because developers in general are terrified of ever relying on Google for anything besides ads.

> Just download the map in advance

Okay, hiking away from cell towers and wifi and power supplies

Re: The True Size of Africa (2015)

#217

Post by Judgmentality »

KineticLensman wrote: post #216
Judgmentality wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hiking away from cell towers and wifi Just download the map in advance. > Historical maps Agreed on this. > Maps that aren't owned by Google I agree with this in principle, but there are alternatives to Google Maps and some of them are even gaining popularity because developers in general are terrified of ever relying on Google for anything besides ads.

> Just download the map in advance Okay, hiking away from cell towers and wifi and power supplies

My phone gets about 4 days of use currently before recharging, and I could pretty easily find ways to recharge it even using solar power if I wanted to.

If you don't want to use your phone as a map that's fine, but it's incredibly convenient for (I'd wager) 99% of use cases.

Re: The True Size of Africa (2015)

#218

Post by vitus »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #205
vitus wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While Albertsons itself might be mostly in western states, the parent company owns plenty of other chains in other states, e.g. Safeway or Jewel-Osco. These chains all run the same promotions, carry the same generic brands, etc.

Thanks. I didn't realize that the parent company of Safeway had gobbled up Albertsons as well. Good to know.

It was actually the other way around. :)

Re: The True Size of Africa (2015)

#219

Post by magikaram »

owenversteeg wrote: post #139
boraoztunc wrote: post #77

>> The Good Design Grand Award, arguably Japan’s most prestigious award for design, went out to architect Hajime Narukawa’s completely groundbreaking design for a map of the world. His map, the AuthaGraph World Map, isn’t your average map of the globe: It’s a near-perfect representation of the continents and oceans as they exist on our spherical planet, all laid out on a two-dimensional surface. https://totravelistol…

I’m not a fan of AuthaGraph at all. It has horrible distortion look at Brazil or Alaska - and it’s proprietary (creator never released the actual map details, so you can’t make your own...) The worst thing, in my eyes, is that the distortion is unpredictable. Looking at a map where Canada is too big, you can mentally imagine Canada as smaller. But you can’t mentally undo the multi-direction transformation of Alaska i…

"try tracing a straight line if you want a laugh" And on the Mercator projection, it too is also going to turn a straight line into a curved line. Draw a long enough line, and in a specific direction, it'll make an 'S' curve.

Personally, my favorite map to look at is the Goode homolosine projection. Also difficult for the usecase of navigation across oceans, but among continental comparisons, general shape and size, it's useful. Not all maps need to necessarily be used for navigation aeronautics, or seafaring.

Re: The True Size of Africa (2015)

#220

Post by sangnoir »

bandana wrote: post #116
sangnoir wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always surprised to hear people say "The world is overpopulated" - I'm thinking there's plenty of room to grow in regions that live sustainably.

What would those regions be ? The Sahara isn't overpopulated if you look at the density of population, but it can't really sustain anybody. I'm sure there are some rain forests left to cut so we can grow more food for 1 or 2 billions extra people, but what's the end goal ? The world is overpopulated.

Those would be the regions that live sustainably - e.g. low insecticide use, but currently have relatively low crop yields that can be improved by adopting some non-harmful modern techniques, like mechanization. You can also compare the average amount of garbage thrown out by a family - developed nations generate a lot of of waste and a lot of greenhouses. If we're capping population growth, the most wasteful regions should be the first.
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