Issue 9

World

Something for Charlie - Wild lager yeast seemingly was lost in Europe but has finally been found in the wild in Ireland:

• https://www.newscientist.com/article/2350277-ancient-yeast-used-to-brew-the-first-lagers-discovered-in-ireland/

Best transit systems ranked:

• https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-21/these-cities-have-the-best-public-transit-systems

London gentrification tracking:

• https://citygeographics.org/2022/12/15/tracking-gentrification-in-london-and-manchester-using-the-2021-census-occupational-class-data/

India has a growing wine industry:

• https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62993189

Known as the “Crystal Eye” to the Inuit, marvel at meteor impact Pingualuit Crater in Nunavut, Canada. The second clearest lake water in the world.

• https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220403-an-icy-mystery-deep-in-arctic-canada

There’s a new mapping organization. Overture Maps Foundation is the org, and participating companies are Amazon AWS, Meta, Microsoft, TomTom, and the Linux Foundation to build interoperable, open-source map data. OSM is not mentioned. There are lots of legacy reasons OSM may not be ideal for the “metaverse” or autonomous driving. But I wouldn’t bet on TomTom when Google maps, Apple maps, HERE maps, and OSM are all much further along then this new foundation. But, here’s the weird thing for me based on this quote “Overture won’t be a mapping service. You’re not going to log in and ask how to get from point A to point B.” So, what the hell is it? Metaverse maps for AR/VR? Certainly Amazon has a big interest in getting from point A to B. “Where’s this going to go? I’m not entirely sure,” said Dolan (SVP and GM of projects at the Linux Foundation). Clearly.

• https://venturebeat.com/virtual/creating-the-ultimate-smart-map-with-new-map-data-initiative-launched-by-linux-foundation/
• More info at their site: https://overturemaps.org/
• Spendy little org: https://overturemaps.org/become-a-member/

US

For those interested in Electoral College in the 21st Century, this is quite thorough.

• https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/the-electoral-college-in-the-21st-century/

How the Transcontinental railroad forever changed the US.

• https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20221212-how-the-transcontinental-railroad-forever-changed-the-us
• Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford University:http://web.stanford.edu/group/chineserailroad/cgi-bin/website/
• Irish immigrants were laborers as well:
  • https://www.uen.org/transcontinentalrailroad/downloads/G7IrishWorkersTranscontinentalRailroad.pdf
  • https://utahhistoricalmarkers.org/cat/rr/irish-railroad-workers/
• Next time you go visit Eric in Ogden, stop in and check out Golden Spike National Historical Park: https://goo.gl/maps/2Fjk3xj6qdbJ4jFB6