Issue 13
World
Seshat Global History Databank. A database for human history.
- A good description from two academic participants who built Seshat from The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/the-horse-bit-and-bridle-kicked-off-ancient-empires-a-new-giant-dataset-tracks-the-societal-factors-that-drove-military-technology-170073
- https://seshatdatabank.info/
Ireland, South America, US
Spuds! We’re a few months from garden season (except in Pontotoc, Texas) so you all should add potatoes to your growing list. Oregon may soon make it the state vegetable. Great with me. The potato did have a ginormous geographic impact. Excerpt: Oregon has an official animal, bird and fish — the beaver, western meadowlark and chinook salmon, respectively. Pears are the official fruit, and hazelnuts the official nut. Dungeness crab is the official crustacean. There’s even an official fossil, the Metasequoia, designated in 2005. But since Oregon became a state in 1859, there’s never been an official vegetable. That could change this legislative session. State Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, is sponsoring a resolution that would make potatoes the official state vegetable of Oregon, crediting them as a “vital, versatile and easy-to-use food source for Oregonians from all cultural backgrounds and across all levels of income.”
- State resolution article: https://www.bendbulletin.com/business/resolution-would-designate-potatoes-as-oregon-state-vegetable/article_71e751ae-3519-5cab-a98f-aae3d2580a51.html
- Did you know Tater Tots were invented in Oregon? https://www.usfoods.com/great-food/food-trends/tater-tot-mania.html#:~:text=Tater%20tots%20were%20invented%20by,name%20owned%20by%20Ore%2DIda.
- Charlie, do you find Tater Tots in Ireland? The closest I recall are the fried breakfast potato planks.
- Some good detail in this article: https://www.eater.com/2017/8/28/16159710/tater-tots-ore-ida-history
- There are over 1000 varieties of potatoes grown world-wide. They have been cultivated since 5000 B.C.: https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/school-nutrition/pdf/fact-sheet-potato.pdf
- There are 151 known species of wild potato: https://cipotato.org/potato/wild-potato-species/
- And of course it was the failed crop that initiated the Great Irish Famine. Charlie worked on the Atlas of the Great Irish Famine: https://greatirishfamine.ie/
- 4 Maps: https://www.rte.ie/history/post-famine/2021/0324/1205908-the-effects-of-the-great-famine-explore-the-maps/
- More online info from the Atlas: https://www.rte.ie/source/1155070-atlas-of-the-great-irish-famine/
Australia
Remapping Australia’s ancient indigenous “superhighways”. I would dearly love to see this kind of modeling done over the whole world. This analysis of human diffusion across the globe is endlessly fascinating to me. There are earlier versions of this already published but this is a cool update.
- Popular press: https://phys.org/news/2023-02-remapping-superhighways-australians-reveals-year.html
- Full journal article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379123000197?via%3Dihub
US
Feb. 24, one of the biggest low pressure systems I’ve ever seen hit the west coast this week and is funneling into Los Angeles today. This thing stretches from Oregon all the way through California. Just massive. I know polar low pressures are gigantic but we don’t usually see them this far south.
United States, Northwest
“Downtown is not coming back.” I’d wager many, if not most, cities in the US are having similar problems as Seattle and San Francisco where tech workers are not coming back to work downtown. I think there is likely to be a big contrast to European Cities who mix workplaces and residences far better than we do in the US. And I think that’s the answer. Mix residences in. This is far harder than it sounds as these buildings are definitely not currently suited to be converted as residences (e.g. lack of plumbing). But, for long term resiliency this is the best governance policy to pursue.
GeoTech
A new python library, Geospatail Streamlit, has added spatial data and functions to Streamlit. Looks super cool.