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40 Maps That Will Help You Make Sense of the World

Thu, 2013-08-22 13:19 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

1. Where Google Street View is Available - Map by Google

submitted by Albert Gomez

twistedsifter.com - August 13, 2013

If you’re a visual learner like myself, then you know maps, charts and infographics can really help bring data and information to life. Maps can make a point resonate with readers and this collection aims to do just that.

Hopefully some of these maps will surprise you and you’ll learn something new.

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Map
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BEMS Market Will Grow To $5.6 Billion By 2020

Thu, 2013-08-08 18:34 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Albert Gomez

      

energymanagertoday.com - August 7, 2013

With commercial building operators facing pressure to reduce energy consumption and IT-based controls and monitoring becoming widespread, a perfect storm of factors has led to new software platforms for building energy management systems (BEMS), says Navigant Research, which predicts that the BEMS market will grow from $1.8 billion to $5.6 billion by 2020.

The Navigant report, Building Energy Management Systems — IT-Based Monitoring and Control Systems for Smart Buildings: Global Market Analysis and Forecasts, says the BEMS market represents one of the fastest-growing and most promising waves of innovation ever to occur in the building industry.

It cites factors such as the increased knowledge and proliferation of digital controls within the building stock in the industry, the high priority focus on energy efficiency among corporations and governments, and the advent of cloud-based data management and Big Data as the reason behind the explosive development of the BEMS market.

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Energy
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The Centre on Global Health Security at Chatham House

Sun, 2013-08-04 23:01 — Maeryn Obley

chathamhouse.org

The Centre on Global Health Security at Chatham House, headed by Professor David L Heymann CBE, examines key global health challenges and how they manifest themselves as foreign policy and international affairs problems. It seeks to help leaders around the world - in government, private foundations, international organizations and business - reach well-informed decisions that improve global health security. It does so by conducting independent research and analysis and facilitating dialogue between the international affairs and public health communities.

(VIEW WEBSITE)

(ABOUT THE CENTRE)

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Health
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David Cameron: The Big Society

Thu, 2013-08-01 15:12 — Kathy Gilbeaux

conservatives.com
Rt Hon David Cameron, Tuesday, November 10 2009

Speech (excerpt):

. . . I want to extend and deepen the argument I made in my party conference speech this year, that the size, scope and role of government in Britain has reached a point where it is now inhibiting, not advancing the progressive aims of reducing poverty, fighting inequality, and increasing general well-being. Indeed there is a worrying paradox that because of its effect on personal and social responsibility, the recent growth of the state has promoted not social solidarity, but selfishness and individualism.

But I also want to argue that just because big government has helped atomise our society, it doesn't follow that smaller government would automatically bring us together again. . .

(READ COMPLETE SPEECH)

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Policy
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Harvesting the Biosphere: What We Have Taken From Nature - Book Review by Bill Gates

Thu, 2013-08-01 12:45 — Kathy Gilbeaux

thegatesnotes.com

BOOK REVIEW

How Much of This Do We Use Up Every Year?

Written by: BILL GATES

. . . I mean everything that can be consumed on
Earth: plants, animals, all of it. And by "we" of
course I mean people.

It's such a big question that many people wouldn't even know where to start.

But if you care about understanding the impact that humans are having on the Earth, and what that means for our future, it's a crucial question. Vaclav Smil sets out to answer it in his book Harvesting the Biosphere: What We Have Taken From Nature.

(READ COMPLETE BOOK REVIEW)

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Capacity
Ecosystems
Environment
Food
Limits
Scarcity
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Slow Ideas - Some Innovations Spread Fast. How Do You Speed the Ones That Don’t?

Thu, 2013-07-25 18:51 — Kathy Gilbeaux

We yearn for frictionless, technological solutions. But people talking to people is still the way that norms and standards change. Illustration by Harry Campbell.

newyorker.com - by Atul Gawande - July 29, 2013

. . . In our era of electronic communications, we’ve come to expect that important innovations will spread quickly. Plenty do: think of in-vitro fertilization, genomics, and communications technologies themselves. But there’s an equally long list of vital innovations that have failed to catch on. The puzzle is why.

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Adaptation
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Mozilla Ignite Challenge - Real-Time Emergency Response

Tue, 2013-07-23 23:48 — Kathy Gilbeaux

                                                   (CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW TO ENLARGE)

      

mozillaignite.org - March 31, 2013

Mozilla Ignite is an open innovation challenge hosted by Mozilla and the National Science Foundation as part of the US Ignite initiative. The goal: imagine and build apps that show the full potential of next-generation networks, in areas that matter -- like healthcare, education, energy, manufacturing and public safety.

Real-Time Emergency Response - What problem are you intending to solve?

Detection, observation, and assessment of situations requiring intervention by emergency responders depends on high-quality "live" data.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Global
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Communication
Disaster Response
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Namibia Resilient System

Thu, 2013-07-11 05:41 — Tjivekumba Kandjii

What is the
"Resilience System"? 

Is a system that enables, to
measure the sustainable ability of a community to utilize available resources
to respond to, withstand, and recover from adverse situations.

 

The Namibian Resilient System

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Global
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Resilience
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Female Empowerment, Culture and National Pride in Afghanistan

Wed, 2013-07-03 22:45 — Kathy Gilbeaux

paxpopuli.org - by Maryam Safi - June 19, 2013

Editors note: On the 8th March 2013, people around the world celebrated international women’s day. Pax Populi did this by honouring the women of Afghanistan and raising awareness about their struggle for rights through the “Be Inspired” initiative, a webpage sharing with the world the triumphs, challenges and future visions of Afghan women, and in the following piece, the author, Maryam Safi, recounts how women in Afghanistan celebrated that day and how in doing so, they demonstrated their own empowerment and the greatness of their Afghan culture and traditions. 

Maryam Safi is an Afghan national born in Kabul in 1986.  Due to the civil war her family emigrated to Pakistan and Iran. She received her primary and secondary education outside of Afghanistan, but returned to Kabul where she graduated, from a girl’s high school.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Culture
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Pictures: The Life-Giving Nile River

Sun, 2013-06-30 00:22 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

A man surveys Nile River boat traffic near the Aswan High Dam in Egypt.  Photograph by Antonio Ribeiro, Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

nationalgeographic.com - December 19, 2012

Cruising the Nile River

This piece is part of Water Grabbers: A Global Rush on Freshwater, a special National Geographic Freshwater News series on how grabbing land—and water—from poor people, desperate governments, and future generations threatens global food security, environmental sustainability, and local cultures.

Pictures: The Life-Giving Nile River

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Global
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Rivers
Water
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