A Journey Through Asia

Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam in particular. Absolutely beautiful. Via Andrew Sullivan.

As Lone As God And White As A Winter Moon

Joaquin Miller – Life Amongst The Modocs, 1874:

As lone as God and white as a winter moon, Mount Shasta starts up suddenly from the heart of the great black forests of California.

You would hardly call Mount Shasta a part of the Sierras; you would say rather that it is the great white tower of some ancient and eternal wall, with here and there the white walls overthrown.

It has no rival! There is not even a snow crowned subject in sight of its dominion. A shining pyramid in everlasting mail of frosts and ice, the sailor sometimes, in a day of singular clearness, catches glimpses of it from the sea a hundred miles away to the west; and it may be seen from the dome of the capitol 340 miles distant. The immigrant coming from the east beholds the snowy, solitary pillar from afar out on the arid sage-brush plains, and lifts his hands in silence as if in answer to a sign.

Ultraefficient Urban Farming?

Stewart Brand has a very bold article appropriately titled How slums can save the planet about the benefits (while admitting some of the real problems) of highly compacted urban environments. One paragraph about urban farming really struck me and I’m very curious to hear whether it’s actually accurate and sustainable. If so it makes for some very interesting possibilities:

One idea that could be transferred from squatter cities is urban farming. An article by Gretchen Vogel in Science in 2008 enthused: “In a high-tech answer to the ‘local food’ movement, some experts want to transport the whole farm shoots, roots, and all to the city. They predict that future cities could grow most of their food inside city limits, in ultraefficient greenhouses… A farm on one city block could feed 50,000 people with vegetables, fruit, eggs, and meat. Upper floors would grow hydroponic crops; lower floors would house chickens and fish that consume plant waste.”