Wonkistan

One of the stories we weren’t able to get to last week was the...

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:01:48 -0400

One of the stories we weren’t able to get to last week was the widely-circulated Xinhua report on KFC smuggling into the Gaza Strip. In brief, Gaza residents have such a hankering for Original Recipe and Extra Crispy chicken that they’re paying $30 for each bucket that comes from Egypt through illegal supply tunnels.

It was all over US media’s foreign coverage for a few days (like this on The Washington Post’s WorldViews blog). We certainly don’t blame the journalists who passed it around — it’s a fun, humanizing story that gives a personal angle on Israel’s harrowing blockade of Gaza. Moreover, it showcases the entrepreneurial spirit of the Egyptians and Palestinians who try to work around the impositions placed by Israel.

But at Arabist.net, Paul Mutter insists there’s more to the story:

According to the Canadian International Development Agency, 50% of the strip’s population is considered “food insecure.” While that number may be lower now, especially with the easing of bans on food imports, but it is still significant that food insecurity exists - just because people are not starving to death in the streets does not mean poor nutrition is less of a problem; developmental deficiencies, chronic illness and stunting are all consequences of food insecurity. Moreover, one of Ariel Sharon’s top aides reportedly said that the 2006–2010 ban on importing certain foodstuffs was meant to put the Palestinians on a “diet” by setting a “calorie limit.”

In other words, it’s about more than just smuggling a bucket of deep-fried Americana into a besieged part of the world. It’s about food and what it does to you. Which, as you know, makes this nuanced approach a perfect fit for Wonkistan.

(Photo: KFC in Alexandria, Egypt from Wikimedia Commons)

womenofthe113th: Modification of the last infographic....

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:01:42 -0400

womenofthe113th:

Modification of the last infographic. Congressladies + men = still a ways to go.

Source: Office of the Clerk

Wherein we suddenly realize that “party breakdown” is an exciting phrase, regardless of whether it’s referring to dance moves or Congress. This’ll go in our chart-heavy congressional file, thanks very much.

Despite scheduling complications and other things that command...

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:03:00 -0400

Despite scheduling complications and other things that command our attention, the editors of Wonkistan remain duty-bound to the maintenance of this blog.

Yes, we know a lot of stuff happened last week that we didn’t cover. We know that it happened. We’re figuring out our work/tumblr balance as our lives develop. Thanks for your patience.

Like cracked-out tapdancing Ken Cosgrove, we soldier on. (Also, is that not one hell of a .gif? Well done, giphy!)

In case we haven’t sold you yet, a few more reasons to be...

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:02:11 -0400

In case we haven’t sold you yet, a few more reasons to be REALLY EXCITED for the Eurovision finals tomorrow:

The final votes are announced by videoconference live from each country, and the announcers are FABULOUS. Look out for it.
Entries from recent years! Sjonni’s Friends with the vests and the cryptic cheek kisses! Germany’s 2010 win with Lena’s “Satellite”! The amazingly retro sassiness of Serbia! The lunacy of Moldova!
Excellent blog Bright Young Things’ roundup of favorite entries.
Livetweeting from yours truly, here and here. What more can we say?

Join us on Saturday at 3 pm ET for the finals!

Happy Thursday! Yesterday we introduced our crash course on...

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:03:00 -0400

Happy Thursday! Yesterday we introduced our crash course on the Eurovision Song Contest. Today’s installment: the politics of Eurovision.

Each participating country has 12 votes to spend in the final round, whether or not they make it in themselves. Half of those 12 votes comes from a jury, and the other half comes from phone voting within the country. The scoring system is very confusing, but maximum score a country can award is all 12 of its votes — the famous “douze points.”

These voting patterns make the contest very interesting from a geopolitical perspective. Big rival countries often cancel out each other’s successes, while small neighboring countries tend to make informal alliances, which may be why tiny Azerbaijan won in 2011. (Example of a stable voting alliance: Cyprus has always given its 12 points to Greece, and will continue to do so until it sinks into the Mediterranean.)

Entries can also reflect countries’ internal political debates. While the overwhelming majority of winners perform in gloriously accented English in order to appeal to the broadest possible audience, France has almost always submitted its entry in French, with the recent exception of the minority Corsican language. Spain, which has much more controversy over minority languages and cultures, has never had a contestant perform in a language other than Spanish. This year it’s offering “Contigo hasta el final” by Asturian band El sueño de Morfeo, which features some very distinctively northwestern Iberian bagpipes. For more on language, politics, and culture in Eurovision, check out this 2010 New Yorker essay by Anthony Lane.

The winning country hosts the contest the following year. This led to some uncomfortable crackdowns on dissenters in Azerbaijan last year to keep the show running smoothly, though we’re not expecting anything like that in Sweden this year. Check back tomorrow for more Eurovision coverage!

(Above: that’s Azerbaijan, silly.)

In case you haven’t heard, the Eurovision Song Contest is this week. Eurovision is a bizarre...

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:02:58 -0400

In case you haven’t heard, the Eurovision Song Contest is this week. Eurovision is a bizarre creature that takes some explaining—basically, it’s X Factor for all of Europe, where each participating country sends an act to represent them in the finals (which air this Saturday!). Eurovision sometimes produces hits (hi, ABBA) and sometimes forces an entire continent to watch unicycling gnome punks (thanks, Moldova).

We are SO ENTHUSIASTIC about Eurovision that we are going to watch the finals together, livetweeting, possibly liveblogging(!), and hosting a G+ hangout afterward if time permits. Won’t you join us? The finals are on Saturday at 9:00 pm in Malmö (which is 6 hours ahead of the east coast of the US). You will be able to watch it online.

And because there are a lot of non-Europeans who have never heard of Eurovision before, we’ll be posting pre-show primers daily for the rest of the week. The voting rules, geopolitics, and hilarious past entrants are worth looking out for.

Keep your eye on your dash/RSS feed for more Eurovision! Ciao for now!

(Images: Wikimedia Commons 1, 2)

oupacademic: mypubliclands: The Federal Government on...

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:03:11 -0400

Photograph of Civilian Conservation Corps Enrollee Planting a Tree ARC Identifier 594253. todaysdocument.tumblr.com

Students in Guyana are happy that Peace Corps Volunteer Tka Tyne helped revive their local learning center! peacecorps.tumblr.com

2 days ago – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry laughs after getting a hug from Ryousei, an 18-month-old he met while touring the Zojoji Shrine, in Tokyo. statedept.tumblr.com

Will the Base Runner Start for Third? by Clifford Berryman, 8/17/1906, U.S. Senate Collection (ARC 6010644) -- Congressarchives.tumblr.com

Gorgeous sunrise photo at Tipsoo Pond in Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington. AmericasGreatOutdoors.tumblr.com

oupacademic:

mypubliclands:

The Federal Government on Tumblr

Increasingly, Federal agencies (like us here at the Bureau of Land Management) are using Tumblr to share photos, science, events, initiatives, and other great content with the Tumblr community. Here’s a list of some awesome Federal government blogs you should be following on Tumblr. It’s probably not exhaustive, but these are the ones we know about that post more than occasionally.

Reblog and help share the word:

America’s Great Outdoors: The Department of the Interior (our parent agency) shares an amazing photo a day of your public lands.

Archivist of the United States: The Tumblr of our “collector in chief” at the National Archives, David S Ferriero.

Bureau of Reclamation: Reclamation, and Interior Dept agency, is the largest wholesale water supplier and the second largest producer of hydroelectric power in the United States, with operations and facilities in the 17 Western States.

Congress in the Archives: Since the First Congress in 1789, the records of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have documented the history of the legislative branch. The National Archives helps you explore this history.

Conservation at Work: The Natural Resources Conservation Service, part of the Department of Agriculture, posts photos of conservation on farms and other private lands across the nation.

Fish and Wildlife Service: The Pacific Region of the FWS encompasses extraordinary ecological diversity. Photos, science, and more.

Internal Revenue Service: Because who doesn’t want tax information on Tumblr? Useful tips, videos, etc., straight from the IRS.

My Public Lands: The awesomeness of the Bureau of Land Management, which manages more than 245 million acres of amazing lands, as told by students, interns, and newer employees.

Our Presidents: One space to bring the past 13 Presidents together. Discover behind-the-scenes history here. Managed by the National Archives.

National Archives: News and current events from the United States National Archives and Records Administration whose holdings include the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, military records, Presidential records, and millions of other documents related to the Federal Government.

Peace Corps: Life is calling. How far will you go? Get up close with the amazing work done by peace corps volunteers.

U.S. Department of State: Videos, photos, testimony, and updates from the State Department. Foreign policy updates on Tumblr—how cool is that?

Today’s Document: Highlighting interesting documents the National Archives’ holdings—both the well-known and the obscure—to observe historical events (usually the significant events but sometimes just the curious ones).

USA.gov: Government made easy. On Tumblr. Enough said.

US National Archives Exhibits: Images and stories from the National Archives related to “Searching for the Seventies: the DOCUMERICA Photography Project,” the newest exhibition on display at the Archives’ facility in Washington, DC.

New resources for scholars alert! How thrilled are we to have so many resources right in the Tumblr dashboard?

Your Tumblr dashboard is already full of US federal agencies, right?

"Abstruse dark ale brings unexpected compost-wafted rauchbier-like cedar burn to dry cocoa-powdered..."

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:03:20 -0400

“Abstruse dark ale brings unexpected compost-wafted rauchbier-like cedar burn to dry cocoa-powdered Baker’s chocolate provocation. Smoky wet-wooded campfire setting outdoes dirty-grained astringency, tar-like raw molasses bittering, fig souring and anise seeding, disrupting stylistic mocha influence.”

- John Fortunato reviewing the Long Ireland Brewery’s Black Friday Imperial Ale, aka the best beer review your editors have ever read. (via @tristyn_bloom)

Experience David Foster Wallace’s famous “This is...

Thu, 09 May 2013 18:02:49 -0400

Experience David Foster Wallace’s famous “This is Water” commencement address, given at Kenyon College in 2005, in a whole new way with this short film by The Glossary. Gosh, DFW is great.

(Via Open Culture)

We really love Jeffrey Kluger’s new timelapse of world change...

Thu, 09 May 2013 15:02:19 -0400

We really love Jeffrey Kluger’s new timelapse of world change for Time Magazine. Watch the Amazon shrink and Dubai and Las Vegas grow in the span of just a few seconds.

(If we could gif it, we would! But we can’t! #luddites)

"It’s like throwing a Lolita-themed children’s birthday party."

Wed, 08 May 2013 18:02:24 -0400

“It’s like throwing a Lolita-themed children’s birthday party.”

- Zachary M. Seward thinks Great Gatsby parties are entirely missing the point.

Today’s Google Doodle (viewable on Google’s front...

Wed, 08 May 2013 15:02:21 -0400

Today’s Google Doodle (viewable on Google’s front page, or else here on YouTube) is an elaborate tribute to Saul Bass, who designed dozens of title sequences and posters for the movies over a 40-year career. Today would have been his 93rd birthday.

Besides his iconic film work, he also left an indelible mark on the world of advertising, designing logos from AT&T to the Girl Scouts of the USA.

(Posters: Wikimedia Commons)

Under the splendid headline “The Russians Are...

Tue, 07 May 2013 18:02:16 -0400

Under the splendid headline “The Russians Are Shrinking!”, Oliver Bullough points out the demographic challenges facing Russia’s population today. While the above graph seems to show the fertility rate catching up to the mortality rate, Bullough explains that other factors could lead to a massive collapse in the coming decades. In particular, the twentysomethings who constitute Russia’s most common childbearing cohort are beginning to enter their 30s — and 20 years of laxitude toward the alcohol industry have ravaged the health and productivity of the country’s population, especially its men.

As Bullough writes, “The Russians have fought off many enemies, from Napoleon to Hitler, and the men who led them in those fights earned chapters in the history books. But Mr. Putin will be remembered as the man who failed to defend the Russians against the most terrible enemy of all: their own love of vodka.”

(Graph: Wikimedia Commons)

The Man Too Handsome for Saudi Arabia Who Wasn't

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:01:53 -0400

The Man Too Handsome for Saudi Arabia Who Wasn't:

In the interest of nuanced journalism, we direct to you to islawmix’s clarification of that story from a few weeks ago:

While the laughs and light-hearted news from the oil lands of strife are being welcomed by news readers and makers as a nice departure from the usual headlines, this sort of misreporting is not only common but feeds into dangerous and reductionist stereotypes of Muslims and Muslim countries, especially as these stereotypes relate to gender and sexuality’s interplay with Islamic law. Somewhere the story of an awkward dancer making families uncomfortable and the story of a member of the religious police being removed from the same festival crossed paths to create a ‘sexy’ news story that just made sense enough for the imagined Saudi Arabia.

Many Eastern Christians celebrated Easter (Pascha) yesterday,...

Mon, 06 May 2013 18:02:30 -0400

Many Eastern Christians celebrated Easter (Pascha) yesterday, due to differences between the Gregorian and Julian calendars.

It has been an especially precarious Lent and Holy Week in many parts of the Arab world. On April 22, two bishops belonging to different Orthodox churches were abducted by armed rebels in Syria, leading to demands for their release from Pope Francis and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Their status remains unknown.

And in Egypt, President Mohamed Morsi declined to attend Easter services at Cairo’s Coptic cathedral, breaking with long-standing tradition and exacerbating tensions between the government and the recently beleaguered Coptic Christian community.

Their situation is unlikely to improve. A comprehensive survey released last week by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reveals that, for example, 64% of Egyptian Muslims support implementation of the death penalty for apostates from Islam. The freedom to change one’s religion is widely recognized as a key indicator of a country’s treatment of minority believers, and this number ought to make many Egypt-watchers uneasy.

Around the same time, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom reported on the worsening climate for Christians and other non-Muslims in Egypt, designating it a “country of particular concern.” The Commission has also singled out Turkey for unwelcome developments that face religious minorities.

Why do these stories fail to attract substantive public attention in the West? Blame may partly rest with the US government, where the independent Commission (established by Congress) has somewhat different goals from the International Religious Freedom office at the State Department. Meanwhile, the White House has preferred a strategy of gentle coercion over full-voiced criticism, although that’s had uneven results among allies such as Bahrain.

It’s also just easy to ignore religious minorities, who are “exceptions to the rule” in many societies. Whether they’re Christians who fear persecution if Syrian rebels gain the upper hand, or Rohingya Muslims being slaughtered by Buddhists in Myanmar, they challenge our narratives and our streamlining adjectives like “majority-Muslim” by their mere presence. Acknowledging the presence of religious minorities demands that we imagine the world more complexly than we like.

(Photo: Altar boys in Gaza, via joegaza/flickr)

"Alexis Madrigal, Conor Friedersdorf, Garance Franke-Ruta, and Geoffrey Gagnon? Not to mention the..."

Mon, 06 May 2013 15:01:55 -0400

“Alexis Madrigal, Conor Friedersdorf, Garance Franke-Ruta, and Geoffrey Gagnon? Not to mention the incomparable Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg. I don’t know who she is but she deserves her own public radio show.”

- NPR’s Neda Ulaby, ragging on The Atlantic’s own staff names… in an Atlantic piece on those purportedly unusual NPR names.

cartographerswithoutborders: Austin to Boston with a Leaf is no...

Wed, 01 May 2013 18:02:28 -0400

cartographerswithoutborders:

Austin to Boston with a Leaf is no problem. By popular request, here’s a more detailed map of driving distance from electric car charging stations. I learned a bunch of stuff making these maps. Did you know?

Most electric cars can charge at a normal wall outlet

Most come with a fancy home fast charger, or you can buy one for a few hundred dollars

Five-passenger 75-mile-range electric cars are now available to some folks for <$20k after tax credits

92% of Americans commute less than 70 miles/day

You can always rent a car if you absolutely need to get to Wyoming

Other datasets contain more charging stations, and more are being built all the time

I don’t have an electric car, but they’re worth considering if you’re going to buy a car. I wouldn’t’ve said that a couple years ago.

“if you absolutely need to get to Wyoming”

In our continuing coverage of underappreciated holidays, today...

Wed, 01 May 2013 15:02:09 -0400

In our continuing coverage of underappreciated holidays, today is May 1st, celebrated in many places around the world as International Workers’ Day! While its observance in the US is not widespread (because of its origins in the unpleasant Haymarket Incident and subsequent association with the Soviet Union), it’s a good reason to indulge in a bit of vintage propaganda artwork. It’s also worth reading about ongoing struggles for workers’ rights and the freedom of assembly from Turkey to Bangladesh.

However, many groups around the US do observe International Workers’ Day, such as Occupy Wall Street and allied groups in New York City. As they did in 2012, workers and students are striking today and demonstrating in Union Square at noon. It is a powerful experience, especially in an age where more mass protests are online than in person.

Those beaming Khrushchev-era children come courtesy of RIA-Novosti. The other images, appropriately, are in the public domain.

The collected works of William Shakespeare and the King James...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:02:16 -0400

The collected works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible are both from around the early 17th century, and both have had an incalculable impact on modern English. As a result, it might be a little hard to tell them apart.

Fortunately, Oxford University Press has an adorable quiz that tests your knowledge of both. Let us know how you did!

wnyc: dyingtobeadyingswan: Georgian traditional dance is...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:03:09 -0400

wnyc:

dyingtobeadyingswan:

Georgian traditional dance is crazy

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! —A.P.

One does not simply mess with the Caucasus.