Posts tagged economics

Un iPad ou un pays? An iPad or independence?

The Economist covers the Scottish independence debate:

One poll found that just 21% of Scots would favour independence if it would leave them £500 ($795) a year worse off, and only 24% would vote to stay in the union even if they would be less well off sticking with Britain. Almost everyone else would vote for independence if it brought in roughly enough money to buy a new iPad, and against it if not.

…

If Scots really want independence for political or cultural reasons, they should go for it. National pride is impossible to price. But if they vote for independence they should do so in the knowledge that their country could end up as one of Europe’s vulnerable, marginal economies. In the 18th century, Edinburgh’s fine architecture and its Enlightenment role earned it the nickname “Athens of the North”. It would be a shame if that name became apt again for less positive reasons.

climateadaptation:

AMAZING map of the day. Track nearly every conceivable large cargo ship in the world. Just look at those sweet sweet oil tankers. Everything you need to know is right there: location, names of the ships, last port calls, length, itineraries, past tracks, speed. Oh man, I’m totally nerding out for the next hour! Peace out.

UPDATE: So sorry guys, I don’t know why these are distorted when you click them. If you know how to fix them, please let me know. Until then go to the map directly.

UPDATE II: Why this matters:

  • Imagine you ordered a book from Amazon.com, and it’s been two weeks. You’re like, yo, Amazon, where’s my book? And they track it for you. Now imagine you are the United States of America and you just bought $100 million in oil from Russia. You better believe that tanker is tracked!
  • Keeps tracks of delays. Every day lost can cost tens of thousands of dollars per ship.
  • Reroute ships around hurricanes, leaks, spills, migrating turtles, birds, hazards. 
  • Refuel points.
  • Universities use this to calculate how much carbon and pollution is dumped into the environment. Ships don’t have mufflers on their exhausts like cars do, they’re very dirty.
  • 15 (yes, fifteen) of the world’s largest ships pollute the equivalent of 760 MILLION cars (source). And there are over 90,000 ocean cargo ships.