Jeepney

Jeepney, originally uploaded by Raphael Borja.

At least one resident of Manila is sick of his city's portrayal in popular media. Carlos Celdran, a tour guide in Manila, expressed his anger at outsiders who come to the Philippines in search of only poverty, slums, and desperation. In response to a photographer searching for Manila's "bat people" he wrote,

" I have always been so confused about why is it that the negative side of Manila is what a lot of photographers and journalists are interested in. My request to these people in the past to show a balanced picture of Manila (a good side, as well as a bad one), has always been met with confused stares. It's as if Philippine middle class values, arts, heritage, and beauty in the "normal" sense isn't beautiful to them or worse, it won't sell. To many, the Philippines has become the cliche/easy picking for the grotesque and I will not enjoin this cause. Once again, my apologies if I offended you or seem a little politicized or upset, but poverty and bat people is NOT ALL that we are about." (via MetaFilter)

The photograph above is a "Jeepney." At the end of World War II, the American military abandoned hundreds of jeeps on the main island of the Philippines. Lavishly decorated and often crammed full of passengers these vehicles act like buses on the streets of Manila.

The name "Manila" derives from the Tagalog word "maynilad", a reference the white mangrove-like plants named "nilads". Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi took over Manila in 1570 ousting the Muslim Sultanate that originally settled it. Since that time the city had been under the control of the British and Americans before gaining independence in 1946.

Korea's Ginseng Market

/root - IMG_1040, originally uploaded by jeroen020.

The Latin name for the ginseng plant is Panax which means "all-heal." Carl Linnaeus, the man responsible for all those Latin names, had heard about the reported healing attributes of ginseng as the Chinese applied it. Since then the plant has become a staple of the alternative-medicine market. Ginseng boosters claim that the plant is effective against conditions as diverse as diabetes, male impotence, allergies, and cancer.

Because the actual chemical components of the ginseng plant cannot be patented for pharmaceutical purposes not much quantitative research has been preformed on its effects. Nevertheless many people in the East and West believe in the healing effects of ginseng. Some extremely wealthy Koreans are willing to pay many thousands of dollars for rare, wild ginseng plants.

The New York Times just reported that a 8.3 ounce ginseng plant sold for $65,000. The person who discovered the Lexus-of-plants claimed to have a spiritual experience before finding the plant on Mt. Sobaek, seeing "three pillars of fire." The struggling South Korean economy has driven many people into the mountains searching for the elusive root-plants.

The picture above is of Namdaemon market in Seoul, South Korea. Ginseng roots are preserved in jars and left on display for the market's patrons.

Seven (Several) Seas

One of the categories of Anna Sova's online color pallets (for wall finishes) is called "7/10 of the planet." The description goes on to list the seven seas of classical antiquity:

• Red Sea
• Mediterranean Sea
• Persian Gulf
• Black Sea
• Adriatic Sea
• Caspian Sea
• Indian Ocean

Curious about which cartographer coined the term I started to do some research. While I'm not trying to criticize the marketing staff at Anna Sova (who, in my opinion, have done a fantastic job of cataloging their many color options!) they might be a bit off about their listing.

At least four ancient nations described "seven seas," Hindus, Chinese, Persians, and Romans all called various bodies of water by this ambiguous name. The Romans dubbed the seven salty lagoons surrounding Venice such; the Hindus used it for the Punjab River; the Persians did the same for the Oxus River. This begs the question: why always seven?

Seven is held up as a sacred number by people around the world. There are seven days in a week, seven deadly sins, seven wonders of the world, seven "naked eye" solar bodies. Some people even suggest that seven is analogous to several: the use of the number seven might be a way of acknowledging the vast and unpredictable nature of water.

Rudyard Kipling might be responsible for the modern usage of the term. In 1896 he titled a collection of poems The Seven Seas. Nevertheless, modern attempts to mold the oceans of the world to the number seven seem contrived (dividing the Atlantic Pacific into North and South, for instance).

The Polar Bear Memorial

Уехать за горизонт, originally uploaded by Mothlike.

You won't find it in Arkhangelsk, the location of the "campaign." It's in Troy, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Allied commanders decided to deploy soldiers to Arkhangelsk after the conclusion of World War I. Their justification for this superbly dumb expedition was to defeat the Bolshevik armies and rejoin with the Czech Legion.

Fifteen hundred infantrymen from Michigan and Wisconsin were sent to fight over some of the coldest and most inhospitable terrain in the Northern Hemisphere. They joined an additional thirty five hundred British and French soldiers along the Murmansk coast; facing the White Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Their mission proved to be futile and directionless. Extreme cold, a shortage of supplies and the Spanish Flu combined with their unclear objectives deteriorated the troops morale.

After several public calls to bring "Detroit's Own" back home Woodrow Wilson (and the other Allied commanders) decided to pull the plug on the "Polar Bear Expedition." By the early summer of 1919 the soldiers began to return. It would take another ten years for the Russians to return the remains of the American dead. The Polar Bear Memorial in Troy has a quote from Stephen Decatur engraved on its base: "Our Country, in her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our Country, right or wrong."

The Great Lake of Cambodia

Reflection of living, originally uploaded by siggito.

High in the Chinese Himalayas the Mekong River begins its long journey to the sea. Parts of the river are strongly affected by the tropical climates of Southeast Asia. Melting snow combined with monsoons bring the river and its tributaries far beyond their dry season banks.

In Cambodia this torrential rain reverses the Mekong's flow. The water fills in the Tonlé Sap, or "Great Lake." During the dry season the small, marshy basin is at most around 3 feet deep. At the peak of the wet season the lake grows to six times its surface area and over sixty feet deep.

Less ingenious people might think of this region as uninhabitable. Cambodians, however, have built homes, businesses, churches and whole towns in the Tonlé Sap area. The house pictured above is designed to float with the rising waters. Other buildings are built on tall stilts (some over 30 feet tall).

Furthermore, the Tonlé Sap is a critical part of the region's economy. The lake/river water is ideal for fish breeding. Cambodians harvest shrimp, riel, and many other kinds of seafood from the pulsing lake.

City on Fire

Urbanity, originally uploaded by Piax.

Last Summer the conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border drew the world's attention. Hezbollah militants provoked Israel into launching a full scale war against its northern neighbor. Unexploded cluster bombs in southern Lebanon remain after the month-long war. These places remain abandoned for fear of unexpected detonations.

Although most of the fighting took place near the border, Lebanon's largest city and capital was also bombed by Israeli forces. The ancient city that modern Beirut is built over was poorly understood until archaeologists returned following Lebanon's 15 year civil war. They uncovered layers of Ottoman, Roman, Phoenician, and Hellenistic civilizations.

How did we get here?

Which of these is closer to reality? Which is more fun to watch?

Magic Highway USA (Distribution)
Uploaded by donaldtheduckie

I can't give you the answers. You have to decide for yourself. Via Great Lakes Guy and Paleo Future
.