#Association of Southeast

[thecurioustale]

The "Middle West"

I was recently watching Trump speak (not something I typically do 🤢), and the most interesting thing he said had nothing to do with anything he was actually talking about: It was that he used the term Middle West to refer to that generally north-central part of the United States, centered on the Mississippi River, that is neither the South nor the Northeast (nor the Mid-Atlantic, but that's really just a subcategory of the Northeast that Northeasterns use to not get lumped in with each other).

We all know it today as the Midwest. But in times past it was much more commonly known as the Middle West.

(Tangent: It is also one of many geographical region-name reminders of our national East Coast beginnings, as America has like six different kinds of "West": the Midwest, the Southwest, the (Pacific) Northwest, the Mountain West / Interior West, the West Coast / Pacific West—and that's not counting the deprecated terms (such as "Far West," i.e. distinguished from the Midwest) or the old Northwest (which would've referred to places like Ohio and (what we know as) West Virginia)!)

Over the course of the 20th century, "Midwest" became an increasingly common form of the term, eventually overtaking "Middle West" in popularity and, by our lifetimes, completely replacing it. The only people who still use "Middle West" today are very old. I'm only aware of the term's existence because I'm a fan of midcentury media and if you go watch (for example) old Dragnet episodes from the 1950s you'll hear the term used.

I was looking at the Google Ngram Viewer to get a sense of the relative usage frequencies of these terms, and I noticed something interesting: Not only has "Middle West" been driven almost extinct from active usage, but "Midwest" itself has also declined precipitously in the 21st century. People today are not calling the Midwest the "Midwest," at least not with the frequency and relevancy they once did. I was curious if this was another permutation of the usage, so I also looked up "Midwestern" (which I included in the link above), thinking that maybe people nowadays are calling it the clunkier "the Midwestern states" / "the Midwestern US," but the adjectival has declined in step with "Midwest." It really does seem to be that people are just using this geographical category less often.

Perhaps unsurprisingly: the sociopolitical cohesiveness of the Midwest has significantly diminished over time. I think most Midwesterners would still recognize and affiliate with the term if you applied it of them to their faces, but increasingly I think many of them do not think of it in their daily lives as a personal or cultural identifier. Which has many fascinating implications that I'm not going to get into.

(Another Tangent: I feel like I've talked about specifically this "Middle West / Midwest" thing on Tumblr before, but I feel that way about half of everything because after all I've been writing down my thoughts for over 20 years and I've been having thoughts for considerably longer than that, and it's often not clear to me what I've talked about publicly and where.)

Anyway, this entire post is really just me scratching the itch of verbal brain noise about the orange guy using a term in a public address that I never hear people use in the present day. A little piece of lost language, hearkening back to a completely different era and world.

[roysexton]

“‘Happiness comes in on tiptoe…’ Finding (and keeping) your voice” … and at #LMASE24 my time on the LMA International Board begins to come to an end. I will be forever grateful.

I suppose after the last couple of remarkable days at LMA Southeast Region’s SOLD OUT “Accelerate” #LMASE24 conference, two words stick in my craw: “Thank you.” More photos here. Thank you to the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International for being my professional home for education, development, connection, commiseration since 2012. Thank you to this industry and profession for being a…

[solrazo]

Chinabank renews partnership with LinkedIn to empower employees, boost talent mobility

In line with its commitment to employee development and talent mobility, Chinabank renewed its engagement with LinkedIn for enterprise learning and hiring solutions. The contract signing took place on June 27 at the Chinabank Academy in Makati City. Chinabank Chief Finance Officer Patrick Cheng and LinkedIn Learning APAC Head Georgina O’Brien (4th and 5th from left, respectively) sign the…

[sydbarrettism]

i lowkey have a grudge on this one new wave musician that i will not name because he is this webbed site's darling. peace and love

[reasonsforhope]

"A century of gradual reforestation across the American East and Southeast has kept the region cooler than it otherwise would have become, a new study shows.

The pioneering study of progress shows how the last 25 years of accelerated reforestation around the world might significantly pay off in the second half of the 21st century.

Using a variety of calculative methods and estimations based on satellite and temperature data from weather stations, the authors determined that forests in the eastern United States cool the land surface by 1.8 – 3.6°F annually compared to nearby grasslands and croplands, with the strongest effect seen in summer, when cooling amounts to 3.6 – 9°F.

The younger the forest, the more this cooling effect was detected, with forest trees between 20 and 40 years old offering the coolest temperatures underneath.

“The reforestation has been remarkable and we have shown this has translated into the surrounding air temperature,” Mallory Barnes, an environmental scientist at Indiana University who led the research, told The Guardian.

“Moving forward, we need to think about tree planting not just as a way to absorb carbon dioxide but also the cooling effects in adapting for climate change, to help cities be resilient against these very hot temperatures.”

The cooling of the land surface affected the air near ground level as well, with a stepwise reduction in heat linked to reductions in near-surface air temps.

“Analyses of historical land cover and air temperature trends showed that the cooling benefits of reforestation extend across the landscape,” the authors write. “Locations surrounded by reforestation were up to 1.8°F cooler than neighboring locations that did not undergo land cover change, and areas dominated by regrowing forests were associated with cooling temperature trends in much of the Eastern United States.”

By the 1930s, forest cover loss in the eastern states like the Carolinas and Mississippi had stopped, as the descendants of European settlers moved in greater and greater numbers into cities and marginal agricultural land was abandoned.

The Civilian Conservation Corps undertook large replanting efforts of forests that had been cleared, and this is believed to be what is causing the lower average temperatures observed in the study data.

However, the authors note that other causes, like more sophisticated crop irrigation and increases in airborne pollutants that block incoming sunlight, may have also contributed to the lowering of temperatures over time. They also note that tree planting might not always produce this effect, such as in the boreal zone where increases in trees are linked with increases in humidity that way raise average temperatures."

-via Good News Network, February 20, 2024

[ranjith11]

The Silent Rise of ASEAN | asean global superpower | Geography facts

In this video, the Geography Guru takes you on an incredible journey into the heart of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 🌍 Dive deep with us as we unveil the silent yet robust ascendancy of ASEAN, a crucial alliance that often goes unnoticed. From its humble beginnings in Bangkok, Thailand, to becoming an economic powerhouse with a strong cultural foundation, ASEAN is truly a force to reckon with. Join us as we explore this remarkable journey.

[headspace-hotel]

The knowledge of some common plants

Since many people don't know most of the plants around them, this is information on some plants that are commonly seen in many places throughout the world

This is Lamium purpureum, also called Purple Deadnettle.

It's called deadnettle because it looks like a nettle but it doesn't sting you

This plant is a winter annual—it grows its leaves in the fall, lasts through the winter, and blooms and dies in the spring

Its pollen is reddish orange. If you see bees with their heads stained reddish orange, it is likely because they have visited Purple Deadnettle

This is Trifolium repens, white clover

It is a legume (belongs to the bean family) and fixes nitrogen using symbiosis with bacteria that live in little nodules on its roots, fertilizing the soil

It is a good companion plant for the other members of a lawn or garden since it is tough, adaptable, and improves soil quality. According to my professor it used to be in lawn mixes, until chemical companies wanted to sell a new herbicide that would kill broadleaved plants and spare grass, and it was slandered as a weed :(

It is native only to Europe and Central Asia, but in the lawns they are doing more good than harm most places

Honeybees love to visit clover

Four-leaf clovers are said to be lucky

This is Achillea millefolium, Common Yarrow

It has had a relationship with humans since Neanderthals were around, at least 60,000 years, since Neanderthals have been found buried with Yarrow

Its leaves have been used to stop bleeding throughout history, and its scientific name comes from how Achilles was said to have used Yarrow to stop the blood from the wounds of his soldiers. A leaf rolled into a ball has been used to stop nosebleeds

It is a native species all throughout Eurasia and North America

This is Cichorium intybus, known as Chicory

The leaves look a lot like dandelion leaves, until in mid-spring when it begins growing a woody green stem straight up into the air

Like many other weeds, it has a symbiotic relationship with humans, existing in a mix of domesticated or partially domesticated and wild populations

It is native to Eurasia, but widespread in North America on roadsides and disturbed places, where it descended from cultivated plants

Its root contains large amounts of inulin, which is used as a sweetener and fiber supplement (if you look at the ingredients on the granola bars that have extra fiber, they usually are partly made of chicory root) and has also been used as a coffee substitute

A large variety of bees like to feed upon it

This is Phytolacca americana, known as Pokeweed

It is easily identified by its huge leaves and its waxy, bright magenta stem

It can grow more than nine feet tall from a sprout in a single summer!

If you squish the berries, the juice inside is a shocking magenta that is so bright it almost burns your eyes. For this reason many Native American people used it for pink and purple dye.

It is a heavy metal hyperaccumulator, particularly good for removing cadmium from the soil

All parts of the plant are poisonous and will make you very sick if you eat them, however if the leaves are picked when very young and boiled 3 times, changing out the water each time, they can be eaten, and this is a traditional food in the rural American Southeast, but I don't want to chance it

British people have introduced it as a pretty, exotic ornamental plant. I think that is very funny considering that here it is a weed associated with places where poor people live, but maybe they're right and I need to look closer to see the beauty.

If you see magenta stains in bird poop it is because they ate pokeweed berries- birds can safely eat the berries whereas humans cannot

This is Plantago lanceolata, Ribwort Plantain

It grows in heavily disturbed soils, in fact it is considered an indicator of agricultural activity. It is successful in the poorest, heaviest and most compacted soil.

The leaves, seeds, and flower heads are said to be edible but the leaves are really stringy unless they are very young. Of course, it is important to be careful when eating wild plants, and make sure you have identified the plant correctly and the soil is not contaminated

I have also heard the strings in the leaves can be extracted and used for textile purposes

and that's some common plants you might often see throughout the world

[xtruss]

A file photo shows ground parched by drought. The climate is changing in the U.S. Huseyin Bostanci/Getty Images

Sudden Shifts From Drought to Floods Are Getting More Common in the U.S.

— By Robyn White | August 31, 2023

Sudden shifts from drought conditions to heavy floods are becoming more common in the U.S. as the climate changes, a study has found.

The findings were presented in a study published in Communications Earth & Environment. Researchers from the University of Texas, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Research Institute for Land and Space, and Columbia University's Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, also found that so-called feedback loops—a process that can either increase or decrease the effects of greenhouse gases—are likely contributing.

"We are especially concerned with the sudden shift from drought to flood," co-author Zong-Liang Yang, a professor at The University of Texas at Austin Jackson School of Geosciences, said in a statement on the findings. "Society usually has difficulty responding to one kind of natural disaster like drought, but now you suddenly have floods too. And this has been happening in many places."

The findings were reached based on four decades of meteorological and hydrological data from hotspots around the world, including eastern North America, Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, southern Australia, southern Africa and southern South America, according to the statement.

Over time, from 1980 to 2020, researchers found that such whiplash trends in the weather increased approximately a quarter of a percent to 1% per year. These extreme shifts in weather patterns have manifested in parts of the U.S. recently, and in California in particular.

The state, which has been suffering from extreme drought conditions in recent years, was battered with record amounts of rainfall from December 2022 until early spring this year. The storms were so severe that catastrophic flooding was seen in many places.

While many thought that the increase in wet weather may help ease the drought, experts have warned that it will only be a short-term solution. As the drought in the western U.S. has stretched on for so long, it will still take years of above average rainfall for the region to fully recover.

Other factors as well as climate change may be contributing to these sudden weather changes, including the El Niño and La Niña climate patterns.

Feedback loops can also be to blame. Researchers found that during periods of heavy drought in humid areas, precipitation is pushed into the air, providing an additional moisture source, the study reported. This can then cause heavy rainfall.

Periods of drought in arid regions, can also see hot weather and low pressure colliding together, drawing moisture from other sources, such as the ocean.

"Climate change is fueling back-to-back droughts and floods which have caused widespread devastation, resulting in loss of life and damage to property, infrastructure, and the environment," said co-author Shuo Wang, an associate professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. "Our findings provide insights into the development of early warning systems for mitigating the impacts of rapid dry-wet transitions."

[thejewishlink]

Israel, Vietnam Sign Free-Trade Agreement

By Pesach Benson • 25 July, 2023   Jerusalem, 25 July, 2023 (TPS) — Israel and Vietnam signed a free trade agreement in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Minister of Economy and Industry Nir Barkat announced. It is Israel’s first free trade agreement with a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The agreement was signed by Barkat and his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Hong Dien in the…

[southeastasianarchaeology]

[Call for Papers] Association of Mainland Southeast Asia Scholars Conference

The Association of Mainland Southeast Asia Scholars is organising an online conference in November, and the call for papers included submissions in archaeology. Deadline is 30 July 2023.

The Association of Mainland Southeast Asia Scholars is organising an online conference in November, and the call for papers included submissions in archaeology. Deadline is 30 July 2023. AMSEAS welcomes papers from the full range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences with a focus on the mainland Southeast Asia region, including Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Key…

[onthemoonarts]

FEMINIST BUZZKILLS LIVE PODCAST TAPING IN ATLANTA HOSTS: LIZZ WINSTEAD (Co-Creator of The Daily Show) MOJI ALAWODE-EL (Abortion Access Front) SPECIAL GUESTS: BARON VAUGHN SPARK REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE NOW FEMINIST WOMEN’S HEALTH CENTER ARC - SOUTHEAST & SUMMIT MEDICAL ASSOCIATES

Thursday, July 20 @ Terminal West (Atlanta, GA)

Buy tickets!

[carlocarrasco]

Philippines aiming for 3-4 gold medals in the 32nd SEA Games

Even as the Philippines will be sending a reduced number of athletes to the 32nd edition of the Southeast Asian Games (also referred to as SEA Games and Cambodia 2023) in Cambodia anticipating a tough battle ahead, the nation’s triathlon team is aiming high to achieve SEA Games triathlon gold medal success there this May, according to a Philippine Star sports news report. Take note that the SEA…

[reportwire]

Biden working on ties with Southeast Asia in shadow of China

Biden working on ties with Southeast Asia in shadow of China

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — President Joe Biden is formally kicking off his participation at a conference of southeast Asian nations on Saturday, looking to emphasize the United States’ commitment in the region where a looming China is also working to expand its influence. Biden’s efforts at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit are meant to lay the groundwork ahead of his highly…

[evan-collins90]

"Movie Theater McDonald's" - Raleigh, NC (1984)

"To commemorate McDonald's thirtieth anniversary, regional managers were asked to select one property in their respective areas that would be shaped into a one-of-a-kind design. Bruce Wunner, the chain's southeast regional manager, chose a newly acquired site in Raleigh: a circa 1920 building last used as a movie theater (first opened as the Varsity Theatre in 1941) and located on busy Hillsborough Street. The fact that the interior of the building was laid out like a theater, and the fact that McDonald's was founded in 1955, gave Perry & Plummer Design Associates (Wilmington and Raleigh, North Carolina) the inspiration for the design theme. The stage was set for a fifties diner articulated within the shell of the old theater."

Architecture by Fred Tolson Associates, interior design by Perry & Plummer

Scanned from the Dec. 1986 issue of Contract Interiors, and Restaurant Design: Ninety-Five Spaces That Work (1987)

[jesncin]

Lois Liando and her trusted asian auntie community. An arisan is a type of money get together (historically a Chinese Indonesian tradition) commonly associated with women. I like to think in Metropolis the tradition expands to include all sorts of Southeast Asian women.

[ranjith11]

The Silent Rise of ASEAN | asean global superpower | Geography facts

In this video, the Geography Guru takes you on an incredible journey into the heart of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 🌍 Dive deep with us as we unveil the silent yet robust ascendancy of ASEAN, a crucial alliance that often goes unnoticed. From its humble beginnings in Bangkok, Thailand, to becoming an economic powerhouse with a strong cultural foundation, ASEAN is truly a force to reckon with. Join us as we explore this remarkable journey.