#University of Central Asia

[economicsinaction]

Notes from Central Asia: A university with a direct social purpose up in the mountains

Though I have been in touch with the University of Central Asia (UCA) for the last 4-5 years, I could see its campuses in Bishkek and Naryn only last week. Naryn is a town on the Tian Shan mountains that borders Kyrgyzstan and China. This campus provides good quality (and high cost but heavily subsidised) liberal undergraduate education to nearly 200 students, mostly from the three countries in…

[what-shitfuckery-is-this-ew]

Why i see Jason Todd as Central Asian:

Both Batman and him thought Lady Shiva could be his mother, suggesting he has asian features because like come on, Batman the greatest detective in the world. These are possible all over Eurasia (e.g. the Sami people have similar features) but is more common in Asia (for obvious reasons)

He has red hair which he dyes. While natural red hair can be found all across Asia (usually through mutation and in very small percentages), the Asian ethnic groups with the most chance of having red hair are: Uyghurs and Tajiks. These two ethnicities are a mix of Central Asian ethnicities (with Uyghurs being a mix of Central Asian, Turkic and Mongolian ethncities and the Tajiks being Afghani)

[bikupaints]

Undertale in my culture))) 🇰🇬

it was just an idea, so I'm implementing it)

Sans and Paps are already in my account

Sooo

My insta:

https://www.instagram.com/biku_paint?igsh=Njlyc3U3eGJ4MGZv

My tgc:

[rotzaprachim]

oh there are definitely things to say about alina’s in universe coding and cassian’s mmmmmmm

[theupfish]

An example of the good that can be done with the Internet.

Hopefully as information continues to globalized, tyrants like the Taliban, Isis, North Korea, Hamas and Putin will find it harder and harder to maintain their brainwashing and indoctrination.

[lunian]

.....sighssssss

I hope, I will find enough strength to design some stuff, at least, with my main party and Inquisitor

still salty they didn't make cool gowns and suits for each companion and advisor for Winter Palace ball in Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts quest

wouldn't it be hot and sexy to go around and beat up enemies in dark halls of the Palace in our expensive outfits, covered in blood

[blueiscoool]

Stunning Tang Dynasty Murals in a Tomb Unearthed in China

A Tang dynasty tomb unearthed in China dates from the 700s, and the murals on its walls give an unprecedented view of daily life at the time.

Archaeologists in northern China have unearthed a centuries-old tomb decorated with stunning murals portraying daily life during the Tang dynasty, which ruled much of central and eastern China from A.D. 618 to 907.

The tomb includes never-before-seen depictions of daily life, including men threshing grain and making noodles.

One of the murals also depicts what appears to be a "Westerner" with blond hair and a beard who probably hailed from Central Asia, Victor Xiong, a professor of history at Western Michigan University who wasn't involved in the discovery, said in an email.

The tomb was discovered in 2018 during roadwork on a hillside on the outskirts of Taiyuan, the capital of China's northern Shanxi province, but archaeologists only reported on the completed excavations last month.

According to an article from China’s government-owned news agency Xinhua, an epitaph in the tomb states it was the burial place of a 63-year-old man who died in 736, as well as his wife.

The tomb consists of a single brick chamber, a door and a corridor. Scenes from life during the Tang dynasty adorn the walls of the tomb, the door, the corridor, and the platform on which the coffin was placed. The domed ceiling of the chamber is painted with what may be a dragon and phoenix.

Tomb guardians

Several figures painted near the door represent the "doorkeepers" or guardians of the tomb; they are wearing yellow robes and some have swords at their waists, according to Xinhua. Other murals portray natural landscapes, as well as men threshing grain, women grinding flour, men making noodles and women fetching water from a well.

They are rendered in the traditional "figure under a tree" style that was popular in the Shanxi region at the time, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. As its name suggests, the style features people carrying out activities underneath beautifully depicted trees.

Many of the figures in the murals look like the same Chinese man and woman, and archaeologists think they may have been the two people buried in the tomb. The woman, in one scene, is dressed in a colorful gown and is leading four horses, alongside a bearded man holding a whip.

Other murals show mountains, trees and camels, and the series of paintings around the coffin may represent the Chinese tomb owner at different stages of his life, Xinhua reported.

Traditional style

The murals in the tomb appear to be well preserved. "The most familiar theme depicted in these murals is that of human figures under trees — a tradition that harks back to the Han dynasty [206 B.C. to A.D. 220]," Xiong said. Similar murals had been found in China's Xinjiang, Shandong, Shaanxi and Gansu regions.

He noted that the blond "non-Han" man leading camels has distinctive clothing. "Based on his facial features and outfit style, we can identify him as a 'Westerner,' likely a Sogdian from Central Asia," Xiong said. (The Sogdians were a trading people along the Silk Road routes between Asia and Europe at the time, living mainly in what are now Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

He added that many of the murals gave "never-before-seen" representations of daily chores and labor during the Tang dynasty.

By Tom Metcalfe.

[vylewa]

Over the last few weeks, I have been spending my time working on my save file because I'm gearing up to start a Let's Play series on Youtube. As I've been building the stories for the characters in my save file, I started thinking about the Sims universe as a whole and how I want my Sims to travel between worlds. It got me thinking that some worlds feel like they're just a short 4-hour car ride away, while others feel like you'd need a plane to get there.

So, I decided to map out my sims universe. I got a lot of inspiration from different Reddit posts as well as the EA descriptions of each world. This has been so helpful for me as I plan out the buildings I want to place in each world. It has been so helpful with finding inspiration for creating builds. I hope you can find this helpful too.

I'm really happy about my Sims universe turned out. I'd love to hear what you think about it! Are there any worlds you disagree with me on? Also, when are we getting an African world, EA?

North America

New Crest reminds me of suburban New York, mostly because you can still the city skyline from there.

Brindleton Bay reminds me so much of New England.

San Myshuno is quite obviously New York.

Willow Creek gives me a New Orleans vibe.

Magnolia Promenade is somewhere in the south because of the name (magnolias grow in the mostly in Southern United States - Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina). I placed it close to Willow Creek for story telling purposes.

Chestnut Ridge gives me a strong Texas vibe.

Del Sol Valley is undoubtedly Los Angeles.

Oasis Springs I think of as Palm Springs with the desert and all, also the Langraabs live there.

San Sequoia I think of as San Francisco mainly because of the Golden Gate Bridge and Bay area, I have all my tech gurus living up there.

Strangerville is straight up Area 51 with all the weird stuff going on there.

Granite Falls gives me a National Park vibe, so I chose my favorite, Yellowstone which is mostly in Wyoming.

Copperdale seems to be in the rocky mountains, I placed it in Montana because of the old mining town description. Butte, Montana used to be a huge mining town.

Moonwood Mill reminds so much of the thick woods in the Pacific West somewhere Washington or Oregon.

Glimmerbrook I imagine is close to Moonwood Mill and the witches and the werewolves are always beefing.

Evergreen Harbor gives me a strong Pacific West port city like Vancouver (I know Vancouver is not in the US, but you get the drift).

Sulani reminds me so much of Hawaii, the beautiful beaches, volcanoes, and mountains and the culture portrayed by Sulanians.

Ciduad Enamorada reminds me so much of Mexico City, Mexico.

South America

Selvadorara gives a strong Amazonian vibe so I placed it in Brazil.

Europe

Britchester because of Britchester uinversity reminds me of Universtiy of Oxford, or University of Cambridge so I placed it in the UK.

Henford-on-Bagley gives off a strong English country vibe so I placed it South Central England.

Windenburg gives off a German vibe because of the style of buildings placed in the world.

Forgotten Hollow I think of as somewhere in Transylvania so I placed it in Romania.

Tartosa is undoubtedly mediterranean so I placed it in Italy.

Asia

Tomarang with the tuk tuks and the tiger sanctuary reminds me of Indonesia.

Mt. Komorebi, my absolute favorte world, is Japan. I can't wait to visit someday.

P.S. Batuu is not included in my sims universe because it is in space, I don't anticipate my sims ever traveling there, but if I ever feel otherwise, I will include it in here.

[mehilaiselokuva]

URALIC LANGUAGES 101

an over-simplified guide for people who have never studied them

from real questions I have received

as I am finally qualified enough to talk about them

WHAT?

A language family spanning (mostly northern) Eurasia. The three biggest languages by amount of speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian.

WAIT, WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE ARE MORE?

The Sámi languages might be the most famous of the "smaller" Uralic languages, but have you heard about Karelian? Udmurt? Hill Mari? Nganasan? There are 38~42 Uralic languages that we know as of today.

WHERE ARE THESE OTHER LANGUAGES?

(image description: the locations of the Uralic languages on a map. The Uralic languages span from modern-day Hungary, the northern Nordics, and northern Russia.)

(CONTINUE READING UNDER THE CUT)

BUT I THOUGHT HUNGARIAN WAS ALTAIC / RELATED TO TURKISH?

Modern science links Hungarian to the Uralic languages. The links to "Altaic" (many on the field don't believe in the Altaic theory) and the Turkic languages are speculative.

ARE THEY RELATED TO ENGLISH?

No, they are a separate language family. English is more related to Russian than Finnish or Hungarian.

HOW DID THEY END UP WHERE THEY ARE NOW?

We still haven't figured this out, but the Uralic peoples' proposed homeland is often located north of Central Asia.

HOW DO THEY KNOW THESE ARE RELATED TO EACH OTHER?

Linguistics uses many different ways to find out relations between languages. With the Uralic languages, there are many cognates (=words that come from the same root word) that exist in most languages. These words can be used to reconstruct Proto-Uralic, a hypothesis of what the original Uralic people might have spoken.

Examples:

"tongue, (language)" (Finnish) kieli, (Estonian) keel, (Veps) kel', (N.Sami) giella, (Erzya) keľ, (Beserman) kål, (E.Khanty) köł, (Mator) kašte

"two" (Finnish) kaksi, (Courland Livonian) kakš, (Ter Sami) kïkktʼ, (Moksha) kafta, (Mari) kok, (Komi-Zyrian) kyk

HOW DO THESE LANGUAGES SOUND LIKE?

Here are selected samples of text from a few different branches of Uralic languages:

NGANASAN: Mənə ńinti̮ˀam ńiluməni̮nə inśüδüˀ, mi̮əďindi̮ˀam hüətə. (I never sledge in my life, I always go by foot.) SELKUP: Nılʲčik qumɨp mee qontɨrämɨt čääŋka. (We have not seen such a person.) BESERMAN: Picʼi pilə̑ sʼed jə̑ rcʼijenezlə̑. (To the little boy with black hair.) MANSI: Mənə kńigaðəmtu miśiəm. (I gave him/her the book.) NORTH SÁMI: Sáhpán njuikii girjji duohken. (The mouse jumped from behind the book.) TVER KARELIAN: Mie hüviin zdaičin igzamenati miun, na felÍdšerku pandih. (I passed the exams well and I was put [to work] as a nurse.)

If you have more questions about these languages, feel free to ask me! I am no professor but am majoring in this at the university so I know more than the average person hehe

[rjzimmerman]

The Great Salt Lake isn’t just drying out. It’s warming the planet. (Washington Post)

Like some dystopian astronaut, Melissa Cobo would hike the searing flats of the dried-out Great Salt Lake every couple of weeks, hauling a heavy backpack attached by a hose to what looked like the lid of a cake dome. What remained of the lake often seemed out of reach as she struggled through hot mud, clay and a weird crystalline layer that broke with her footsteps onto a greenish muck.

“You see the water, but you never actually get to it, no matter how many hours you walk,” Cobo said.

Through these grueling treks, Cobo, then a Utah State University graduate student, and her adviser, Soren Brothers, discovered more disturbing evidence that dried-out lakes are a significant source of carbon dioxide emissions — one that has not been included in the official accounting of how much carbon the world is releasing into the warming atmosphere.

In a new study in the journal One Earth, the researchers calculated that 4.1 million tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were released from the drying bed of the Great Salt Lake in 2020, the year Cobo and others collected the samples. This would amount to about a 7 percent increase in Utah’s human-caused emissions, the authors found.

While other researchers have documented carbon emissions from dried-out lakes — including the Aral Sea in Central Asia — Brothers said that his study tried to calculate what part of the emissions from this major saline lake could be attributed to humans, as the Great Salt Lake has been drawn down for human use, a decline worsened by climate change and the West’s megadrought of the past two decades.

“This is the first time we’re saying, ‘This is something that’s on us,’” said Brothers, now a climate change curator with the Royal Ontario Museum.

[reasonsforhope]

"Proving that change is possible if the will to create it is present, Chinese megacities like Beijing that were once famous for their apocalyptic grey skies are enjoying the lowest levels of air pollution they’ve experienced in the 21st century.

Falling 42% from an average high in 2013 when Chinese air pollution was higher than 50 particles per cubic centimeters of city air, the change has increased the lifespan of Chinese urbanites by 2.2 years.

The news comes from a report published by the University of Chicago called the Air Quality Life Index which listed some of the actions taken by the Chinese government to reduce air pollution, described by the CCP as a “war on pollution.”

This has included reducing the presence of heavy industry like steel production in city centers, as well as restricting coal power plants from being built inside cities while shuttering those that were already there.

Some cities like Beijing have reduced the number of cars allowed on the roads during peak hours, similar to London’s congestion charge. Lastly, China’s mass urban tree-planting campaigns have been well documented.

While the life expectancy has risen on average 2.2 years, some cities have seen far more drastic increases. Citizens living under the new “Beijing Blue,” are predicted to live 4 additional years, while those 11 million in the north-central city of Baoding are predicted to gain 6.

“At the foundation of those actions were common elements: political will and resources, both human and financial, that reinforced each other,” the report said. “When the public and policymakers have these tools, action becomes much more likely.”

In fact, the decline in China’s pollution levels has been so drastic that it lowered the world average, which the report says would have increased if not for the Middle Kingdom’s war on pollution.

Although Chinese city air is still several times higher than the WHO’s recommended minimum, it shows what’s accomplishable with political and civic effort—particularly to its neighbors in South Asia where the report warns air quality is worsening."

-via Good News Network, September 1, 2023

[sephsbat]

Understanding The Hellenistic Culture

Hellenism refers to the culture, ideals, and patterns of life that emerged in ancient Greece and spread throughout the Mediterranean and beyond, particularly during the Hellenistic period (323–30 BCE). This era began with the death of Alexander the Great and lasted until the establishment of Roman domination.

1. Cultural Influence

Hellenism was characterized by the spread of Greek culture, language, and ideas. This influence was particularly strong in regions that Alexander the Great conquered, including parts of Asia and North Africa. Greek became the lingua franca, facilitating trade and communication.

2. Philosophy and Science

The Hellenistic period saw the flourishing of philosophy and science. Schools of thought such as Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Skepticism emerged, each offering different perspectives on ethics, knowledge, and the nature of the universe. Figures like Epicurus and Zeno of Citium were pivotal in shaping philosophical discourse.

3. Art and Architecture

Hellenistic art is known for its increased emotional expression and realism compared to earlier periods. Sculptures depicted more dynamic poses and detailed facial expressions. Architecture also evolved, with grand structures and the use of new techniques, leading to impressive monuments like the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

4. Religion and Mythology

Hellenism also saw the adaptation and syncretism of religious beliefs. While traditional Greek gods remained central, local deities were often incorporated into Hellenistic practices. This blending of religions allowed for a diverse spiritual landscape.

5. Political Structures

The political landscape of the Hellenistic world was marked by the rise of various kingdoms, such as the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt. These states often adopted Greek customs and governance models, thus furthering the spread of Hellenic culture.

Hellenism or the Hellenistic period represents a significant chapter in history, showcasing the exchange of ideas and culture across vast regions. Its legacy continues to influence modern Western thought, art, and philosophy, making it a vital area of study for understanding the foundations of contemporary society.

[probablyasocialecologist]

By combining food-bearing trees and shrubs with poultry production, Haslett-Marroquin and his peers are practicing what is known as agroforestry — an ancient practice that intertwines annual and perennial agriculture. Other forms include alley cropping, in which annual crops including grains, legumes, and vegetables grow between rows of food-bearing trees, and silvopasture, which features cattle munching grass between the rows. Agroforestry was largely abandoned in the United States after the nation’s westward expansion in the 19th century. In the 2022 Agricultural Census, just 1.7 percent of U.S. farmers reported integrating trees into crop and livestock operations. But it’s widely practiced across the globe, particularly in Southeast Asia and Central and South America. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, 43 percent of all agricultural land globally includes agroforestry features. Bringing trees to the region now known as the Corn Belt, known for its industrial-scale agriculture and largely devoid of perennial crops, might seem like the height of folly. On closer inspection, however, agroforestry systems like Haslett-Marroquin’s might be a crucial strategy for both preserving and revitalizing one of the globe’s most important farming regions. And while the corn-soybean duopoly that holds sway in the U.S. heartland produces mainly feed for livestock and ethanol, agroforestry can deliver a broader variety of nutrient-dense foods, like nuts and fruit, even as it diversifies farmer income away from the volatile global livestock-feed market.

[...]

Trees actually have a much longer and more robust history in the Midwestern landscape than do annual crops. Think of the Midwestern countryside before U.S. settlers arrived, and you might picture lush grasses and flowers swaying in the wind. That vision is largely accurate, but it’s incomplete. Amid the tall-grass prairies and wetlands, oak trees once dotted landscapes from the shores of Lake Michigan through swathes of present-day Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, clear down to the Mexican border. These trees didn’t clump together in dense forests with closed canopies but rather in what ecologists call savannas — patches of grassland interspersed with oaks. Within these oak savannas, which were interlaced with prairies, tree crowns covered between 10 percent and 30 percent of the ground. They were essentially a transition between the tight deciduous forests of the East and the fully open grasslands further west. And in the region where Haslett-Marroquin farms — part of the so-called Driftless Area, which was never glaciated — trees proliferated even more intensely. In pre-settlement times, according to a 2014 analysis coauthored by Iowa State University ecologist Lisa Schulte Moore, closed-canopy forests of oaks, sugar maples, and other species covered 15.3 percent of the area, and woodlands (low-density forests) took up another 8.6 percent. Prairies — the ecosystem we readily imagine — composed just 6.9 percent. Oak savannas made up the rest.

10 September 2024

[zvaigzdelasas]

China revealed this week it aims to spend more than a billion dollars to bolster manufacturing and domestic tech in a bid to remain globally competitive, while divulging little new support for the struggling real estate market.

Industrial support clearly ranked first on Beijing’s priority list for the year ahead, according to three major plans released this week as part of China’s annual parliamentary meetings.

One of those reports, from the Ministry of Finance, said the central government would allocate 10.4 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) “to rebuild industrial foundations and promote high-quality development of the manufacturing sector.”

While that’s down from the 13.3 billion yuan earmarked for the same category last year, the sector overall gained greater prominence. In 2023, plans to spend on industrial development came second to support for consumption.

“Unlike other economies that went through a wrenching adjustment in their housing market, China’s investment rate isn’t falling,” HSBC’s chief Asia economist Frederic Neumann and a team said in a report Friday. “Instead, [capital expenditure] is shifting towards infrastructure and, importantly, manufacturing.”[...]

Chinese authorities in 2020 intensified a crackdown on real estate developers’ high reliance on debt for growth. Property sales have since plunged while developers have run out of money to finish many projects, cutting into what was once about 25% of China’s GDP when including related sectors such as construction.[...]

Despite widespread attention on whether Beijing would bail out the property sector, real estate got no mention in the finance ministry’s spending plans, and limited attention in a ministry-level press conference about the economy during the parliamentary meetings. Instead, the housing minister was included in the lineup for a press conference about people’s livelihoods.

“Supporting the modernization of the industrial system” came first in the finance ministry’s report, followed by “supporting the implementation of the strategy of invigorating China through science and education.”

Within that second priority, the finance ministry said it would allocate 31.3 billion yuan for improving vocational education. Amid high youth unemployment, especially for university graduates, electric car company BYD and battery maker CATL are among those working with vocational schools to train staff for their expanding workforce.[...]

The report from the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planner, reiterated government plans to support some developers’ financing needs — under the eighth item on the priority list that called for preventing financial risks. The government work report presented by Premier Li Qiang gave real estate a similar level of prominence.

8 Mar 24

China will improve home sales in a "forceful" and "orderly" way, Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ni Hong said on Saturday (Mar 9), as weak demand in the country's beleaguered residential property market persists.[...]

Some developers should be allowed to go bankrupt or restructured according to legal and market-based rules, Ni said told a press conference on the sidelines of the annual meeting of parliament in Beijing.

Premier Li Qiang said this week that China will quicken the development of "a new model" for the troubled sector, focussing on building more affordable housing and meeting demand for homes.

But China will insist that "housing is for living in, not for speculation" when formulating a new development model for the sector, Ni said, reiterating an official line against property speculation.

9 Mar 24

[mindblowingscience]

Archeologists at the University of Iowa have revealed a first-ever find for the state: the region’s first-ever scientifically recovered mastodon skull. And experts believe there’s a chance ancient humans are responsible for its demise. While the mastodon’s modern descendents can only be found in the wild across regions of Asia and Africa, multiple mastodon and mammoth species stomped across wide stretches of North America between roughly 3.5 million and 10,500 years ago. The giant Mammuthus columbi, for example, migrated as far south as central Mississippi until its eventual extinction around 12,700 BCE. The mastodon’s home, in comparison, included what is now Iowa. Well-preserved remains, however, were a rare find there—until an unusual discovery two years ago in one of the state’s least populated areas, according to an August 16 announcement from the University of Iowa.

Continue Reading.

[bizarrebazaar13]

ok so due to the sleepy I might not be able to elaborate on this as much as I wanted. but.

given that the honey addled detective is a Sherlock Holmes reference, isn’t it weird that we don’t see a Watson counterpart? especially given that “Holmes and Watson but supernatural” is an established adaptation genre (the particular crossover of the Holmes stories and Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos is more common and more popular than you might expect).

however. Holmes and Watson meet essentially by chance; Watson returns from war in Afghanistan and is looking for a place to live, and runs into an old acquaintance, who introduces him to another man looking for someone to share rent payments. that man is, of course, Sherlock Holmes, and from there both of their lives change drastically.

in mask of the rose, Harjit comments that with London (and crucially, its rulers) now underground and cut off from the surface, England’s colonial influence is much weaker. Watson was wounded in the battle of Maiwand, during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. the war was fought as part of the real life “Great Game”: a power struggle between the Russian and British empires in Central Asia.

so, in the Fallen London universe, would the battle of Maiwand ever have happened? maybe not. is it possible that Watson and Holmes might have met some other way? of course. but specifically in the context of Fallen London, it seems unlikely. Watson says that he “had neither kith nor kin in England” upon his arrival in London in A Study in Scarlet, and he specifically made his way to London in order to recover from his wounds. a spooky underground cavern is probably not conducive to rest and recovery.

assuming Holmes was born in 1854, he would have been only eight years old in 1862, when the fall happened, which (to me) rules out any possibility of him and Watson meeting before the fall. for context, A Study in Scarlet takes place in 1881, well after London has fallen. so we are left with a Holmes without a Watson.

Jeremy Brett, who played Holmes on screen for a decade, once compared Holmes’s relationship to Watson to “a drowning man clinging to a raft”. if the honey addled detective is indeed a direct reference to Sherlock Holmes, he makes for a very tragic one indeed, and that makes him extremely compelling to me.