A friend observes that the Box-on-the-Euphrates may have been modeled to appear, at first glance, like a ruined Byzantine fortress. The other three images are of a Byzantine fortress in Zippori (Sepphoris) National Park, Israel. Same friend sends along some SketchUp models and Google Earth overlays, including: The BOE with the supporting structure for the …
"North Korea on the Precipice of Famine"
by | 2008-05-14 | 21 Comments
That’s the title of a disturbing new study conducted by a team of experts from the Peterson Institute for International Economics. It concludes that “the prospect of hunger-related deaths occurring in the next several months is approaching certainty.” Here is a summary: North Korea is on the brink of famine. The aggregate food picture appears …
Poor Sichuan
by | 2008-05-14 | 6 Comments
I spent a few days last summer in Sichuan Province — including Dujiangyan, close to the epicenter of the earthquake, and Mianyang, now the headquarters for the relief effort and also hit very hard. I still haven’t heard from any of my friends there, which is worrying me. The pictures from Sichuan are just heartbreaking. …
2008 NPT PrepCon Docs
by | 2008-05-13 | No Comments
The PrepCon ended on Friday, and the group Reaching Critical Will has posted a bunch of documents from it, including the Chair’s controversial Factual Summary of the conference proceedings and a really bizarre presentation to NGOs by the Iranian representative that reads like a tortured pop quiz on nuclear energy. According to Rebecca Johnson, co-founder …
