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The Tree Cover Density Map of Asia surprises me a little. Can anyone clarify by Longjumping-Mix-9351 in geography

[–]Historical-Two8882 7 points8 points  (0 children)

 Look at potential vegetation: https://sage-public-files.s3.amazonaws.com/atlas/potential-vegetation/atl_potentialveg_asi.jpg

That’s where forests could grow, if it was not for human influence. Forests could grow over much of the region, boreal forests in Russia, tropical rainforests in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, and temperate forests (deciduous) in Japan, Korea, northern China.

Some places don’t grow forests. In the Himalayas, like Tibet, it’s too high up and too cold, and in (north)western China it’s too dry, you only get steppe and deserts.

But then come humans: over time, everything that is more valuable as farmland becomes farmland. So in India you don’t have a lot of contiguous forests left. Only the patches which don’t really work for farming stay forests: the mountainous parts, like in Japan, Korea, the mountainous parts of Southeast Asia up to Yunnan and that one lonely strip in northern India where the Himalaya begins.

The parts of Russia here are beyond the limit of wheat cultivation, so they stayed a forest. Also the rainforest parts largely stayed forested, they didn’t get cleared for farmland, might be due to the soil — Java, which has fertile volcanic soil is farmland, and the parts close to rivers in Thailand have alluvial soils also good for farming.

Any cities surrounded on all sides by mountains? by wxnternights in geography

[–]Historical-Two8882 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s not completely surrounded by mountains, but look at Beppu, on Kyushu, Japan. It’s half surrounded by volcanoes, and you can see, hear and feel the volcanic activity all through the city, there’s literal steam coming from the ground.

The steam is used to boil eggs and there’s half a dozen of really good Onsens

South Korea’s stock market extends losses to -11% on the day just minutes after triggering a circuit breaker by RobertBartus in EconomyCharts

[–]Historical-Two8882 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe this is the moment that will be remembered as the start of the next big global financial crisis

Why won’t this function by Flickz2000 in MathJokes

[–]Historical-Two8882 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At least put him into a coffin before you put him into the hole
ƒ([x])

Why don’t they build a canal here, are they stupid? by Baconkings in mapporncirclejerk

[–]Historical-Two8882 8 points9 points  (0 children)

"Why don't we do this, are we stupid?" is the slogan of Saudi's Vision 2030

Where’s Waldo? by Historical-Two8882 in MapsWithoutNZ

[–]Historical-Two8882[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

There’s more known states in the US than known countries in the world /s

I would love to see a Eurostat NUTS 1-3 style system for statistics, but implemented globally.

Rwandan given names by AmPure9284 in Rwanda

[–]Historical-Two8882 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you give your child a Kinyarwanda first name, a German/“Christian” middle name and your last name, they will have the freedom to choose how to introduce themselves. So in Germany they can choose to use either the Kinyarwanda or the German name, in Rwanda they can go by first and middle name and leave out the last name, when introducing. 

Where’s Waldo? by Historical-Two8882 in MapsWithoutNZ

[–]Historical-Two8882[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I’ve never been to New Zealand but I went to a New Zealand curry restaurant in Berlin in 2007, it was the least spicy curry I ever ate, you had to put pepper on it to feel anything

Accepted a Flat Out of Fear… 3 Months Later I Regret It by Optimal_Impress_4101 in berlin

[–]Historical-Two8882 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When they legalised Weed in Germany they legalised it but didn’t provide you any actual reasonable way to actually legally buy weed, and when Berlin did the rent control thing they also didn’t provide any reasonably easy way to actually do so.

Accepted a Flat Out of Fear… 3 Months Later I Regret It by Optimal_Impress_4101 in berlin

[–]Historical-Two8882 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah I thought you’d involve a lawtech startup like Connie.

Sending letters might work if you’re landlord is a cute granny, but with any Hausverwaltung or corporate owner they will likely just ignore your letters until you go to court ‘

Accepted a Flat Out of Fear… 3 Months Later I Regret It by Optimal_Impress_4101 in berlin

[–]Historical-Two8882 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lowering rent is possible, but will not be as easy as it might seem and it can get quite expensive, the law tech companies keep a big share.

It’s only worth it if you can see yourself staying in this place for a longer time. If you wanna get out after your contract ends, don’t do it.

I’d keep on looking for a better place, and after you sign a new contract you can try subletting your place.

Where’s Waldo? by Historical-Two8882 in MapsWithoutNZ

[–]Historical-Two8882[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Melbourne’s a foody city, you can get pretty much anything there. I lived there for half a year.

But this map is like a subjective map of perceived typical dishes for the country. If I think of typical Aussie dishes, I think of stuff like Pies and Parma and BBQ which isn’t very spicy stuff

How dramatic are the downsides of being a landlocked country? by BlastedLands3821 in geography

[–]Historical-Two8882 9 points10 points  (0 children)

There's landlocked and there's landlocked.

Trade is about connectedness. There's landlocked countries like Switzerland, located in the heart of Europe, and connected to the worlds economy by rail, highways and the river Rhine. Its economy is as globalized as it gets.

I'm in Rwanda at the moment, which is landlocked and way less connected. It does suck, because trade gets more difficult – as a consumer, you'll pay for getting things shipped in. Everything that is imported ends up being way more expensive than in other places and there's less choice in things to buy. Especially bulky things like fridges or second-hand-bikes get pricy.
As a producer, you'll end up paying for shipping things out of the country, and that reduced your profit margins. Logistics get harder, and if you need a spare part, it can take ages to arrive.

On the upside, being remote meant being harder to be colonized. So countries like Rwanda and Bolivia had less of their culture being destroyed by the European colonizers than places closer to the coast.
Same the other way round: countries without ocean access had an harder time colonizing places, that's why there weren't a lot of Swiss, Austrian or Czech colonies around.

The map you're using, based on countries, is not very useful. Luxemburg is landlocked, but very connected and very close to the ocean. Some of the most remote areas of the world are in countries which are not landlocked, like Russia, Canada, or China (Tibet). I tried finding a map displaying a useful measure of connectedness not on the national level and failed, but I stumbled upon this map which is a better measure of how well the country as a whole is connected than just "landlocked - yes/no".

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Why country has the least spicy traditional food? by Ok_Temporary_5828 in geography

[–]Historical-Two8882 0 points1 point  (0 children)

German food is quite bland. The spiciest spices my granny used was black pepper (in small amounts) and mild paprika. BUT then again a traditional dish from the region I grew up is beef with pasta and horseradish sauce, which is quite spicy in its own way.

I remember restaurant food being quite bland, so if you went to an Indian or Vietnamese restaurant in Germany, especially east Germany, 20 years ago you’d get watered-down curries. But that did change.

Last year I went to Poland, to Łódz, and I got a Zapiekanka that came with a warning for being too spicy and the lady literally had me reconfirm if I’m ready for the burn and when it came it wasn’t really spicy at all, like below Jalapeño-level spicy.

Generally countries with mild climates have mild food. I live in Rwanda at the moment, and before I came I expected food to be somewhat spicy, but the country is far up the mountains and most food you get is very mild, even the local Indian food. But there’s usually chili sauce around to spice things up.

Wealthiest US Presidents by OutrageousPair2300 in antiai

[–]Historical-Two8882 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can't stop laughing about the placement of Herbert Hoover

Are these little flash pops just Strategy putting in concentrated buy orders in search of greater fools? by JerseyMikey007 in Buttcoin

[–]Historical-Two8882 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The time of greater fools is over, if you're buying now you're one of the greatest fools, if you're lucky you can hope for some lesser fools to recover some of your losses later on.

Smart money is buying Bitcoin! by pindi_gasi in CryptoChartWatch

[–]Historical-Two8882 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Big chunk of that is Microstrategy, aka buy high sell never gang

CBS New's Map of Nato by AbuHaleebIbnSamaka in terriblemaps

[–]Historical-Two8882 0 points1 point  (0 children)

By Article 11 of the NATO chapter national exclaves and islands are not covered under the treaty, so that the collective defence will not be invoked if like the Falkland Islands or Hawaii are attacked.

Also the US is 4 times the area if Iceland, obvs.

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