QTRS May 30, 2024

Interesting content for the curious

Map of the day

This comes from the Library of Congress blog.

Stunning, dramatic, seven feet wide and historically important, the Waldseemüller world map of 1507 will likely be familiar to many readers of this blog. You may have heard that it’s the earliest use of the word “America” to describe the continents of the western hemisphere, or the story of its rediscovery in a German castle in 1901 after being lost to history. But have you ever wondered how the map itself was made?

Here is how it was made:

Called woodblock printing, woodcut, or sometimes xylography, it involves carving and inking blocks of wood with designs which are then impressed onto paper or another surface. 

The skill, patience, and time needed to make this map are rather impressive. I can see a college course in xylography, actually teaching and having students make maps like this, as more valuable than a lot of what is offered.

How hot was April 2024?

With El Niño still hanging around April set a record, but it is in the pattern we would expect. A record, but not surprising.

To put this in context, here is the all-month graph. As we can see, the impact of El Niño is slowing.

Here is what NOAA has to say for April 2024.

Global land-only April temperature was warmest on record at 1.97°C (3.55°F) above average. The ocean-only temperature also ranked warmest on record for April at 1.03°C (1.85°F) above average, 0.17°C (0.31°F) warmer than the second warmest April of 2023, and the 13th-consecutive monthly ocean record high. These temperatures occurred as the current El Niño episode nears its end. El Niño conditions that emerged in June 2023 weakened further in April, and according to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, a transition from El Niño to ENSO–neutral is likely in the next month, with odds of La Niña developing by June–August (49% chance) or July–September 2024 (69% chance).

Campus protests are for the elite

The Washington Monthly has put together a great report on campus protests: Are Gaza Protests Happening Mostly at Elite Colleges? Yup. The Washington Monthly runs the numbers and explains the results. (5/24/2024)

The first graph copied here shows that at private universities, encampments (green dots) happen at expensive universities with a low percent of Pell grand recipients (a marker for the income of the family of the student; more Pell recipients means more less wealthy students). The pattern is similar for protests without encampments (red dots).

The second graph from the article is the same as the first, but for public universities. The pattern isn’t as strong as for private universities, but it is there. The article makes a good point, though:

Protests and encampments have been more common at public colleges. This is in part because these colleges just have more students, and only a few students are needed for a protest.

In short, Gaza protests are considerably more prevalent amongst more “elite” students. This really shouldn’t be a surprise. A student on a Pell grant likely has a job and can’t camp out in the quad for days. In the commentary that I’ve read about this, as I’ve seen these graphs in a few places now, what is ignored, especially for private schools, is how many blue dots there are. In other words, the vast majority of students at private schools, and really, the vast majority of students, aren’t all that concerned about Gaza. The media would have you believe that there are more Gaza encampments and protests than there are, and we really shouldn’t be letting these students at “elite” private universities drive public opinion.

From the gardens

Ito Peony, Bleeding Hearts, Lilly, and Roses

Biodiesel

The EIA article U.S. biodiesel imports have doubled since 2022 due to low prices in Europe (5/28/2024) lacks some context. First, their main graph and a quote.

Annual U.S. biodiesel imports doubled from 2022 to 2023 to 33,000 barrels per day (b/d) and continued to rise in the first two months of 2024, according to the most recent data available. Much of the increase in biodiesel imports has come from Germany, and the remaining increase has come mostly from elsewhere in Europe, where a biodiesel surplus has lowered prices.

This is all technically true, but doubling from 16,500 barrels a day to 33,000 barrels per day isn’t a big deal. For starters, it is well below historical peaks. More importantly, compared to oil consumption, this is basically nothing.

In 2022, the United States consumed an average of about 20.01 million barrels of petroleum per day, or a total of about 7.3 billion barrels of petroleum.

We probably spill more petroleum than 33,000 barrels a day. When dealing with data, it helps to put any data in some type of reasonable context and comparison.

Data center update

AWS granted 1,600-acre rezoning request, plans 15-building campus at Pennsylvania nuclear site (5/30/204)

According to state documents, Bohannon Road Venture LLC has submitted a proposal to develop 1.19 million sq ft (110,500 sqm) of data center space, spanning three buildings on a 59-acre site. (5/23/2024)

Amazon Data Services acquires 91 acres in Manassas for $218m. Company buys land near Independent Hill (5/24/2024)

The spinning CD

Instead of a song, here is a recent clip for Rick Beato. It is worth watching because it has data, and he gives a good explanation of the song creation process and how it differs greatly between Taylor Swift and the Beatles. A fun 10 minutes.

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Thank you

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Disagreeing and using comments

I'd rather know the truth and understand the world than always be right. I'm not writing to upset or antagonize anyone on purpose, though I guess that could happen. I welcome dissent and disagreement in the comments. We all should be forced to articulate our viewpoints and change our minds when we need to, but we should also know that we can respectfully disagree and move on. So, if you think something said is wrong or misrepresented, then please share your viewpoint in the comments.