The known world

Another good graphic from "A history of commerce, 1907" - before and after the age of explorers (mid-15th century).



Geographic discoveries of the 15th century provided another incentive for the Northern Europeans to break away from Catholicism:

The non-Christian world was divided between these two powers by a papal decree which gave to Portugal Africa and Asia except the Philippines and to Spain the Americas except Brazil. So long as other European states obeyed papal authority and feared the might of Spain and Portugal, they were bound to respect this division and the first period of discoveries was followed by a series of voyages carried on especially by English and Dutch seeking a passage northeast or northwest through Arctic seas that would enable them to evade the monopoly granted by the Pope.

Major inventions of the 17th and 18th centuries: log and chronometer:

The simple means of the later Middle Ages could give some idea of a vessel's latitude but very little of its longitude. The introduction of the log in the seventeenth century enabled a sailor to measure distance traversed more accurately and the invention of the chronometer in the eighteenth century gave at last a reliable and practical means of determining longitude at sea.

California vs Texas

Top five gasoline consuming states, 2015

State Million barrels/day Million gallons/day Share of total U.S. consumption California 0.93 39.14 11% Texas 0.90 37.79 10% Florida 0.49 20.52 6% New York 0.36 15.03 4% Illinois 0.31 13.05 4% Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Petroleum and Other Liquids—Prime Supplier Sales Volumes, as of November 17, 2016

Texas is a net producer of petroleum products; California (as well as China) is a net consumer of petroleum products. My bet would be that California and China will come up with a way to reduce petroleum consumption. The self-driving car technology is one of them.

TIL: China and auto-auto

75 percent of Chinese respondents are inclined to ride in an autonomous taxi, compared to 52 percent of Americans.

Within a decade, Wu Hu, about 200 miles west of Shanghai, aims to become the first city in the world to ban human drivers and go fully autonomous.

A large-scale experiment of that sort is far more likely in China than the US or EU because the country “doesn’t necessarily have to have the debate to reach a conclusion,” says Burns.

https://www.wired.com/2016/06/chinas-plan-first-country-self-driving-cars/

Стехи

 

Да будь я
	реднеком преклонных годов

и то,
	хоть в похмелье, хоть в голод,

я в твиттер КАПСЛОКАЛ бы
	только за то,

что им
	чик-чирикивал Доналд.