Megalopolis: how coastal west Africa will shape the coming century, The Guardian, Howard W French, October 27, 2022

It has long been said that no one knows with any certainty the population of Lagos, Nigeria. When I spent time there a decade ago, the United Nations conservatively put the number at 11.5 million, but other estimates ranged as high as 18 million. The one thing everyone agreed was that Lagos was growing very fast. The population was already 40 times bigger than it had been in 1960, when Nigeria gained independence. One local demographer told me that 5,000 people were migrating to Lagos every day, mostly from the Nigerian countryside.

This seems like an under-discussed development. I remember reading a book years ago about East Asian industrial policy, and how Korea and other “Asian Tiger” economies were widely seen as backwater countries a century ago, or even more recently than that. They transformed into highly successful countries in a very short time. Africa, he wrote, will probably do the same thing, and the same rapid change in perception will also occur.

This is also very interesting:

There is one place above all that should be seen as the centre of this urban transformation. It is a stretch of coastal west Africa that begins in the west with Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast, and extends 600 miles east – passing through the countries of Ghana, Togo and Benin – before finally arriving at Lagos. Recently, this has come to be seen by many experts as the world’s most rapidly urbanising region, a “megalopolis” in the making – that is, a large and densely clustered group of metropolitan centres. When its population surpassed 10 million people in the 1950s, the New York metropolitan area became the anchor of one of the first urban zones to be described this way.

The author goes on to recount the transformation of this region he has observed over the decades. Really interesting stuff. Read the whole thing.

Spider-Man: How the Suburbs Almost Defeated Peter Parker, CBR, Brandon Zachary, October 4, 2020

Suburbia proves to be difficult for Spider-Man to maneuver. Dogs in their backyards bark at the passing Spider-Man, taking away any element of surprise that the Wall-Crawler could have been trying to achieve. While trying to web-swing away from a passing child, the only target tall enough to hit is a nearby tree. But when he swings on it, the brand snaps from the weight -- bringing the whole tree down with it, right on top of Spider-Man. The ruckus causes enough attention that the homeowner quickly comes outside to yell at Spider-Man -- while his wife, admiring the hero’s physique, gets a little handsy while frisking Peter for weapons.

That was a real Spider-Man comic book story. Now that’s a funny idea, and also a critique of suburban land use!

https://www.fastcompany.com/90239156/the-untold-story-of-the-vegetable-peeler-that-changed-the-world

Fun—and Uranium—for the Whole Family in This 1950s Science Kit, IEEE Spectrum, Allison Marsh, January 31, 2020

The company’s warning was couched not in terms of health risk but rather as bad scientific practice: Removing the ore from its jar would raise the background radiation, thereby invalidating your experimental results.

The ‘50s were very interesting. This genuinely radioactive science kit reminds me of a book I read about instructing children in the suburbs how to catch all sorts of critters and keep them as pets. The toys were fun too, in their way.

When the Atomic Energy Lab hit the market in 1950, it was one of the most elaborate science kits available. In addition to uranium, it had beta-alpha, beta, and gamma radiation sources. It contained a cloud chamber, a spinthariscope (a simple device for watching atoms decay), an electroscope, and a Geiger counter, as well as a 60-page instruction book and a guide to mining uranium.

It’s a fun read, and also a reminder that we’re probably better off for not having radioactive toys anymore.

The surprising reason why Ocean Spray cranberry sauce labels are upside-down, CNN Business, Jordan Valinsky, November 23, 2022

I won’t recount the reason here, which isn’t terribly interesting, but it’s a neat design thing that I would never think of myself. Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!

Related Reading:

New and Old #13

New and Old #14

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