Joseph Pisenti of RealLifeLore asks “What If We Covered the Sahara With Solar Panels?”
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Image: “King Leopold II of Belgium, Snake of the Congo,” Edward Linley Sambourne, Punch, 1906
On Tuesday, the 60th anniversary of the independence of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Belgian King Philippe expressed his regrets to DRC President Félix Tshisekedi for the atrocities commited by King Leopold II, who held the Congo as a personal fiefdom from 1885 to 1908 and killed approximately 10 million of its people, many of whom were maimed and tortured. King Philippe didn’t actually apologize.
The atrocities comitted under King Leopold II were documented by African American missionary William Henry Sheppard, who brought a Kodak camera to the Congo in 1900. The “regrets” of King Philippe were motivated by Belgium’s ongoing Black Lives Matter protests which targeted the country’s many monuments to King Leopold II and his generals.
“Beside Leopold, Nero, Caligula, Attilo, Torquemada, Genghis Khan and such killers of men are mere amateurs.” Mark Twain, New York World, December 3, 1905.
More:
“Belgium’s King Sends Letter of Regret Over Colonial Past in Congo,” Monika Pronczuk and Megan Specia, New York Times
“Belgian king expresses ‘deepest regrets’ for brutal colonial rule,” Jennifer Rankin and Jason Burke, The Guardian
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Fires are normal in Australia. This year was off the charts. A Vox video by Danush Parvaneh, Madeline Marshall, and Kimberly Mas.
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“Africa,” with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, 1930. Directed by Walter Lantz; animators included Tex Avery. This short introduces Oswald’s theme song, written by James Dietrich.
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Kenya’s parliament is in the hot seat for excessive expenses for interior decorating. The legislative chamber’s $11 million re-furb includes new chairs for MPs at $3,000 each. The government maintains the fancy furnishings actually represent civil service savings, since the chairs would have cost $5,000 each if they hadn’t been made in prison workshops.
Kenya’s government says the make-over was needed so Parliament could enter the digital age. Technologists are eager to examine the posterior-controlled computer interface provided by the plushy red chairs.
More:
“Kenyan MPs get new $3,000 seats,” BBC News
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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Italy has announced that it will join NATO forces in bombing Libya. It’s done that before:
“Libya 1911: How an Italian pilot began the air war era,” Alan Johnston, BBC News
Image (“da Vinci Anticipates Aviation”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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