Economist, Nov 6, 2021

choi

(1) Global warming and food | Hot Cuisine; How will gclimate change affect gastronomy?
https://www.economist.com/europe ... european-gastronomy

paragraph 1: "FARMERS IN SOUTHERN Italy are cultivating avocados and mangos. Tropical creatures such as the rabbitfish are turning up in Mediterranean nets. * * *

paragraph 2: "Italy and France have long been proud of their cuisines. Both countries jealously guarded the rules that say only ham made in Parma can be called 'Prosciutto di Parma,' and only fizzy wine made in Champagne can be called champagne. Roquefort, that most celebrated of bluecheeses, was given special protection by the parliament of Toulouse in 1550.  

paragraph 3: " * * * But climate change can upset that. Take polenta, a popular Italian dish consisting almost entirely of ground maize. High temperatures and drier weather have already reduced maize yields in southern Italy. * * * And what about durum wheat, which grow abundantly in Mediterranean islands and is used to make pasta, flatbreads and couscous [a North African dish; the word 'is of Berber origin': en.wikipedia.org]? Modelling suggests that durum yields will sharply fall there if the temperature keeps on rising [I suppose the key is 'there'].

Note:
(a)
(i) rabbitfish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbitfish
(section 3 Distribution and habitat: "Rabbitfishes are found in the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea and the coast of eastern Africa through the Pacific Ocean as far as Pitcairn Island. Two Red Sea species S. rivulatus and S. luridus have invaded the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal")
(ii) Rabbitfishes or Spinefoots. Ecology Asia, undated
https://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/fishes/rabbitfishes.htm
("Rabbitfishes are so-called because their snouts resemble the noses of rabbits")
(iii) Mediterranean Sea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Sea
(section 3 Geography, section 3.9 Climate, section 3.9.1 Sea temperatures)

Section 3.9 Climate has a map, whose caption reads: "Map of climate zones in the areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, according to the Köppen climate classification."  It seems to me that both France and the British Isles are Cfb, which is explained in the table beneath Table of Contents: C (Temperate), f (No dry season), b (Warm -- as opposed to Hot or Cold -- summer),
(b) Flatbread can be made of flour of rice, millet, wheat, or durum wheat -- depending on locales.

choi

(2) The new face of old tech | Reinvention as a Service; The IT establishment is rewriting itself for the next age of tech.
https://www.economist.com/busine ... ew-clothes/21806076

pragraph 3:"Akthough dwarfed by the current big-tech genertion (see chart 1), this handful of IT veterans still has clout. There is hardly any business that does not use some of their products and services, In the past 12 months they cranked out a huge $284bn in revenues collectively and $56bn in gross perating profits. And they employ 690,000 people worldwide. Each firm has its own specialisms. * * *

paragraph 4: "Yet all face similar challenges. For a start, thye mostly used to sell wares, be they hard or soft. Ub recenbt years, however, delivering IT in big distinct chunks has moved to provide it 'as-a-service,' or 'AAS,' in the parlance * * *

paragraph 5: "The quest to escape commoditisation is pushing the industry towards service. * * *  

Note: The only graphic in this article is attached.
(a) HPE = Hewlett Packard Enerprise
(b) The lower panel of the graphic shows Dell's share price has increased 38-% since the start of 2017. Probably the share prices and market capitalizations of old tech in this article has increased in the same period. But Microsoft and the tech giants (Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple) have increased both even more, with Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet above $2 trillion each, followed by Amazon, Tesla, Facebook (in that order).

choi

(3) Greenhouse gases | Set in Green Concrete; How cement, a bane of environmentalists, may yet help slow global warming.
https://www.economist.com/scienc ... al-warming/21806083

paragraph 1: "THE ROMANS perfected concrete, and their legacy still stands in the form of the magnificent roof of the Pantheon, the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome. Since it was completed in around 125ad by the Emperor Hadrian * * *

paragraph 2: "This is bad news for global warming. The problem is that concrete's crucial ingredient, cement, which is mixed with sand, gravel and water to make the stuff, is responsible for a huge amount of greenhouse-gas emissions/ Taking in its various stages of production, th e5bn tonnes of cement produced each yeat account for 8% of the world's anthropogenic CO2 emissions. If the cement industry were a country it would be the third largest emitter in the world, after China and America.

paragraph 3: "So far, concrete has few practical alternatives. * * *  

paragraph 4: "The place to start is where emissions are greatest. Cement production begins with the quarrying of limestone, the main component of which is calcium carbonate (CaCO3). This is mixed with clay and passed through a rotating kiln at more than 1,400ºC in a process called calcination. The heat drives off the carbon and part of the oxygen, which combine to form CO2. The remaining lumps, called clinkerm are made of molecular complexes of calcium oxide and silicates. The clinker is then cooled and milled into cement. More than half of the emissions involved in concrete-making are a consequence of calcination, and most of the rest result from burning coal and other fossil fuels to power the process (see chart, overleaf). All told nearly one tonne of CO2 is released for every tonne of fresh cement.

paragraph 5: "The inevitability of calcination's creation of CO2 makes capturing the gas before it can enter the atmosphere, and storing it away, the most effective approach to decarbonise the cement industry, according to a study by Paul Fennell of Imperial College London, and his colleagues, published earlier this year i Joule. * * *

Note:
(a)
(i) Pantheon, Rome
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheon,_Rome
(Pantheon "is a former Roman temple and since the year 609 a Catholic church (Basilica di Santa Maria ad Martyres or Basilica of St Mary and the Martyrs)")
, whose caption of a photo of pantheon looking up from the ground to the roof hasa caption:
The Pantheon dome. The coffered dome has a central oculus as the main source of natural light."
(ii) Latin-English dictionary:
* oculus  (noun masculine): "1: (literally, anatomy) eye"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oculus
(iii) Freda Parker, The Pantheon — A temple to all gods. Monolithic Dome Institute, June 21, 2001
https://monolithicdome.com/pantheon-a-temple-to-all-gods
(photo caption: "The concrete dome is 20 feet (6 m) thick at the base and tapers to 7.5 feet (2.3 m) thick at the oculus. Without materials like rebar to hold the dome in tension, the massive rings of concrete were used to create a buttress-like effect that forces the dome into constant compression. The concrete dome weighs an astounding 5,000 tons (4,535 t).")