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Googling the Mayotte Island that they tracked it to shows that a magnitude 5.0 earthquake occurred within the last hour: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquake

Googling the Mayotte Island that they tracked it to shows that a magnitude 5.0 earthquake occurred within the last hour: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us1000hwxr/executive https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us1000hwxr...

brownbat 8y ago
Tangent, but this place, which I knew basically nothing about before just now, appears to be stunningly beautiful, judging from the somewhat random sample of images on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayotte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayotte It's humbling... I feel like a bad citizen of the world for my ignorance of Mayotte. But also optimistic... the world is full of so many amazing places, there's always going to be some next amazing place to learn more about.
- seriouspat 8y ago
  I lived there for 4 years and you shouldn't trust the random pictures you see on the internet. The place is a shithole.
  - distances 8y ago
    I'd love to hear of some experiences!
    - maeln 8y ago
      Mayotte is a French oversea territory. And like almost all french oversea territory it is very poor, but less than the average neighbor countries leading to a lot of immigration which are difficult to control (even though Mayotte is an Island which make it a bit more controllable than Guyana for example). This usually end up in a increasing poverty and unemployment, leading to criminality, aging infrastructure, and public services not being able to handle the demand. Like a lot of oversea territory, it has some beautiful landscape, but is crippled by the problems above. Living there is very difficult. EDIT: Note also that I am not blaming immigrant. The problem being that adding more poor people in an already poor territory doesn't solve the problem of poverty. And France unwillingness to treat its oversea territory fairly and really invest in them is the main root of the problem.
      - donkeyd 8y ago
        This sounds a lot like Haiti. I was there on vacation for a couple of weeks. In general, Haiti dirty and poor, but there were some truly beautiful places. Unfortunately, only a few of them are actually available if you aren't there on either a cruise, or are friends/connected with the local 'bourgeoisie'. One of the places that stuck with me the most is Kay Winnie in Seguin. It's a house, built by a man who moved there from the city in order to protect one of the last forests in Haiti. He grows and plants saplings to grow the forest. Unfortunately, you need to hike quite far or drive through incredibly rough terrain to get there.
        starbeast 8y ago
        Recently read 'The Comedians' by Graham Greene, which is set in Haiti during the rise of Duvalier. Those people have been through some terrible shit for a long time now. edit - is worth reading - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/133399.The_Comedians https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/133399.The_Comedians
        donkeyd 8y ago
        > Those people have been through some terrible shit for a long time now. Yup. And having been there and having spoken to locals and people from the UN, MSF, etc. I don't feel like it's going to change soon. A lot of the economy is driven by NGO's and that money all ends up in the pockets of the rich home, hotel and restaurant owners. Meanwhile the poor sell each other mangos and meat in the streets. It's like there are two completely separate economies. And whenever a politician wants to make a change, tribalism seems to end up ruining it because (often realistic) fear of preferential treatment of some groups.
        starbeast 8y ago
        >A lot of the economy is driven by NGO's and that money all ends up in the pockets of the rich home, hotel and restaurant owners. Meanwhile the poor sell each other mangos and meat in the streets. Sounds eerily similar to the situation things rapidly deteriorate from at the start of the book, which was set 60 years ago now.
  - presscast 8y ago
    I had the pleasure of taking to a French high-school professor who worked there for 10 years. He basically said what you said.
  - graycat 8y ago
    Okay, but at the Wikipedia entry, look at the population growth figures!!! WOW!! Looks like they are having a REALLY good time and having LOTS of kids!!! Clothes? You are saying that they are too poor to have clothes? Is that what you are saying??? Clothes, in a tropical paradise like that, who needs clothes!!!! As far as "shit" is concerned, they are surrounded by the Indian ocean and have waterways running through the place. So plenty of opportunity for flushing!! For food? The article lists several kinds of food they grow. And for some variety, did I mention, they are surrounded by the Indian Ocean, but before the ocean, lots of shallow water with coral reefs. They may have lots of shellfish readily available in the shallow waters and little competition for fish in the ocean. Hmm, where can I apply to be 15 again, be with my girl of 13, and move to the island???? Ah, back to writing software -- maybe when I sell my startup!!! Right they are missing the NYT so have to use Charmin or use the waters!
- porpoisely 8y ago
  Pretty much every island near the equator looks like a tropical paradise. But appearances can be deceiving. A lot of these places are poverty stricken because of their distance from economic centers of the world. And many of these island paradises ( especially in the pacific ) have suffered ecological disasters due to introduction of invasive species by european explorers. I think Attenborough did a documentary a while back on how the introduction of invasive cats, rats, snakes and even spiders would wipe out local fauna on these islands because the local fauna weren't used to predation. Pretty interesting stuff. Also, the local population of these islands are suffering extreme health issues ( primarily obesity related ) due to all the junk food they are eating. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1533815/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1533815/ The nature is beautiful for sure, but it isn't all paradise. And we haven't even touched on the impact of global warming on these islands and the fact that some of these islands might have to be evacuated in the next few decades. https://www.businessinsider.com/islands-threatened-by-climate-change-2012-10 https://www.businessinsider.com/islands-threatened-by-climat...
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    Listen to RNZI news (it streams), and you'll be surprised how many visually idillic Pacific Islands are wrought with military dictatorships, poverty, violence (gun, domestic, military), and worse. There was one recent article about how a mission to distribute life-saving vaccines had to be abandoned because of a lack of infrastructure and trucks able to get to the villages that need it.
    - ashrk 8y ago
      I spent a lot of time a few years back reading some Russian world traveller's photo blog (he looooved taking photos of signs and fire hydrants and such, which I wasn't super into but was sometimes interesting, but also posted plenty of other things—I misplaced the URL long ago or I'd link it) and the rule for off-the-beaten-path tropical paradises seemed to be that they were incredibly poor and absolutely covered in litter and improvised garbage dumps. If there were touristy sections it'd be every square meter of the place off the tourists' beach that looked like this.
- dvdgsng 8y ago
  I just saw a documentary about Réunion yesterday, an island in the vicinity with a unique culture & cuisine (a fascinating mixture due to colonization history) paired with great tropical nature due to (now inactive) volcanoes that created some beautiful hiking trails in craters and calderas. All those little islands around Madagascar seem to be really lovely and beautiful, they are certainly on my ToDo travel list now.
  - jventura 8y ago
    Been there some years ago for two weeks of paragliding. One of my best memories for sure, beautiful island, very clean waterfalls.. There's an active volcano though [1].. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9union#/media/File:Volcanreunion.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9union#/media/File:Volca...
    - kaybe 8y ago
      What do you mean, 'though'.. that's another plus! It's monitored so it won't go off and kill people without warning and time for evacuation. And it's Hawaiian style, which means very fluid and low ash, which is the most fun style of volcanoes because it won't really explode (the gas can escape steadily instead of building up pressure) and you can get pretty close during an eruption. Worst case, your flight is delayed or cancelled and you cannot stay in a specific village. Best case, you get to see an awesome and safe display of natural forces!
      - gregschlom 8y ago
        I think "though" was in reaction to the GP saying that the volcanoes on the island are inactive. I was going to say the same thing, the piton de la fournaise is very much active.
        dvdgsng 8y ago
        Thanks, guess I misinterpreted the documentary, they were only talking about huge calderas from former eruptions. Or I missed the part where they talked about the active volcano (multitasking, meh ...).
gizmo385 8y ago
The tweets are from earlier this month, November 11th.

brownbat 8y ago

Tangent, but this place, which I knew basically nothing about before just now, appears to be stunningly beautiful, judging from the somewhat random sample of images on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayotte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayotte It's humbling... I feel like a bad citizen of the world for my ignorance of Mayotte. But also optimistic... the world is full of so many amazing places, there's always going to be some next amazing place to learn more about.

seriouspat 8y ago
I lived there for 4 years and you shouldn't trust the random pictures you see on the internet. The place is a shithole.
- distances 8y ago
  I'd love to hear of some experiences!
  - maeln 8y ago
    Mayotte is a French oversea territory. And like almost all french oversea territory it is very poor, but less than the average neighbor countries leading to a lot of immigration which are difficult to control (even though Mayotte is an Island which make it a bit more controllable than Guyana for example). This usually end up in a increasing poverty and unemployment, leading to criminality, aging infrastructure, and public services not being able to handle the demand. Like a lot of oversea territory, it has some beautiful landscape, but is crippled by the problems above. Living there is very difficult. EDIT: Note also that I am not blaming immigrant. The problem being that adding more poor people in an already poor territory doesn't solve the problem of poverty. And France unwillingness to treat its oversea territory fairly and really invest in them is the main root of the problem.
    - donkeyd 8y ago
      This sounds a lot like Haiti. I was there on vacation for a couple of weeks. In general, Haiti dirty and poor, but there were some truly beautiful places. Unfortunately, only a few of them are actually available if you aren't there on either a cruise, or are friends/connected with the local 'bourgeoisie'. One of the places that stuck with me the most is Kay Winnie in Seguin. It's a house, built by a man who moved there from the city in order to protect one of the last forests in Haiti. He grows and plants saplings to grow the forest. Unfortunately, you need to hike quite far or drive through incredibly rough terrain to get there.
      - starbeast 8y ago
        Recently read 'The Comedians' by Graham Greene, which is set in Haiti during the rise of Duvalier. Those people have been through some terrible shit for a long time now. edit - is worth reading - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/133399.The_Comedians https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/133399.The_Comedians
        donkeyd 8y ago
        > Those people have been through some terrible shit for a long time now. Yup. And having been there and having spoken to locals and people from the UN, MSF, etc. I don't feel like it's going to change soon. A lot of the economy is driven by NGO's and that money all ends up in the pockets of the rich home, hotel and restaurant owners. Meanwhile the poor sell each other mangos and meat in the streets. It's like there are two completely separate economies. And whenever a politician wants to make a change, tribalism seems to end up ruining it because (often realistic) fear of preferential treatment of some groups.
        starbeast 8y ago
        >A lot of the economy is driven by NGO's and that money all ends up in the pockets of the rich home, hotel and restaurant owners. Meanwhile the poor sell each other mangos and meat in the streets. Sounds eerily similar to the situation things rapidly deteriorate from at the start of the book, which was set 60 years ago now.
- presscast 8y ago
  I had the pleasure of taking to a French high-school professor who worked there for 10 years. He basically said what you said.
- graycat 8y ago
  Okay, but at the Wikipedia entry, look at the population growth figures!!! WOW!! Looks like they are having a REALLY good time and having LOTS of kids!!! Clothes? You are saying that they are too poor to have clothes? Is that what you are saying??? Clothes, in a tropical paradise like that, who needs clothes!!!! As far as "shit" is concerned, they are surrounded by the Indian ocean and have waterways running through the place. So plenty of opportunity for flushing!! For food? The article lists several kinds of food they grow. And for some variety, did I mention, they are surrounded by the Indian Ocean, but before the ocean, lots of shallow water with coral reefs. They may have lots of shellfish readily available in the shallow waters and little competition for fish in the ocean. Hmm, where can I apply to be 15 again, be with my girl of 13, and move to the island???? Ah, back to writing software -- maybe when I sell my startup!!! Right they are missing the NYT so have to use Charmin or use the waters!
porpoisely 8y ago
Pretty much every island near the equator looks like a tropical paradise. But appearances can be deceiving. A lot of these places are poverty stricken because of their distance from economic centers of the world. And many of these island paradises ( especially in the pacific ) have suffered ecological disasters due to introduction of invasive species by european explorers. I think Attenborough did a documentary a while back on how the introduction of invasive cats, rats, snakes and even spiders would wipe out local fauna on these islands because the local fauna weren't used to predation. Pretty interesting stuff. Also, the local population of these islands are suffering extreme health issues ( primarily obesity related ) due to all the junk food they are eating. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1533815/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1533815/ The nature is beautiful for sure, but it isn't all paradise. And we haven't even touched on the impact of global warming on these islands and the fact that some of these islands might have to be evacuated in the next few decades. https://www.businessinsider.com/islands-threatened-by-climate-change-2012-10 https://www.businessinsider.com/islands-threatened-by-climat...
- reaperducer 8y ago
  Listen to RNZI news (it streams), and you'll be surprised how many visually idillic Pacific Islands are wrought with military dictatorships, poverty, violence (gun, domestic, military), and worse. There was one recent article about how a mission to distribute life-saving vaccines had to be abandoned because of a lack of infrastructure and trucks able to get to the villages that need it.
  - ashrk 8y ago
    I spent a lot of time a few years back reading some Russian world traveller's photo blog (he looooved taking photos of signs and fire hydrants and such, which I wasn't super into but was sometimes interesting, but also posted plenty of other things—I misplaced the URL long ago or I'd link it) and the rule for off-the-beaten-path tropical paradises seemed to be that they were incredibly poor and absolutely covered in litter and improvised garbage dumps. If there were touristy sections it'd be every square meter of the place off the tourists' beach that looked like this.
dvdgsng 8y ago
I just saw a documentary about Réunion yesterday, an island in the vicinity with a unique culture & cuisine (a fascinating mixture due to colonization history) paired with great tropical nature due to (now inactive) volcanoes that created some beautiful hiking trails in craters and calderas. All those little islands around Madagascar seem to be really lovely and beautiful, they are certainly on my ToDo travel list now.
- jventura 8y ago
  Been there some years ago for two weeks of paragliding. One of my best memories for sure, beautiful island, very clean waterfalls.. There's an active volcano though [1].. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9union#/media/File:Volcanreunion.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9union#/media/File:Volca...
  - kaybe 8y ago
    What do you mean, 'though'.. that's another plus! It's monitored so it won't go off and kill people without warning and time for evacuation. And it's Hawaiian style, which means very fluid and low ash, which is the most fun style of volcanoes because it won't really explode (the gas can escape steadily instead of building up pressure) and you can get pretty close during an eruption. Worst case, your flight is delayed or cancelled and you cannot stay in a specific village. Best case, you get to see an awesome and safe display of natural forces!
    - gregschlom 8y ago
      I think "though" was in reaction to the GP saying that the volcanoes on the island are inactive. I was going to say the same thing, the piton de la fournaise is very much active.
      - dvdgsng 8y ago
        Thanks, guess I misinterpreted the documentary, they were only talking about huge calderas from former eruptions. Or I missed the part where they talked about the active volcano (multitasking, meh ...).

gizmo385 8y ago

The tweets are from earlier this month, November 11th.