Blog Topic #7

Free Blog!

For this post you are free to choose a topic that interests you. Remember - geography is the study of the surface of the earth, freeing us to explore the spatial aspects of almost anything.

Include a visual (picture, map, video) and/or weblink that helps to highlight or explain your topic.


Safe travels, God's Blessings, and have a great Spring Break!

Blog Topic #6

As of January 4, 2010 the world officially has a new tallest building. The Burj Khalifa rises 2,717 feet above the sands of the emirate of Dubai (one of seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates), the tallest human-made structure ever built.

The Burj Khalifa replaces the CN Tower in Toronto as the tallest free standing, human-built structure on Earth. Under construction since 2004, the building cost approximatley $1.5 billion, and now sits near other well-known sites such as the Palm Jamierah and Burj Al Arab.

The view from atop this building is truly amazing:

The question for geographers is: Why is Dubai one of the wealthiest areas of the world and how is their developement interconnected with other countries and people? An interesting and complex question.

In this blog I want you to embed a YouTube clip from a country found wihin the S.W. Asia/N. Africa region. The topic you choose is up to you. Include an in-depth and insightful discussion of how the video clip relates to the physical and/or cultural geography of the region or country.

Blog Topic #5

The United Nations produces the Human Development Index (HDI) through its Human Development Program. Each year it produces a Human Development Report that lists the countires of the world in relation to several indices. All of the countries ranked as Low Human Development are loctaed within Sub-Saharan Africa.

Go to http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/ to access a variety of information about Human Development (HD). Select the HD World Map link to examine the spatial distribution of HD. Zoom into Africa and mouse over countries to see their HDI and to access additional information. You can also select different years, back to 1980, to see how HD is improving throughout the world.

Also select the HDI Rankings link to see the high, medium, and low ranking countries in the world. Make sure you select some individual countries from Sub-Saharan Africa and some outside the region for comparison. You will also want to visit the Frequently Asked Questions link to learn more.

Questions to blog about:
- What variables are used to calculate HDI?
- What is the geographic pattern of HDI in the world?
- Provide some thoughts as to why Sub-Saharan Africa is ranked so low in HDI?

Blog Topic #4

Geography assists us in understanding current events taking place around the world. Your job for this post is to find an online current event/news item concerning Latin America and post the link on your blog. Write several paragraphs explaining how the article relates to our discussion about the region or material from the textbook. If your article contains a picture, embed it in your blog.

Most news organizations have links on their websites to international stories or search boxes that let you select news by world region. For example, see the following:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/index.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/

To shorten a hyperink go to http://metamark.net/.

Blog Topic #3

A cartogram is a type of map where another variable, such as Prevalence of HIV, is substituted in place of area when drawing the size of the country. Select the map on the right to view the size of countries based on prevalence of HIV.

One of the best websites available for examining a variety of variables via cartograms is World Mapper - http://www.worldmapper.org/

Go to World Mapper and select A-Z Map Index to view all the maps available. Select two of these and embed them into your blog and then write about what each shows and some reasons explaining the distribution. Make sure you read the information available, including the .pdf poster that includes some excellent information about each map.

Blog Topic #2

Google Earth is an excellent tool for viewing the Earth from different spatial perspectives and scales. We are trained from an early age to veiw the world from flat maps showing north at the top and south at the bottom. Many maps also center the U.S. in the middle of the map. Viewing the Earth from different perspectives changes our views and makes us think about how people living in other areas "view" the United States.

In this blog I want you to show Latin America from two different perspectives and/or scales. For example, the perspective shown at right makes you realize how narrow the isthmus connecting South America and Middle America actually is.

Go to Google Earth and "fly around" until you find a unique perspective. Feel free to add or remove layers of information available on Google Earth. When you have the image you want positioned on the screen go to File, Save, Save Image..., and save the image as a .jpeg and then upload it into your blog. Describe how each image makes you think differently about Latin America.

If you don't have Google Earth on your computer, go to http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html to download a free version.

Blog Topic #1

The island nation of Haiti is experiencing the devastating impact of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. The video below provides a glimpse of how violent the ground shook.



Natural disasters and the worldwide relief efforts that quickly follow are examples of globalization. Technology allows pictures, videos, and calls for help to circulate around the globe in a matter of minutes. That is a good thing. As I write this billions of dollars in relief aid, equipment, and rescue personel are flowing into Haiti. Relief efforts are made difficult by the economic and political realities of Haiti - the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.

In this blog I want you to:
1. Post a Youtube video showing some aspect of the disaster and/or relief efforts and comment on why you selected this video and what it says about the situation.

2. Post a picture from Haiti and comment on how the image assists us in understanding the cause, impacts, or relief efforts associated with the the disaster.