“In my post last week I cited a few ways in which English is unsuitable as a global language, and mentioned that its being one anyway is attributable at least in part to undeserved luck. Of course, it wasn’t all luck.”
Tags: language, colonialism, diffusion, culture, English.
Source: chronicle.com
Additionally, here is an article explaining why Mandarin won’t become a lingua franca in the near future.
“A postal worker created a guide for black travelers that was published almost every year from 1936 to 1966.”
Source: hereandnow.wbur.org
The effects of globalization and technologies are uneven; this is a very clear example of how mobility and access to other places can be limited based on various segments of the population. It is repugnant to think that such a book was ever necessary in this country, but it is heartening to see the evidence of an organized network that worked to lessen the pain of those oppressed by it (podcast on the Green Book and an additional article).
Geographer Derek Alderman complied these resources for teachers wanting to use the example of the Green Book in their classrooms.
Tags: mobility, transportation, race, class, culture, historical, USA, ethnicity.
Regions of America have their own grammar, just like they have their own vocabulary.
Source: www.atlasobscura.com
Here’s you a post on regionalized grammatical differences. And if you want a link of Southern vocabulary terms, (personal favorite: I’m fixin’ to…) click on this.
See staff at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo try traditional Norwegian Christmas dishes. Se ansatte på den amerikanske ambassaden i Oslo smake på norsk julemat.
Tags: Norway, food, culture, seasonal, perspective.
Source: www.youtube.com
“The word lavaka means ‘hole’ or ‘gully’ in Malagasy, and it has become the accepted international term for the spectacular erosional features that characterize the highlands of Madagscar. Lavakas are gullies formed by groundwater flow, with steep or vertical sides and flat floors.”
Source: madmonster.williams.edu
Lavakas are often seen as an ecological catastrophe since rapid deforestion leads to young, active lavakas that can silt up rice fields. While obviously not desirable, these scars on a deforested landscape do offer a glimmer of hope as well. Some National Geographic explorers are finding that older, stabilized lavakas can become great agricultural pockets for rebuilding in these denuded communities.
Tags: Madagascar, erosion, environment adapt, environment, ecology, political ecology, Africa, National Geographic.
New research shows that more than four billion years ago the surface of Earth was heavily reprocessed – or melted, mixed, and buried – as a result of giant asteroid impacts. A new terrestrial bombardment model, calibrated using existing lunar and terrestrial data, sheds light on the role asteroid collisions played in the evolution of the uppermost layers of the early Earth
Tag: geology.
Source: sservi.nasa.gov
This map by Jakub Marian shows you how to say Merry Christmas in European languages.
Source: fairlanguages.com
To those that celebrate Christmas I was going to wish them a Merry Christmas in English, but this gives us so many other options…Feliz Navidad! For any interested in exploring the setting of the Christmas story from a geographic perspective, read on.
Tags: religion, Europe, culture, historical, language, seasonal.
“In our dense cities where land is valuable and housing is expensive, why do our cars pay cheaper rent than people?”
Source: www.strongtowns.org
Everyone searching for a parking space has at one time felt that there are not enough spaces where and when you need them…did you know that their are at least 3 surface lot parking spaces for every car in the United States (not including garages, driveways, etc)? With 250 million passenger vehicles for 316 million people, that means there are 800 million surface lot parking spaces (that account for only 60-70% of our parking needs). Parking, and the ways in which parking is subsidized, are much bigger issues than many want to believe, especially when cars are given breaks that people don’t. We cant forget that there is a high cost for free parking.
Tags: urban, transportation, planning.
“GeoInquiries are designed to be fast and easy-to-use instructional resources that incorporate advanced web mapping technology. Each 15-minute activity in a collection is intended to be presented by the instructor from a single computer/projector classroom arrangement. No installation, fees, or logins are necessary to use these materials and software.”
Source: edcommunity.esri.com
ESRI has produced GeoInquires for Earth Science, History and now a complete set of AP Human Geography GeoInquiries. I was grateful to be a part of the team that created these exercises; we believe that APHG should not just teach students about GIS, but be used to teach geography. These GeoInquiries are an easy on-ramp since the were designed for students and teachers without a GIS background.
Tags: mapping, geospatial, ESRI, APHG.
GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION 