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When dictators disappear rumors abound, and so it is with Kim Jong-un

“Those who owe their position to despotic leaders cling to their influence by keeping them operating – perhaps past death.”  

Source: www.theguardian.com

Kim Jong-un has not been seen for over five weeks now, even missing the 69th anniversary of the Worker’s Party. The official governmental explanation is that he is healing, but everything coming out of Pyongyang is shrouded in mystery.  Some think he may have died or that he has been overthrown or fled after an unsuccessful coup attempt.  This might be a trick, but the longer he remains out of the public eye, the speculation will continue as to who is really in charge of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.     

Tags: North Korea, political, East Asia, geopolitics.

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Visualizing Earth’s Physical Systems

“An animated map of global wind and weather. Join the Facebook community.  Seen here are the dual menaces, Cyclone Hudhud and Typhoon Vongfong.”

Source: earth.nullschool.net

Earlier I shared a dynamic map of near-live wind data for the United States and a static rendering of global wind patterns.  This combines the features of both of those resources to provide a mesmerizing digital globe.  This visualization of global weather conditions is updated every three hours from supercomputer data projections.  Click on the ‘earth’ text in the lower left-hand corner to customize the display.  For examining the wind patterns and oceans currents, this is much more useful than Google Earth; this is definitely one of my favorite resources.

Tags: physical, weather and climate, mapping, visualization.

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Globalization in a Nutshell

“The world is becoming more and more interconnected. Globalization changes how people consume, work and live almost everywhere on the world. Today, many economic, political, cultural or ecological relationships are not explainable from a national perspective. At the same time, a controversial debate about the consequences of globalization has begun.“

Source: www.youtube.com

This is a good video to explain globalization (although this is my personal favorite), to see that it not just an economic force, but one that touches just about every facet of modern life.
 

Questions to ponder: What are the driving forces behind globalization? What areas are most impacted by globalization?  How does globalization benefit some, and adversely impact others? Why?

Tags: globalization, economic, industry, NGOs, political, scale, unit 6 industry.

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Gender Empowerment and Education

“In this exclusive, unedited interview, ‘I Am Malala’ author Malala Yousafzai remembers the Taliban’s rise to power in her Pakistani hometown and discusses her efforts to campaign for equal access to education for girls. Malala Yousafzai also offers suggestions for people looking to help out overseas and stresses the importance of education.”

For younger audiences, hearing someone their own age discuss educational opportunities (or the lack thereof) based on gender can leave a profound impression. Today, Malala is a Nobel Peace Prize winner (deservedly so), as she’s become an icon in her own right as she champions developmental opportunities for girls in cultures that historically have not had equal offerings for young women.  Watch this documentary to see who she was before she was thrust into the international spotlight. 

Tags: development, poverty, gender, Pakistan, media.

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Pro-Natalist Policies

“No one has found out how to help Denmark’s falling birth rate. Until now. Spies Travels announces a competition where you have to make a baby to win.”

Source: www.youtube.com

Not all countries are concerned about overpopulation;  Countries like Japan are in steep decline in terms of their population.    Denmark is a country that is seeking to to encourage higher fertility rates (and this travel company is using this salacious ad to promote the it and themselves, but there is some actual demographic analysis in there). Singapore’s National Night was another innovative campaign to boost fertility rates (warning: the video is provocative).

Tag: declining populations.

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Integrating Geography and History

“This 18-stanza poem by Kit Salter, beautifully captures the importance of geographic thinking in any history/social studies curriculum.  This was shared by Dr. Vernon Domingo and the slides of his keynote address titled, Integrating Geography and History are available here.”

Source: rigea.org

It was my privilege to hear my good friend and fellow geo-evangelist, Dr. Vernon Domingo recently as he shared ideas on the importance of integrating geographic analysis in historical inquiry.  He shared a fabulous poem by Kit Salter, one of the pioneers in the Network of Geographic Alliances.  I’ll only share the first stanza here:


    How can there be a separate scene,
    For history without place
    How can there be events in time,
    For which there is no space?

Tags: geo-inspiration, geography education, spatial, historical.

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How New Countries Gain Independence

“Secession movements seem to be everywhere: from the Kurds in Iraq, to pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists, to Scotland’s aim to break up the UK. How does secession actually happen? Let’s look back to South Sudan’s successful secession effort to see exactly how new countries gain independence.”

Source: www.youtube.com

What does it take to actually secede from a country?  This video takes the example of South Sudan to highlight the necessary requirements to successfully secede and then gain full independence. 


Tags: South Sudan, political, sovereignty, Africa, states, unit 4 political.

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What Westerners can learn from the Hajj

“Though it may come as a surprise to outsiders, the journey to Mecca is a manifestation of globally moderate Islam.”

The Mecca region of Saudi Arabia has recently been in the midst of Hajj season. The Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, is strongly encouraged of all Muslims who have the means to undertake it. Importantly, by bringing together 2 million to 3 million people from across the globe, the Hajj pilgrimage is a manifestation of the diversity and moderate nature of global Islam. This image of the Muslim world as cosmopolitan and reasonable stands in stark contrast to the militant Islamist fundamentalism we more regularly hear about in media coverage — with the Islamic State and Boko Haram being the most recent manifestation of this.

Tags: Islam, Saudi Arabia, culture, religion, Middle East.

Source: www.startribune.com

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GeoEd Resources on Twitter

“Some great geography education resources that can be found on Twitter.”        

Source: geographyeducation.org

While I might wish to write posts about everything pertinent to geography education that I find on social media, I just don’t have the time to do it all.  Too many good tweets, not enough time.  Periodically I will share a list of tweets that can link you to good resources and help you expand your personal learning network.

Tags: geo-inspiration, geography education, social media, teacher training.

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