GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

What is the social media conversation like in different regions of the world?  This realtime mapping tool lets to visualize the ever-shifting world of Twitter.  In this screen shot, Europe and Africa are sleeping the Americas are buzzing with activity.  

Hindu pilgrims from all over India flock to bathe where it the Yamuna Saraswati Rivers join with the Ganges River for a religious experience.  This is a massive undertaking where the cultural practices create migratory patterns that reshape cities because of a sacred physical geography. 

This news article of ‘odds and end’ has some interesting geographic content.  Having lived in Utah for many years, I can attest to the fact that the “Polynesian Pipeline” for Utah schools is incredibly important and represents a chain migration that has culturally shifted both the ‘host’ and ‘migrant’ population.  The ‘haka‘ is now institutionized as a part of Intermountain West football culture.   

Also in this article:

–Hispanics to outnumber whites in California by 2014

–Somali Bantu band from Burlington, VT in demand across the country

Tags: Migration, culture, unit 2 population.

Catalonia appears to want the benefits of independence AND being a politically a part of Spain.

Tags: Spain, Europe, devolution, autonomy.

For computers, shibboleths allow online verification of your identity.  Culturally, shibboleths are words that have distinct regional pronouncations and consequently ‘reveal’ something of the speakers ethnic, cultural or regional background.  This Washington Post article lists some phrases that people that are visiting Washington D.C., or not from there often get wrong. 

Tags: language, culture, Washington DC, unit 3 culture.

This Super Bowl commercial for trucks also doubles as a tribute to a rural America of yesteryear in general, and for farmers more specifically.  While some may object to the overtly religious references of video, I feel that it reflects the cultural ethos of the Midwest and but more importantly the market research shows that this religious appeal would resonate with the truck-purchasing demographic that this commercial is trying to influence.    

Tags: agriculture, labor, rural, unit 5 agriculture.

This picture is a compilation of foods Produced at the Sydney International Food Festival.  If you want to see more “food flags,” see this previous post with links to the ingredients and a key to the flags (if you can’t guess some of them). 

Tags: food, art.

This powerplant was demolished primarily because of location (watch the cool videos of the implosion).  The electrical powerplant provided energy for the region, but it’s location right on the San Diego Bay doesn’t line up with current land uses.  When the area’s economy was focused more on manufacturing, this was seen an ideal way to use the wetlands on the bay.  Today our city planning priorites has shifted.  First, how we view wetlands has changed and we no longer see them as “wasted” space.  Second, an attractive waterfront that can be used to generate tourism is seen as a greater economic priority today than it was 50 years ago.  

Tags: location, planning, economic, space, industry, California. 

It’s often noted that people from smaller towns prefer a slower pace of life and people from large cities enjoy the hustle and bustle more.  So does the urban environment change how we handle the vast quantity of information in major metropolitan areas?  This article points to data that says it does.  

Tags: rural, housing, urban, planning, density, urbanism, unit 7 cities.