Make a digital, online cache of your best papers & projects and volunteer hours at a site such as
* Flickr.com, a photo storage site that is can be a blog . . .
* Google free sites, an easy-to-build stand-alone, traditional web site that is probably the easiest and most stable of all available.
You can get indie work bonus points for this site before each progress report time.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Google founders Sergey Brin & Larry Page in 2005
Indie work this week:
Research and compare (see essay guidelines)
* Google founders Brin & Page to early US explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The expedition of 1804–1806 had a profound impact on the US, much as had the explosion of google.com.
Research and compare (see essay guidelines)
* Google founders Brin & Page to early US explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The expedition of 1804–1806 had a profound impact on the US, much as had the explosion of google.com.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Exploring the options in regards protection of New Orleans from future hurricane-borne floods
Notes from an article published in 07 called "The Threatening Storm,"
By Michael Grunwald.
* Corps officials have also committed to restoring the surge-softening marshes, cypress swamps and barrier islands that are disappearing at a rate of a football field nearly every half-hour. They say they now understand that the survival of New Orleans depends on a sustainable coast.
* traditional engineering: huge structures designed to control rather than preserve nature. And its latest plan seeks to extend those structures along the entire coast, calling for such massive levees across so much of the state that scientists call it the Great Wall of Louisiana. The Corps says it's just an idea, but Congress is about to authorize the first stretch of the wall--a $900 million, 72-mile (116 km) levee.
* "Fix the Coast, or We Are Toast!"
*
NEW ORLEANS WASN'T ALWAYS A CITY IN A bowl. The French founded it in 1718 on high ground along the Mississippi, a "natural levee" of sediment deposited by the river. That's why tourists in the French Quarter stayed dry during Katrina. And that's how all of south Louisiana was built--by the Mississippi River mutinying its banks and rambling around its floodplain like an unruly teenager, dropping mud around its delta and creating roughly 4.5 million acres of wetlands between New Orleans and the Gulf.
So while the French built an earthen levee 1 mile long and 3 ft. high to block the river's annual tantrums, they didn't bother trying to block the occasional hurricanes that swept up the Gulf. "They didn't need hurricane levees," says Kerry St. Pe, a marine biologist whose ancestors arrived in 1760. "They had wetlands to protect them." New Orleans wasn't on the coast, and hurricanes wilt over land.
* After the vast Flood of 1927, the Corps of Engineers built dams, floodways, revetments and pumped-up levees throughout the Mississippi basin, caging the river in its channel, safeguarding riverfront cities, creating a reliable web of liquid highways.
But by walling off the river, trapping its sediments behind giant dams and armoring its erosive banks with concrete, the Corps inadvertently choked off the land-building process. The straitjacketed river now carries less than half its original sediment load down to Louisiana. So there's little new land-building material to offset the natural erosion of the coast, much less the unnatural rising of the sea fueled by global warming.
* The result is that New Orleans is sinking, and about 30% of the coast's wetlands have slipped into the Gulf, jutting Louisiana's chin even further into the path of Mother Nature's fist, endangering the U.S.'s largest offshore oil and gas fields, a lucrative seafood industry, a busy network of ports and about 2 million people.
* "Basically, we found that none of the levees that failed were protected by wetlands or trees," Mashriqui says. Oil and gas canals have accelerated the land losses. But so have Corps navigation canals, especially the notorious Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a shipping shortcut to the Port of New Orleans that was a larger dirt-moving project than the Panama Canal when it opened in 1965. The canal never carried many ships, but it has carried plenty of saltwater into freshwater marshes and cypress forests, killing nearly 100 sq. mi. (259 sq km) of wetlands.
* The U.S. has no water-resources policy, just a ready-to-build water-resources agency whose agenda is dictated by an annual funding free-for-all among its 535 bosses - the US House of Reps. It's a classic example of Washington's iron triangle: commercial interests lobby the Corps and their Congressmen for projects that supply the Corps with work and political cover and help the Congressmen steer jobs and money to constituents and contributors.
* Scientists believe they know how to save it. They want the Corps to let go of the river in strategic areas so it can get back to work building land, even if that requires rearranging navigation at the mouth of the Mississippi. They want to fill in oil and gas canals, constrict the Gulf Outlet and start pumping sediment back into ridges and barrier islands. The Corps developed $14 billion worth of Louisiana restoration plans before Katrina, but Bush scaled them back to $2 billion. Now the scientists want to think even bigger about the entire ecosystem, even the sediments trapped behind dams 1,000 miles upstream (about 1,600 km).
By Michael Grunwald.
* Corps officials have also committed to restoring the surge-softening marshes, cypress swamps and barrier islands that are disappearing at a rate of a football field nearly every half-hour. They say they now understand that the survival of New Orleans depends on a sustainable coast.
* traditional engineering: huge structures designed to control rather than preserve nature. And its latest plan seeks to extend those structures along the entire coast, calling for such massive levees across so much of the state that scientists call it the Great Wall of Louisiana. The Corps says it's just an idea, but Congress is about to authorize the first stretch of the wall--a $900 million, 72-mile (116 km) levee.
* "Fix the Coast, or We Are Toast!"
*
NEW ORLEANS WASN'T ALWAYS A CITY IN A bowl. The French founded it in 1718 on high ground along the Mississippi, a "natural levee" of sediment deposited by the river. That's why tourists in the French Quarter stayed dry during Katrina. And that's how all of south Louisiana was built--by the Mississippi River mutinying its banks and rambling around its floodplain like an unruly teenager, dropping mud around its delta and creating roughly 4.5 million acres of wetlands between New Orleans and the Gulf.
So while the French built an earthen levee 1 mile long and 3 ft. high to block the river's annual tantrums, they didn't bother trying to block the occasional hurricanes that swept up the Gulf. "They didn't need hurricane levees," says Kerry St. Pe, a marine biologist whose ancestors arrived in 1760. "They had wetlands to protect them." New Orleans wasn't on the coast, and hurricanes wilt over land.
* After the vast Flood of 1927, the Corps of Engineers built dams, floodways, revetments and pumped-up levees throughout the Mississippi basin, caging the river in its channel, safeguarding riverfront cities, creating a reliable web of liquid highways.
But by walling off the river, trapping its sediments behind giant dams and armoring its erosive banks with concrete, the Corps inadvertently choked off the land-building process. The straitjacketed river now carries less than half its original sediment load down to Louisiana. So there's little new land-building material to offset the natural erosion of the coast, much less the unnatural rising of the sea fueled by global warming.
* The result is that New Orleans is sinking, and about 30% of the coast's wetlands have slipped into the Gulf, jutting Louisiana's chin even further into the path of Mother Nature's fist, endangering the U.S.'s largest offshore oil and gas fields, a lucrative seafood industry, a busy network of ports and about 2 million people.
* "Basically, we found that none of the levees that failed were protected by wetlands or trees," Mashriqui says. Oil and gas canals have accelerated the land losses. But so have Corps navigation canals, especially the notorious Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a shipping shortcut to the Port of New Orleans that was a larger dirt-moving project than the Panama Canal when it opened in 1965. The canal never carried many ships, but it has carried plenty of saltwater into freshwater marshes and cypress forests, killing nearly 100 sq. mi. (259 sq km) of wetlands.
* The U.S. has no water-resources policy, just a ready-to-build water-resources agency whose agenda is dictated by an annual funding free-for-all among its 535 bosses - the US House of Reps. It's a classic example of Washington's iron triangle: commercial interests lobby the Corps and their Congressmen for projects that supply the Corps with work and political cover and help the Congressmen steer jobs and money to constituents and contributors.
* Scientists believe they know how to save it. They want the Corps to let go of the river in strategic areas so it can get back to work building land, even if that requires rearranging navigation at the mouth of the Mississippi. They want to fill in oil and gas canals, constrict the Gulf Outlet and start pumping sediment back into ridges and barrier islands. The Corps developed $14 billion worth of Louisiana restoration plans before Katrina, but Bush scaled them back to $2 billion. Now the scientists want to think even bigger about the entire ecosystem, even the sediments trapped behind dams 1,000 miles upstream (about 1,600 km).
Sunday, August 31, 2008
New Orleans asks: Will the rebuilt levees hold?
Students asked about this issue last week in class.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Just three years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans confronts a new threat from Gustav and a stark question: Will the partially rebuilt levees hold?
levee and drain pipes
Despite $2 billion in improvements, including 220 miles of repaired, raised and replaced floodwalls, 17 new pump stations and more flood-resistant pump stations, nobody can say for sure the city won't be swamped again. And if it is, could it ever recover?
"It's scary, man," said Robert Russell, a 63-year-old plumber whose house in Gentilly Woods is close to floodwalls on the Industrial Canal that are so suspect the Army Corps of Engineers is buffering them with large baskets filled with sand.
"They say it's not up to code," he said. "We'll have to wait and see."
Levee experts and the Army Corps insist New Orleans is safer than before Katrina flooded more than 80 percent of the city on Aug. 29, 2005.
Yet the system still has severe shortcomings: Flood barriers meant only to withstand medium-strength storms, hidden layers of weak soil and navigation channels that inadvertently funnel storm surge into the city, to name a few.
"The positive thing about having any storm hit you, it will reveal any kind of frailty in the system," said J. David Rogers, an engineer at Missouri University of Science and Technology, who's tracked the construction closely. "And we shouldn't be surprised if there is frailty."
Experts estimate the system is only a third of the way to where the corps wants it by 2011 — strong enough to protect against what scientists call a 100-year-storm. That type of hurricane has a 1 percent chance of occurring each year.
By comparison, the corps says Katrina was a 396-year storm, a rare catastrophic hurricane. The agency has not classified Gustav, which was crossing Jamaica Thursday.
"We're not close to 100-year-level protection yet," said Robert Turner, the regional director of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East. "It's not worth putting your life at risk if you have the means to get out."
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Just three years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans confronts a new threat from Gustav and a stark question: Will the partially rebuilt levees hold?
levee and drain pipes
Despite $2 billion in improvements, including 220 miles of repaired, raised and replaced floodwalls, 17 new pump stations and more flood-resistant pump stations, nobody can say for sure the city won't be swamped again. And if it is, could it ever recover?
"It's scary, man," said Robert Russell, a 63-year-old plumber whose house in Gentilly Woods is close to floodwalls on the Industrial Canal that are so suspect the Army Corps of Engineers is buffering them with large baskets filled with sand.
"They say it's not up to code," he said. "We'll have to wait and see."
Levee experts and the Army Corps insist New Orleans is safer than before Katrina flooded more than 80 percent of the city on Aug. 29, 2005.
Yet the system still has severe shortcomings: Flood barriers meant only to withstand medium-strength storms, hidden layers of weak soil and navigation channels that inadvertently funnel storm surge into the city, to name a few.
"The positive thing about having any storm hit you, it will reveal any kind of frailty in the system," said J. David Rogers, an engineer at Missouri University of Science and Technology, who's tracked the construction closely. "And we shouldn't be surprised if there is frailty."
Experts estimate the system is only a third of the way to where the corps wants it by 2011 — strong enough to protect against what scientists call a 100-year-storm. That type of hurricane has a 1 percent chance of occurring each year.
By comparison, the corps says Katrina was a 396-year storm, a rare catastrophic hurricane. The agency has not classified Gustav, which was crossing Jamaica Thursday.
"We're not close to 100-year-level protection yet," said Robert Turner, the regional director of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East. "It's not worth putting your life at risk if you have the means to get out."
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Hand-sketched map test next Wed: the Mississippi valley
Map quiz:
a) Sketch the 10 states that border the Mississippi River. Label each and spell the states' names correctly.
b) Sketch and label the inlet points of 3 tributaries: the Ohio R, the Missouri R and the Red R.
c) Cite the cities of Minneapolis-St Paul, St Louis, Memphis, Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
18 pts. memorization.
a) Sketch the 10 states that border the Mississippi River. Label each and spell the states' names correctly.
b) Sketch and label the inlet points of 3 tributaries: the Ohio R, the Missouri R and the Red R.
c) Cite the cities of Minneapolis-St Paul, St Louis, Memphis, Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
18 pts. memorization.
Guidelines for Open Notes tests
Students should be confident that fairness exists across the classroom during tests. To that end I work hard to make sure these guidelines are evenly administered:
1. No communication between students; None whatever. Students may raise their hand and shortly I will arrive at their desk to answer the question. Please whisper your question.
2. You may Not trade or pass notes during the test period.
3. Keep your eyes on your workspace only.
4. You may use all sources of info: textbook, atlas, notes, print outs, reference books in the classroom, even a laptop.
5. Violation of test guidelines? I must call your parents and you must type an essay of correction and contrition.
1. No communication between students; None whatever. Students may raise their hand and shortly I will arrive at their desk to answer the question. Please whisper your question.
2. You may Not trade or pass notes during the test period.
3. Keep your eyes on your workspace only.
4. You may use all sources of info: textbook, atlas, notes, print outs, reference books in the classroom, even a laptop.
5. Violation of test guidelines? I must call your parents and you must type an essay of correction and contrition.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Sample questions to make you ready for the open notes quiz on Thurs, Aug 28
1. The coordinates of this famous American city are approximately 40N, 74W. This must refer to:
a) Denver b) San Diego c) London d) Philadelphia.
2. On a Mercator map which is more distorted? a) Ecuador b) Chile.
3. On a flat Mercator map you see a route that seems to be curved rather than straight across. The curved line does not represent a Great Circle route; it represents a Robinson projection. T / F
4. The source of the Mississippi is Lake a) Titicaca b) Superior
c) Michigan d) Itasca.
Famous cities:
5. 40N, 74W
6. 32N, 35E
7. 32S, 19E
8. 34S, 150E
9. 30N, 90W
10. The region associated with the earliest use of math and mapping: a) Babylonia b) Mesopotamia c) Egypt d) Greece.
11. Greenwich, England, is home to the a) equator b) prime meridian c) oldest section of London.
12. Pythagoras and the grid system are associated with a) Greece b) Egypt c) Mesopotamia.
13. Louisiana is usually thought of as having a place in the __ Hemisphere. a) Eastern b) Western c) Southern d) Cerebral.
14. Use your text to find the coordinate that is described as 0 degrees, 0 minutes and 0 seconds.
It is the a) equator b) prime meridian c) both the equator and prime meridian.
15. Cartographer: a) Vespucci b) diCaprio c) Columbus d) McNally.
16. The Red River flows through or adjacent to the states of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Mississippi. T / F
answers . . .
1. Philadelphia
2. Chile
3. F
4. Itasca
5. Philadelphia
6. Jerusalem, Israel
7. Cape Town, South Africa
8. Sydney, Australia
9. New Orleans
10. Greece
11. prime meridian
12. Greece
13. Western
14. both
15.Vespucci
16. F
a) Denver b) San Diego c) London d) Philadelphia.
2. On a Mercator map which is more distorted? a) Ecuador b) Chile.
3. On a flat Mercator map you see a route that seems to be curved rather than straight across. The curved line does not represent a Great Circle route; it represents a Robinson projection. T / F
4. The source of the Mississippi is Lake a) Titicaca b) Superior
c) Michigan d) Itasca.
Famous cities:
5. 40N, 74W
6. 32N, 35E
7. 32S, 19E
8. 34S, 150E
9. 30N, 90W
10. The region associated with the earliest use of math and mapping: a) Babylonia b) Mesopotamia c) Egypt d) Greece.
11. Greenwich, England, is home to the a) equator b) prime meridian c) oldest section of London.
12. Pythagoras and the grid system are associated with a) Greece b) Egypt c) Mesopotamia.
13. Louisiana is usually thought of as having a place in the __ Hemisphere. a) Eastern b) Western c) Southern d) Cerebral.
14. Use your text to find the coordinate that is described as 0 degrees, 0 minutes and 0 seconds.
It is the a) equator b) prime meridian c) both the equator and prime meridian.
15. Cartographer: a) Vespucci b) diCaprio c) Columbus d) McNally.
16. The Red River flows through or adjacent to the states of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Mississippi. T / F
answers . . .
1. Philadelphia
2. Chile
3. F
4. Itasca
5. Philadelphia
6. Jerusalem, Israel
7. Cape Town, South Africa
8. Sydney, Australia
9. New Orleans
10. Greece
11. prime meridian
12. Greece
13. Western
14. both
15.Vespucci
16. F
Learning the difference between an ordinary route, called a True Direction route, and a Great Circle route
Tues, Aug 26:
- Sketch, label and color the 2 Great Circle Route maps on p. 6. They are similar but note the differences between them,
- Cut out and color representations of 2 ships and 2 planes appropriate in size to your Great Circle maps.
- Place them upon your map, you ask? Yes! With glue? Perhaps, yes!
A disembodied hand and wrist? One that moves to and fro? If we have the time!
- Knowing the type of route on which you must place the ship and plane
is the key to the lesson.
- Sketch, label and color the 2 Great Circle Route maps on p. 6. They are similar but note the differences between them,
- Cut out and color representations of 2 ships and 2 planes appropriate in size to your Great Circle maps.
- Place them upon your map, you ask? Yes! With glue? Perhaps, yes!
A disembodied hand and wrist? One that moves to and fro? If we have the time!
- Knowing the type of route on which you must place the ship and plane
is the key to the lesson.
Maps by Gerardus Mercator, mid 1500's
The Mercator projection is a cylindrical map projection presented by the Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator, in 1569, says Wikipedia.
It became the standard map projection for nautical purposes because of its ability to represent lines of constant true bearing or true course, known as rhumb lines, as straight line segments.
While the direction and shapes are accurate on a Mercator projection, it distorts size, in an increasing degree away from the equator.
It became the standard map projection for nautical purposes because of its ability to represent lines of constant true bearing or true course, known as rhumb lines, as straight line segments.
While the direction and shapes are accurate on a Mercator projection, it distorts size, in an increasing degree away from the equator.
The nature of the Great Circle route
Great circle routes are used by ships and aircraft where currents and winds are not a significant factor. For aircraft traveling westerly between continents in the northern hemisphere these paths will extend northward near or into the Arctic region, while easterly flights will often fly a more southerly track to take advantage of the jet stream.
A great circle is a circle on the surface of a sphere that has the same circumference as the sphere, dividing the sphere into two equal hemispheres, says Wikipedia.
A great circle is the largest circle that can be drawn on a given sphere. The diameter of a great circle is same as the diameter of the sphere.
When long distance aviation or nautical routes are drawn on a flat map (for instance, the Mercator projection), they often look curved. This is because they lie on great circles. A route that would look like a straight line on the map would actually be longer.
On the Earth, the meridians are on great circles, and the equator is a great circle. Other lines of latitude are not great circles, because they are smaller than the equator; their centers are not at the center of the Earth -- they are small circles instead.
A great circle is a circle on the surface of a sphere that has the same circumference as the sphere, dividing the sphere into two equal hemispheres, says Wikipedia.
A great circle is the largest circle that can be drawn on a given sphere. The diameter of a great circle is same as the diameter of the sphere.
When long distance aviation or nautical routes are drawn on a flat map (for instance, the Mercator projection), they often look curved. This is because they lie on great circles. A route that would look like a straight line on the map would actually be longer.
On the Earth, the meridians are on great circles, and the equator is a great circle. Other lines of latitude are not great circles, because they are smaller than the equator; their centers are not at the center of the Earth -- they are small circles instead.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Open Notes Quiz on Thurs, Aug 28
Open notes quiz on Thurs on geographical coordinates (latitude, longitude), plus vocabulary from the Mondotrudeau notes. All questions mult-choice.
Ex question: The coordinate is 40N, 75E. That designates
a) NYC b) Paris, France c) Denver, Colorado d) Philadelphia.
In class:
- Making quizzes on the geographical coordinate system
- Each student will write 10 multiple choice questions on items such as the prime meridian and on the coordinates of famous locations such as Paris, France and Sydney, Australia.
Vocab -
"Ni hau!"
- Mandarin Chinese (northern)
- Mandarin implies noble or learned.
- Most frequently-used “hello” in the world.
Ex question: The coordinate is 40N, 75E. That designates
a) NYC b) Paris, France c) Denver, Colorado d) Philadelphia.
In class:
- Making quizzes on the geographical coordinate system
- Each student will write 10 multiple choice questions on items such as the prime meridian and on the coordinates of famous locations such as Paris, France and Sydney, Australia.
Vocab -
"Ni hau!"
- Mandarin Chinese (northern)
- Mandarin implies noble or learned.
- Most frequently-used “hello” in the world.
The Mississippi Valley project
To be completed mostly in class, this review of the tributaries of the Miss. should have the following items:
1. 10 states - the ones that directly border the Miss.
2. The Miss. river.
3. The major tributaries -
Ohio R.
Tennessee R.
Missouri R.
Arkansas R.
Red R.
4. Add a rim of color to the states. Save a contrasting color for the rivers.
5. Titles (see guidelines).
The Mississippi River[2] is the second longest river in the United States, with a length of 2,340 miles (3,770 km)[3] from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico, says Wikipedia. The longest river, a Mississippi tributary, is the Missouri River measuring 2,540 miles (4,090 km)[4].
The Mississippi River is part of the Jefferson-Missouri-Mississippi river system, which is the largest river system in North America and among the largest in the world: by length (3,900 miles (6,300 km)), it is the fourth longest, and by its average discharge of 572,000 cu ft/s (16,200 m³/s), it is the tenth largest river.
The name Mississippi is derived from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi ("Great River") or gichi-ziibi ("Big River") at its headwaters.
Wikipedia reminds us that "The Atchafalaya River in Louisiana is a major distributary of the Mississippi." What does that mean?
1. 10 states - the ones that directly border the Miss.
2. The Miss. river.
3. The major tributaries -
Ohio R.
Tennessee R.
Missouri R.
Arkansas R.
Red R.
4. Add a rim of color to the states. Save a contrasting color for the rivers.
5. Titles (see guidelines).
The Mississippi River[2] is the second longest river in the United States, with a length of 2,340 miles (3,770 km)[3] from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico, says Wikipedia. The longest river, a Mississippi tributary, is the Missouri River measuring 2,540 miles (4,090 km)[4].
The Mississippi River is part of the Jefferson-Missouri-Mississippi river system, which is the largest river system in North America and among the largest in the world: by length (3,900 miles (6,300 km)), it is the fourth longest, and by its average discharge of 572,000 cu ft/s (16,200 m³/s), it is the tenth largest river.
The name Mississippi is derived from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi ("Great River") or gichi-ziibi ("Big River") at its headwaters.
Wikipedia reminds us that "The Atchafalaya River in Louisiana is a major distributary of the Mississippi." What does that mean?
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Observing the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
This week we observe the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. My goal is that all students will know the background of Katrina, including
* Chronology of the storm
* Reasons for the flooding
* Elevations in New Orleans
* Poverty in the Crescent City
* Map of NO
* Coastal deterioration factors
* Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi levees
Ex: compare the basic facts of Hurricane Katrina and the Galveston, Tx, hurricane of 1900.
* Chronology of the storm
* Reasons for the flooding
* Elevations in New Orleans
* Poverty in the Crescent City
* Map of NO
* Coastal deterioration factors
* Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi levees
Ex: compare the basic facts of Hurricane Katrina and the Galveston, Tx, hurricane of 1900.
This week in geography: how can we compare Facebook to the Mississippi valley?
Ni hau! That's Mandarin Chinese for "hello."
What city lies at 39N, 116E?
a) Seoul, S. Korea
b) Shanghai, China
c) Beijing, China
d) Denver, Co
This week: grids, coordinates and map projections.
While this is a week on the basics of geography, we will also look ahead to our unit on the US.
- The importance of the Mississippi valley network, a non-digital information and social connection system.
How is Facebook like a modern version of the Mississippi valley?
What city lies at 39N, 116E?
a) Seoul, S. Korea
b) Shanghai, China
c) Beijing, China
d) Denver, Co
This week: grids, coordinates and map projections.
While this is a week on the basics of geography, we will also look ahead to our unit on the US.
- The importance of the Mississippi valley network, a non-digital information and social connection system.
How is Facebook like a modern version of the Mississippi valley?
The art of comparison, a higher-thinking theme of this geography class
Typical comparison work in this class will comprise the following elements. Typically, this will be the format for independent work.
- Base your essay on no less than 3 factual items for each topic.
- Open with a colorful, descriptive sentence.
- Switch back and forth between topics, which is called integration of topics. Do not give the info in separate blocks and add a final integration.
- Cite your sources (Wikipedia.org, teacher Robert Trudeau, etc) by the phrase “according to.” Place it at the end of the first sentence of each paragraph.
- Top it with a a) smacky title and b) explanatory subtitle
- Proofread your paper for * legibility * speeling * grammar
- Name, date & hour in upper right corner!
- Proofread one more time.
Ex.: Compare the 2008 and 2004 Olympic Games in regards locations: Athens, Greece and Beijing, China.
- Base your essay on no less than 3 factual items for each topic.
- Open with a colorful, descriptive sentence.
- Switch back and forth between topics, which is called integration of topics. Do not give the info in separate blocks and add a final integration.
- Cite your sources (Wikipedia.org, teacher Robert Trudeau, etc) by the phrase “according to.” Place it at the end of the first sentence of each paragraph.
- Top it with a a) smacky title and b) explanatory subtitle
- Proofread your paper for * legibility * speeling * grammar
- Name, date & hour in upper right corner!
- Proofread one more time.
Ex.: Compare the 2008 and 2004 Olympic Games in regards locations: Athens, Greece and Beijing, China.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Titling: an essential skill in social studies
On every paper you do for this class I will expect you to follow these titling guidelines:
a) Snappy title.
b) Explanatory subtitle.
- Snappy title ex: Roiling on the Red
- tweaks a phrase from pop culture
- uses alliteration
- Explanatory subtitle ex: Mapping the Course of the Red River
- longer and detailed.
Communication in a crowded, busy world is not easy; using vivid titling is a way to stand out from the crowd.
a) Snappy title.
b) Explanatory subtitle.
- Snappy title ex: Roiling on the Red
- tweaks a phrase from pop culture
- uses alliteration
- Explanatory subtitle ex: Mapping the Course of the Red River
- longer and detailed.
Communication in a crowded, busy world is not easy; using vivid titling is a way to stand out from the crowd.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Cartography . . .
Ancient advances in mapping seen in Babylonia, Mesopotamia, about 2,300 BCE (Before the Common Era). Use of geometry in mapping.
Egyptians use geometry in mapping for land ownership.
Greece: Strabo wrote the book Geographia about 63 BCE.
* Pythagoras was the first to offer proof that the earth is spherical.
* Greeks develop map projections and the grid system.
Cradles of Civilization, acc to A History of the World:
* Mesopotamia
* Nile Valley
* China's Huang valley
* Indus Valley of Pakistan / India.
1) Storms seem larger than usual in recent years. According to National Geographic, scientists largely attribute this to a) coastal erosion b) loss of barrier islands c) changes in ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream d) global warming.
Name the large city closest to:
2) 40N, 74W
3) 32N, 35E
4) 30S, 20E
5) 35S, 150E
6) 30E, 90W
7) The region associated with the earliest use of math and mapping: a) Babylonia b) Mesopotamia c) Egypt d) Greece.
8) Greenwich, England, is home to the a) equator b) prime meridian c) oldest section of London.
9) Pythagoras and the grid system are associated with a) Greece b) Egypt c) Mesopotamia.
10) This ancient region was not mentioned in notes on the history of cartography, but it is one of the regions designated a Cradle of Civilization. We may guess that their achievements in map making were also significant.
a) China b) Rome, Italy c) Aztecs, Mexico City d) Constantinople.
11) Called the Father of geography for his book Geographia, this scholar was an ancient Greek: a) Plato b) Herodotus c) Pythagoras d) Aristotle.
12) Called the most ancient city of the Western world: a) Babylon b) Cairo
c) Alexandria d) Ur.
13) Write the grid coordinates for Istanbul (formerly Constantinople).
14) Sometimes the world fights over ethnocentric concerns (ie, the Germans wanted to take over most of Europe because they deserved it, said Hitler) and sometimes it simply accepts them.
In one or two sentences describe a situation in which the world has quietly accepted an ethnocentric term and describe the non-ethnocentric alternative to that term. (2 pts.)
Answers: geography / cartography
1. d global warming
2. 40N, 74W: NYC; that single answer should be adequate to get you started on latitude and longitude.
3. __
4. __
5. __
6. __
7. d Greece
8. b prime meridian
9. a Greece
10. a China
11. b Herodotus
12. d Ur
13. __N, __E
Egyptians use geometry in mapping for land ownership.
Greece: Strabo wrote the book Geographia about 63 BCE.
* Pythagoras was the first to offer proof that the earth is spherical.
* Greeks develop map projections and the grid system.
Cradles of Civilization, acc to A History of the World:
* Mesopotamia
* Nile Valley
* China's Huang valley
* Indus Valley of Pakistan / India.
1) Storms seem larger than usual in recent years. According to National Geographic, scientists largely attribute this to a) coastal erosion b) loss of barrier islands c) changes in ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream d) global warming.
Name the large city closest to:
2) 40N, 74W
3) 32N, 35E
4) 30S, 20E
5) 35S, 150E
6) 30E, 90W
7) The region associated with the earliest use of math and mapping: a) Babylonia b) Mesopotamia c) Egypt d) Greece.
8) Greenwich, England, is home to the a) equator b) prime meridian c) oldest section of London.
9) Pythagoras and the grid system are associated with a) Greece b) Egypt c) Mesopotamia.
10) This ancient region was not mentioned in notes on the history of cartography, but it is one of the regions designated a Cradle of Civilization. We may guess that their achievements in map making were also significant.
a) China b) Rome, Italy c) Aztecs, Mexico City d) Constantinople.
11) Called the Father of geography for his book Geographia, this scholar was an ancient Greek: a) Plato b) Herodotus c) Pythagoras d) Aristotle.
12) Called the most ancient city of the Western world: a) Babylon b) Cairo
c) Alexandria d) Ur.
13) Write the grid coordinates for Istanbul (formerly Constantinople).
14) Sometimes the world fights over ethnocentric concerns (ie, the Germans wanted to take over most of Europe because they deserved it, said Hitler) and sometimes it simply accepts them.
In one or two sentences describe a situation in which the world has quietly accepted an ethnocentric term and describe the non-ethnocentric alternative to that term. (2 pts.)
Answers: geography / cartography
1. d global warming
2. 40N, 74W: NYC; that single answer should be adequate to get you started on latitude and longitude.
3. __
4. __
5. __
6. __
7. d Greece
8. b prime meridian
9. a Greece
10. a China
11. b Herodotus
12. d Ur
13. __N, __E
One of the more brutal Cross Sections I can imagine
Cross section maps are fun.
Some people find cross sections of human anatomy interesting, too. Maybe this is your first test in regards medical school. So you think you want to be a doctor, eh?
Some people find cross sections of human anatomy interesting, too. Maybe this is your first test in regards medical school. So you think you want to be a doctor, eh?
Map art: the reds & blues of the world ocean currents map
Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason 2 Begins Mapping Oceans
Originally uploaded by Ilusiones...no realidad...
Find one on p. 63 in the textbook. Or see physicalgeography.net.
- Render and label the continents and oceans.
- Sketch and color these currents:
1.California Current
2. N Equatorial Current
3. S Equatorial Current
4. Brazil Current
5. Gulf Stream / N Atlantic Current
6. Canary Current
hemi / sphere
Hemisphere (from Ancient Greek - hēmisphairion "half of a sphere") may refer to:
* Half of a sphere
As half of the Earth:
* Any half of the Earth or other planetary or stellar body
* New World
* Old World
* Western Hemisphere
* Eastern Hemisphere
* Northern Hemisphere
* Southern Hemisphere
* Land hemisphere
* Water hemisphere
As half of the brain:
* Cerebral hemisphere, a division of the cerebrum
* Half of the cerebellum, a smaller part of the brain
wikipedia.org.
* Half of a sphere
As half of the Earth:
* Any half of the Earth or other planetary or stellar body
* New World
* Old World
* Western Hemisphere
* Eastern Hemisphere
* Northern Hemisphere
* Southern Hemisphere
* Land hemisphere
* Water hemisphere
As half of the brain:
* Cerebral hemisphere, a division of the cerebrum
* Half of the cerebellum, a smaller part of the brain
wikipedia.org.
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