Current and Upcoming Solar Flares More Annoying than Troublesome

CBS has a short video which describes the current solar flare and its impact on energy, travel, and geospatial infrastructure.  Unlike some doomsayers CBS does a great job showing how this and upcoming solar flares will challenge the information systems which help keep the world connected but there are steps which prevent major impact.

For reference, check out the size of a solar flare compared to the Earth.

AAG: Not Interested in Media Outreach

So after the success of the Virtual Geography Convention, I took a look and realized that the Association of American Geographers had almost zero public presence during its 2012 convention.  In fact, as I noted in an earlier post:

I only wish the Association of American Geographers was more active in its outreach to the public during their convention.  The conference was the perfect time to reach out to the public and show exactly what geography is and what it can do for the public, businesses, governments, and the world.  However, the outreach done by the AAG was very minimal.  A Google News search for "Association of American Geographers" for the last week only gives four results, three of them published before the meeting and the remaining one did not deal with this year's meeting.  The AAG's own press room released its last statement nine days before the conference.  On Twitter the AAG was silent during the conference except for a tweet concerning the Minnesota reception (party).

So I contacted in hopes of rectifying this horrible situation by asking what steps the AAG was taking to have better public outreach and to see if there was an active plan for social media besides a Facebook group, LinkedIn forum, and Twitter account.  The AAG constantly bemoans the lack of geographic literacy in the world so I was sure I could engage in a constructive dialogue.  This is the response I received.

Dear [Catholicgauze],

 

Thank you very much for your message. You raise some legitimate concerns. We are always working to improve communication, and there is more to be done. 

 

The AAG social networking capacity is very recent, and much of it is member-driven. I think the next year or so will see increasing usage.

 

We have plans in motion to make much more extensive use of electronic media for all of our news communication, so I hope that your concerns will indeed be addressed before long.

 

With best wishes

[High ranking AAG Official]

I have been blogging about geography in 2006 and I am relatively behind the curve so I know social media is not new.  I also wish to point out that one should not not expect great public outreach out of it if you rely on members (just ask any blogger who pleads for quality guest posts).

On one hand I am sadden by the AAG's acceptance of separation of them, their geographic knowledge, and the public.  On the otherhand I realize the separation keeps the public, who generally love the idea of "geography" a la National Geographic, and the sort of geography the upper leaders of the AAG prefer...


As Marine said to me, try to make the first ten minutes a drinking game where you take a shot after every Leftist saying

Map of Human's Radio Outreach in the Milky Way

Radio signals have been broadcast by humans in one form or another since the early 1800s. The first audio radio broadcast was only in 1895.  One may wonder why we have not heard back from anybody listening out there through programs like SETI (and why I have only seen one weird spike with SETI@Home on my brother's computer way back in the day).  The answer lies in the fact that human-made radio waves have not traveled that far across the solar system in relative terms.  The Daily Mail provided a map of the solar system with a 200 light year diameter, 100 light years in radius, representing the range of audio radio waves from Earth.

Man's radio reach in the stars is just a drop in the bucket compared to the solar system

The map gives one a better understanding of just how vast the universe is.

Virtual Geography Convention 2012: Performing Place: Geo-Social Networking and Digital Performances of Personal Geography

An additional post!

Long time reader and good friend Dr. Andrew Shears of University of Wisconsin–Fox Valley has post his AAG 2012 presentation online.  The talk is entitled Performing Place: Geo-Social Networking and Digital Performances of Personal Geography.  In the talk he discusses on geography and spatialness has integrated itself into social networking sites.

Also, be sure to check out the rest of Dr. Shears site for interesting geography notes and opinions.

Iran's Geopolitical Position has Greatly Improved since 2003

Back in 2003 I was discussing the geopolitical chess game in the Middle East with regards to Iran and the so-called Shia Crescent which linked Iran, a Shia-majority Iraq, Shia-like Alawaite Syria, and the Shia plurality in Lebanon.  The professor shot back saying that instead of a crescent, Iran was surrounded by hostile powers and the U.S. military.  Turkey, Egypt, Yemen, and Israel took hostile diplomatic lines against Iran while the American military was located in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and Afghanistan.  Israel helped by being a military opponent of the Iranian allies Hamas and Hezbollah.

A few days ago I remembered this conversation and realized much has changed.

The U.S. still has military in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar but at a much smaller level.  Troops in Afghanistan meanwhile are held in place by the resurrected Taliban.  Yemen's leadership has changed with the Sevener Shia rebel Huthis holding northern Yemen.  Iraq has an Iranian-friendly government with many Iranian proxies in place.  Egypt's new military/Muslim Brotherhood government in formation has taken a much softer line towards Iran.  Hezbollah is unchallenged in Lebanon after a series of military victories against both Israel and other Lebanese militias.  Meanwhile, Turkey's government has become noticeably much more friendly to Iran while both Russia and the People's Republic of China are vocal diplomatic allies of Iran.  A major shift is Pakistan being much more diplomatically engaging with Iran due to Pakistan's frustrations with American activities in Afghanistan.  Finally, Syria is split in civil war and Saudi Arabia remains hostile towards Iran but without a significant American military presence

Just because Turkey and Egypt have taken a friend line towards Iran, this does not make them military allies ready to stand up for the Islamic Republic in case of war.  However, the military and political shifts has clearly made Iran's geopolitical position much more favorable to it compared to the country's situation in 2003.

Humor: I Miss the Old History Channel

I miss the old History Channel and History International.  Now I only have the Military History channel, what if the History Channel kept evolving as the "Hitler Channel", as "History" and "H2" have horrible programing.  Sadly I feel the humorous chart below is accurate.

Heck, even History International's Naked Archeologist was fun despite its many flaws.  But H2's "Hairy  Bikers"?  Come on!

March 2012 Travel Photo: Snow in the Afghan Mountains

Photo by Catholicgauze

After a quick rest I was able to look out past the base walls and see snow on the nearby mountains which served as the barrier between the lowland Pashtuns and the highland Hazaras.  A city lies in between the base and the mountains.