Geographic Travels Geo-Literacy Outreach Awards Submissions

The deadline is passed and the First Annual Geographic Travels Geo-Literacy Outreach Awards has six completed submission.  They are

• Geo-literacy Project on Meghalaya, India
• Voice Enabled Map Fonts
• Geo-Literacy Teacher Training Plan
• Sky Eyes: Teaching Geospatial Mapping and Remote Sensing Technology using Arcgis.com and Parrot AR:Drone Remote Controlled Quadracoptersaining Plan
• Using GIS and GPS to Map Noxious Weeds Affecting Our Ecosystems
• US Geography Challenge

The board is about to make its decision on winners but we still want to hear your feedback.  Is there some potential you see in one that makes you want to advocate for it?  Is there a submission you feel is wrong for geo-literacy?  Let us know!

Columbus Day 2012

Map of Columbus' First Voyage to the New World

He was a self-made man with a dream.  He was great at the geography needed to sail a ship but horrible in understanding the size of the world.  Attempts by Royal Portuguese geographers to prove him wrong were met with his anti-Semitism.  His journey linked two worlds together, something that only an encounter with an alien race can match.  He was a horrible political administrator.  He was a man who cared for his family.  His human rights abuses horrified the King and Queen of Spain.  His success destroyed the worldview proclaimed by Saint Augustine and allowed for Copernicus to rethink the universe.  The riches of the New World funded the defense of Europe against the Ottomon hordes.  Despite his grave failings, Columbus saved Western Civilization. 

The great book Admiral of the Ocean Sea : A Life of Christopher Columbus by Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison describes the situation pre and post-Columbus in Europe as so

At the end of 1492 most men in Western Europe felt exceedingly gloomy about the future. Christian civilization appeared to be shrinking in area and dividing into hostile units as its sphere contracted. For over a century there had been no important advance in natural science and registration in the universities dwindled as the instruction they offered became increasingly jejune and lifeless. Institutions were decaying, well-meaning people were growing cynical or desperate, and many intelligent men, for want of something better to do, were endeavoring to escape the present through studying the pagan past. . . .

Yet, even as the chroniclers of Nuremberg were correcting their proofs from Koberger’s press, a Spanish caravel named Nina scudded before a winter gale into Lisbon with news of a discovery that was to give old Europe another chance. In a few years we find the mental picture completely changed. Strong monarchs are stamping out privy conspiracy and rebellion; the Church, purged and chastened by the Protestant Reformation, puts her house in order; new ideas flare up throughout Italy, France, Germany and the northern nations; faith in God revives and the human spirit is renewed. The change is complete and startling: “A new envisagement of the world has begun, and men are no longer sighing after the imaginary golden age that lay in the distant past, but speculating as to the golden age that might possibly lie in the oncoming future.”

Christopher Columbus belonged to an age that was past, yet he became the sign and symbol of this new age of hope, glory and accomplishment. His medieval faith impelled him to a modern solution: Expansion.

Halloween Geography: Where Horror Lives

Horror stories (in the traditional sense vice the modern slasher film) and ghost stories have an appeal to me.  Originally I was once a strong denier of anything beyond the natural in day to day life but I have seen and heard of enough things to make me "agnostic to the rest of the lower cosmos" as the Victorian author and theologian Robert Hugh Benson would say.

In my many conversations with Americans, Europeans, and Central Asians I have noticed certain geographic themes in horror stories by region.

The United States and Canada:  Horror stories in the United States and Canada mirror traditional horror from Europe.  Most of the stories take place in the wilderness (cabins in the woods, farms) or in meeting zones between wilderness and urban cities (abandon urban places where nature is reasserting itself, Indian burial grounds now covered by suburbia).  There has been a shift towards urban horror with vampires, ghosts, and some zombie movies but this is still a minority of horror stories.

The strength of rural horror seems to rely on the fact that the United States and Canada are both heavily urban societies but have low overall population densities.  This allows for black spots on mental horror maps which grant murderers, spirits, monsters, and aliens to run and fly without being seen.

Europe:  Traditional horror stories from Europe were rural affairs.  Werewolves and witches gathered in nature.  The city and village, meanwhile, formed a Christian civilization buffer zone against evil.  The Industrial Revolution changed everything.  The popularity of wild werewolves and their ilk fell while the ghosts who were wronged and did wrong became popular with the English and various monsters from continental fairy tales merely moved into the city.  Many English and continental horror stories also adopted xenophobic undertones with reverse colonization being a major fear (Dracula).

The cities are the overwhelmingly dominant place for horror in Western Europe while Eastern Europe and Scandinavia still have a place for some rural horror.  Norway and Sweden, with their high urbanization rates yet low population densities, are equally divided between their rural Troll Hunters and urban Let the Right One Ins.  Meanwhile, Russia only recently transferred from retelling fairy tales to modern horror in urban settings like Night Watch.

Central Asia:  My time in Afghanistan taught me that traditional Muslims can hold the belief that some places are meant for Djinns, smokeless fire beings, and not humans.  But instead of being terrified that these creatures are neighbors, traditional Muslims accept this fact and attempt to be good neighbors.  It would be like having a vampire as a neighbor and instead of worrying about the proximity of a bloodsucker to your family you would be more concerned about keeping the kids off its lawn and hoping the vampire does not vote for the opposite political party.

Central Asians did not seem to fear the wilderness.  I assessed this to be a combination of nomadic roots and the fact that while there are dangerous things like bandits in the wilderness many normal Central Asians can be as equally tough and barbaric against rogues.  Village and urban living is fairly new to many parts of Central Asia and the practice of building qalats, walled compounds for families, remains the norm.  It is not surprising that all the "ghost" stories I heard told by Afghans and Pakistanis involved Djinn invading the qalat.  The qalat's walls, acting as a guardian against the wild, being breached terrified many Central Asians I talked to.  I wondered if this contributed to the strong disgust Afghans, even anti-Taliban Afghans, had against special forces night raids on Taliban members' qalats.

Geography Quiz 2: The Tallest Mountain

This geography quiz is dedicated to the largest mountain.

1) What is the largest mountain?
2) Where is it?
3) How did it form?

Feel free to answer via commenting

The answer is now in the comments section

Geographic Travels Geo-Literacy Outreach Awards Submission: US Geography Challenge

The sixth and final entry for the inaugural Geographic Travels Geo-Literacy Outreach Awards has been officially submitted.  David Madden and Enrico Contolini propose to advance the United States affiliate for the International Geography Olympiad.

Feel free to comment on the proposal and let the board know what you think!

Project Name

US Geography Challenge

What is your definition of geography?

The word geography derives from Greek and it means ‘to write about the earth.’ Expanding on that, we also understand the term geography to include a full accounting of the physical spaces of our planet, and humanity’s interactions with them. Ultimately, geography impacts poverty, rivalries between peoples and nations, public health, environmental concerns and nearly all of the other major issues facing our world today. We hope and expect the US Geography Challenge to encourage American students to learn more about the world and its people, embrace a spirit of thankfulness for the advantages they have in life, and work toward a more just world.

Explain what your project is and how it would be accomplished.

The US Geography Challenge (www.usgeochallenge.com) is meant to be the official qualifying competition for US high school students for the International Geography Olympiad (also known as “iGEO” - see www.geoolympiad.org) held every summer in a different country around the world.  Founded in 1996, iGEO has never had a participating USA team, as no one has ever established a nationwide qualifying competition for it until now. The organizers of the USGC have been coordinating with both the National Council for Geographic Education in the USA, and with the organizers of iGEO to make it possible to field a US team beginning in 2013, consisting of the top students from the USGC National Championships. Additionally, the USGC is meant to fill a gap in academic competitions for high school students, as there is currently no widespread national geography knowledge competition for US high school students (the National Geographic Bee is only for 4th-8th graders).

The US Geography Challenge consists of about 80 regional competitions held during the school year throughout the United States. For the first year, these will consist of a geography knowledge exam, though once the USGC reaches a critical mass of participating students, the regional competitions will be extended to mirror the National Championships in format. The National Championships, which will be held in the Washington, DC area in the spring, will consist of three different exercises.  Two of these will be a written-response exam and a multi-media exam, both of which will be modeled after the two such exams that are part of iGEO. The third part of the National Championships will be an exciting, buzzer- based geography quiz tournament, with in-depth questions designed to reward a broad knowledge of geography. As the top half of students at each regional competition will qualify for the National Championships, this inclusive approach will also help to encourage students from around the country to learn more about geography.

The US Geography Challenge will also initially utilize the resources and infrastructure of The National History Bee and Bowl, a successful academic competition that has been held across the USA since 2010 and has seen the participation of thousands of students (www.historybowl.com). The regional competitions and the National Championships of the USGC will be held in conjunction with the regional and national competitions of The National History Bee and Bowl, which will provide a natural base of students who will be interested in participating in both competitions. David Madden, a co-founder of the USGC, is also the founder and President of The National History Bee and Bowl, and thus has considerable experience with establishing nationwide academic competitions.

Explain how your project would be useful in promoting geo-literacy.

Many US states do not include much geography education in their required high school standards and curricula. This has resulted in a lack of geography literacy among young Americans. The US Geography Challenge will not only offer an exciting opportunity to participate in a competition, but will also offer a Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/USGeoChallenge) where students interested in geography can interact with each other and discuss geographic topics and issues. Combined with an incentive to learn more about geography by competing in the USGC, this will help stimulate geo-literacy and an interest in geography among students across the USA.

Explain what your project’s “afterlife” will be (distribution, legacy, etc.)

Some 15,000 elementary and middle schools participate each year in the National Geographic Bee.  The US Geography Challenge thus provides a way for hundreds of thousands of students to continue competing and keep learning more about geography in the process. Over time, the USGC will continue to grow and expand in the USA, while at iGEO, the American students who participate will have a unique opportunity to meet other highly talented geography students from around the world. Finally, we also anticipate that we will enter into sponsorship relationships with other geography and educational organizations (e.g. exchange student programs, programs for American students to volunteer overseas, and geography departments at colleges) which will provide further opportunities for students participating in the USGC to take full advantage of their geographic knowledge and interests.

Additional File:  Flyer for the US Geography Challenge

Penis Sizes by Country Does Not Match Average Height

Geography and lifestyle influence the size and shape of humanity.  Certain races have different sized features like native peoples around the Arctic being smaller or high elevation peoples having larger lungs.  Other groups change traits based on lifestyles such as taller East Asians because of the increase of meat in their diets.  Geography and lifestyle seem to also influence the size of the male reproduction organ, the penis.

The Daily Mail features an article based off one professors internet-based survey on penis sizes.  Selected countries and sizes in inches are

Republic of Congo - 7.1
Ecuador - 7
Ghana - 6.8
Columbia - 6.7
Iceland - 6.5
Italy - 6.2
South Africa - 6
Sweden - 5.9
Greece - 5.8
Germany - 5.7
New Zealand - 5.5
UK - 5.5
Canada - 5.5
Spain - 5.5
France - 5.3
Australia - 5.2
Russia - 5.2
USA - 5.1
Ireland - 5
Romania - 5
China - 4.3
India - 4
China - 4
Thailand - 4
South Korea - 3.8
North Korea - 3.8

The geographic trend is rough but is basically: East Asians have the smallest, the central core of Europe is the next smallest, next up is Mediterranean Europe, then the northern fringe of Europe, then South America, and finally Africa.  Interestingly, Central Europe is smaller than Mediterranean Europe and northern Europe.

I wondered how the trend in penis size compares to average height.  I was curious if the old saying of "the bigger the shoe, the bigger the tool" was true.  I used open source data from Disabled World to see if the data matched.

                    
What I found was that average height does not match average penis size.  If it did, northern Europe would have the largest while most of Africa would be with East Asia with the smallest.  Also, the original study of penis sizes said North Koreans and South Koreans are equally sized.  However, a quick look at North and South Koreans shows that the diets are so different to the point South Koreans are noticeably larger.

October 2012 Travel Photo: Shrine to the Last Hapsburg in Washington DC

In downtown Washington DC is the church of St. Mary, Mother of God.  The parish was founded in the early 1800s to serve the German-speaking Catholic community of the District. Germans were at the time largest source of Catholic immigration to the United States before the Irish boom.  However, as time changed the German nature of the parish changed though the church never forgot its heritage.  Meanwhile, in the 1990s the Latin Mass-using Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) was given control of the parish.  The FSSP implemented the old, pre-Vatican II Latin Mass while still offering English-language massess.


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The combination of German roots, Latin mass, and being in the United States' capital has made the parish a sort capital for traditional German Catholicism which lost its strongholds in liberal Europe.  Somewhat naturally because of this yet still surprisingly the parish has attracted the attention of the House of Hapsburg.


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Washington DC served as a de facto rallying point for the family after their exile and bans from most of Europe (some only lifted at the end of the Cold War) following the fall of the empire after World War I.  Every October 21st, the FSSP holds a mass attended by the major heads of the imperial house honoring the Blessed Emperor Karl, the last emperor of Austria-Hungary.  Emperor Karl restored the overt, devout Catholicism of the house which slid from the head of Christendom to any other decadent royal family.  The house continued the traditional nature of the family's Catholic faith after his death in 1922 and even Vatican II's reforms.

St Mary, Mother of God has acted as the church of the Hapsburgs in other ways.  In early September Archduke Emry gave a relic of Karl to the Church to be placed in the pictured shrine.  Also in September Archduke Emry was married in the parish.