The Known Universe Movie Map

The American Museum of Natural History has created a video of their four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas.  I actually gained a greater sense of scale as the map was zooming back in from the extent of the universe (and beyond?).  Just sit back, watch, and ponder just how much out there we know absolutely nothing about.

Food for thought:  Around the center of the galaxy is a black hole sucking in stars.  Some of the stars merge together before falling in.  Right now there is a ring of dozens if not hundreds if not thousands of stars fifty times our own circling this black hole.  Wow.

Kahlil Gibran's Lebanon: A Love of Place

Periodically geographers will talk about how music, art, literature or something else gives off a sense of place. There is something how words or pictures can make one not only feel the immediate depicted surroundings but also an understanding of the human-environment relationships of that place as well. Very few geographers go deeper into humanist geography and topophilia, the love of place and how people respond to their environments.

Maronite Kahlil Gibran was a nineteenth/twentieth century poet from Lebanon who immigrated to the United States. In his journeys between Arabic and Western cultures he repeatedly demonstrated his love of his homeland and values. He saw people as more of a corporatist part of the greater geography rather than individuals who happen to walk upon and conquer the lands they encounter. No where is his beliefs clearer than in his short poem You Have Your Lebanon and I Have My Lebanon.

The poem can be viewed as an affront to Western views and values but all can draw a simple, yet beautiful lesson from it. Violence may come and ruin our perceptions but eventually it will go away and beauty will return. May this happen to Lebanon soon...

You have your Lebanon and its dilemma. I have my Lebanon and its beauty. Your Lebanon is an arena for men from the West and men from the East.

My Lebanon is a flock of birds fluttering in the early morning as shepherds lead their sheep into the meadow and rising in the evening as farmers return from their fields and vineyards.

You have your Lebanon and its people. I have my Lebanon and its people.

Yours are those whose souls were born in the hospitals of the West; they are as ship without rudder or sail upon a raging sea.... They are strong and eloquent among themselves but weak and dumb among Europeans.

They are brave, the liberators and the reformers, but only in their own area. But they are cowards, always led backwards by the Europeans. They are those who croak like frogs boasting that they have rid themselves of their ancient, tyrannical enemy, but the truth of the matter is that this tyrannical enemy still hides within their own souls. They are the slaves for whom time had exchanged rusty chains for shiny ones so that they thought themselves free. These are the children of your Lebanon. Is there anyone among them who represents the strength of the towering rocks of Lebanon, the purity of its water or the fragrance of its air? Who among them vouchsafes to say, "When I die I leave my country little better than when I was born"?

Who among them dare to say, "My life was a drop of blood in the veins of Lebanon, a tear in her eyes or a smile upon her lips"?

Those are the children of your Lebanon. They are, in your estimation, great; but insignificant in my estimation.

Let me tell you who are the children of my Lebanon.

They are farmers who would turn the fallow field into garden and grove.

They are the shepherds who lead their flocks through the valleys to be fattened for your table meat and your woolens.

They are the vine-pressers who press the grape to wine and boil it to syrup.

They are the parents who tend the nurseries, the mothers who spin the silken yarn.

They are the husbands who harvest the wheat and the wives who gather the sheaves.

They are the builders, the potters, the weavers and the bell-casters.

They are the poets who pour their souls in new cups.

They are those who migrate with nothing but courage in their hearts and strength in their arms but who return with wealth in their hands and a wreath of glory upon their heads.

They are the victorious wherever they go and loved and respected wherever they settle.

They are the ones born in huts but who died in palaces of learning.

These are the children of Lebanon; they are the lamps that cannot be snuffed by the wind and the salt which remains unspoiled through the ages.

They are the ones who are steadily moving toward perfection, beauty, and truth.

What will remain of your Lebanon after a century? Tell me! Except bragging, lying and stupidity? Do you expect the ages to keep in its memory the traces of deceit and cheating and hypocrisy? Do you think the atmosphere will preserve in its pockets the shadows of death and the stench of graves?

Do you believe life will accept a patched garment for a dress? Verily, I say to you that an olive plant in the hills of Lebanon will outlast all of your deeds and your works; that the wooden plow pulled by the oxen in the crannies of Lebanon is nobler than your dreams and aspirations.

I say to you, while the conscience of time listened to me, that the songs of a maiden collecting herbs in the valleys of Lebanon will outlast all the uttering of the most exalted prattler among you. I say to you that you are achieving nothing. If you knew that you are accomplishing nothing, I would feel sorry for you, but you know it not.

You have your Lebanon and I have my Lebanon.

Ancient and Medieval Christian Fundamentalist Geography Explained

Biology education in the United States and elsewhere has been turned into a battleground between evolutionists and Biblical/Qu'ranic creationists. As this battle goes on most may think that Geography is thankfully not involved in it (besides Geomorphology and our brother science Geology). This has not always been the case. The above video, done as a training tool for Christian educators, shows how Geography was once a battleground.

It may seem hard to believe but the existence of antipodes, lands outside the knowledge of Eurasia, was once thought as heretical. How could God create lands and people who never had a chance to hear the Gospel? Great thinkers such as Saint Augustine dismissed any possibility of undiscovered lands. When new lands were discovered, this erroneous thought had unfortunate consequences. A few thought the natives of the New World could not be people because they had no chance of hearing the Gospel. So instead some labeled the natives as Pre-Adamites who were no better than animals and deserving of no special treatment. While groups like the Jesuits worked for humane treatment of the newly colonized people the damage was already done.

The video's second half deals with why Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei's belief of Heliocentrism was so controversial. The Roman Catholic and Protestant churches were concerned about Biblical passages that had the stars and sun move or stop and not the Earth. Greek thought about the heavens being perfect and separate from the Earth, viewed as fallen in Christianity, were also critically at stake.

Today the current physical geography of the world is not in question except by a few nuts. Meanwhile geographers can just sit back and watch the biology debate rage on.

Viewing and Thinking about the World Anew

I love maps. Maps allow me to envision the world, its phenomenon, and the interactions of people. They allow people to communicate with others in a form which is a neigh-universal language. Without maps the study and use of geography is pointless.

Maps can lose their luster however when we think of them as mere objects. I discovered that just a while back. I was used to seeing world maps centered on the intersection of the prime meridian and equator. This common style world map splits the Pacific Ocean in two. Then I found a map which was centered over the Pacific Ocean. I realized then the remoteness of the Pacific Islands, the wonders of international trade along the Pacific Rim, and the vastness of the seas. By just changing the focus point I saw the world anew.

I began to tinker with the map and globe. The best view (my recommendation at least) to start your mind thinking again about the world is below:


We often hear of how approximately 70% of the earth's surface is water. But this view which centers on the Pacific upside-down allows one to truly comprehend that fact.

Catholicgauze recommends all to seek out new maps and view globes from exotic angels. Do not let maps and globes become static drawings but instead let them remain dynamic learning tools. Explore the representations of the world in a whole new light today!

Earth in Space

The above photo shows the McNaught Comet and the Southern Lights (Aurora Australis) above the skies of New Zealand. (Hat tip: SpaceWeather.com)

Many scientists will describe Earth as an island to state the Earth is a closed system ("What happens on Earth stays on Earth" in lay man terms). This is grossly simplistic and fails to account for waves which periodically wash up on the shores of Earth. Geomagnetic energy creates the Northern and Southern Lights. Storms on the Sun can cause interference with needed communication technology. Scientists have even pointed out the relationship between the Sun and climate change. Finally, instant catastrophic events like the mass extinction which paved the way for the rise of mammals is blamed on space debris.

Yet I make an error. I have given the impression of an island named Earth amidst a sea of waves. There are billions of stars and probably millions or even billion of planets. This does not even consider other celestial bodies. So some night go outside and look at the stars. Ponder for a while how small Earth is in the universe. Then realize Earth is not in a sea of "space" but in an archipelago in the heavens. You will be able to appreciate what you see.

Man as Above Nature

A semi-continuation of yesterday's post of humanity in nature. We will return to regular geography on Monday

One of my favorite abandoned aspects of geography has to be the teleological/cosmological study of man and the surrounding world. My scientific and religious beliefs give me a background into what once again can prove useful and help bring back geography into the mainstream.

Of the most important scientific discoveries two of them have to be the first law of thermodynamics and the rejection of spontaneous generation. The first law of thermodynamics states that matter (energy) can be neither created nor destroyed. Those who rejected spontaneous generation laid down the law saying living things can only come from other living things.

The above accepted scientific facts pose a problem; however. If matter cannot be created or destroyed where did the universe come from? The Big Bang only explains the expansion of the condensed universe spreading out over some unknown chaos. The chicken came from the egg of a proto-chicken but where did the first living cells come from? I have seen drawings which show lighting hitting somesort of primeval soup but I do not care how many times you zap dirty water, nothing is going to come out of it.

I use religion to explain these mysterious while others may choose a different route. What matters is that there is something much deeper that went on and our current concept of science cannot come close to explaining it.

Why does this all matter? Well, even though I see humans as part of nature, we clearly seem to be the main actor at the present time. For some reason we seem to be the only ones able to reason and know what is right and what is wrong. We all have the ability to mold the Earth on a massive scale. Tying this all together we have the ability (and some may say God given mandate) to be the caretakers of the world.

The field of geography with its man-land tradition is the perfect science to be home of this philosophical investigation into how man can be a better caretaker. I am not advocating abandoning the practical doings of geographers. Far from it I am just asking geographers to keep the cosmological role of man in the back of their heads as they do their real world geographical investigations. I do not call for this to be the driving philosophy like the fads of making everything quantitative or how some geographers sought to change the science through Marxist studies. Just keep my recommendations in the back of your head as the little conscience that peaks up once in a while. Even the smallest of ideas can make big changes.

Category: Cosmosgeography

A World without Man...

If an ant colony makes a new home is the dirt mound on top natural? If a beaver builds a dam is the pond natural? If men in a construction crew landscape is the lawn natural?

Well, according to Bob Holmes the first are natural but the last one is not. In his article "Imagine Earth without people" Homes writes about how humans are separate from the natural environment and can only be viewed in a negative light. Robert McHenry counters in his "Eden Without Us?" which questions Homes' views on the placing of humans outside nature. (Hat tip: Instapundit)

I guess one of the reasons I like geography so much, and the study of the ancient geographers, is the importance of the cosmological/teleological aspect. To understand the world and the cosmos one must realize that while humans are the most powerful player (that has made itself visible) it is still just an actor in the play which is the universe. We are still made out of organs, which are made out of cells, which are made out of molecules, which are made out of atoms just like everything else we scientifically know of. To think that getting rid of a "non-natural" thing like humans will "restore" the Earth to somesort of "natural" state is childish at best and absolute stupidity at worst. Think what the world has gone through. Mass extinctions, global cooling, and global warming to such extremes that Al Gore's head would explode. My own mother, with no formal paleogeographic training, is well aware that her home state has been an inland sea, desert, rain forest, desert again, savanna, under a couple miles of ice, under a giant lake, steppe, forest, and steppe again all in the last 100 million years or so all without any input from humans.

Tomorrow Catholicgauze changes gears and looks at how humans, while still part of the natural world, are at the pinnacle

Category: Cosmosgeography