Can You Locate Damascus on a Map?

usvsth3m has a neat little online game where you try to locate Damascus on a map.  At the end you can compare your results to the last 500 people on a heat map.  While many people can get it inside Syria it seems the common consensus of the last 500 people is that Damascus is somewhere in a box between Libya-Pakistan and Greece|Sudan (which basically is the greater Middle East).  Something is better than nothing, I guess.

I was off by 12 miles(!) and was more accurate than 97% of other players.  Can you do better? (Dina, your home is probably within the map's margin of error so no fair if you do better than me)

American and Brits Are Really Bad at Geography Because Geo-Literacy's Roots Lie Deeper than Education Policy

Earlier this week Seth Dixon's Geography Education featured this Jay Leno gem showing how bad American youth are at geography.



Then South Africa's Times Live featured an article on how ignorant Brits are with geography:

According to The Times (the one they publish in London) more than half of a sample of British tourists were mildly surprised to discover that Cyprus was not part of mainland Greece. This sample of British holidaymakers had one thing in common: they had all recently been to Cyprus. 

The same survey found that 49% of Brits thought Turkey was where mapmakers insist the Ukraine belongs, and almost a third pointed at France when asked to locate Greece on a map of Europe.

One of the reason I no longer support petitions to "get Congress to pass the X geography is important bill" is twofold: 1) education has proven impossible to dictate by federal fiat 2) because the problem of geo-literacy is a cultural problem.  Geography's professional/economic value is poorly realized and the West's heavy emphasis on on indoor-technological-individualism is causing whole generations to grow up without scouting, roaming, traditional stories, genealogies, and other experiences which teach children to understand the outdoors and other lands.  Until people (and geographers) start focusing on the outdoors, other lands, and peoples' origins we will never have geo-literacy.  So do the world a favor:  teach.  Share the joys of learning about the world.  Go camping.  Tell somehow about the constellations or what various cloud formations mean.  We are blind to our own Earth.  Change will start from the ground and work its way up, not from federal government on down.

Syria Civil War Maps Batch Sixteen - The Coming Western Intervention

Many thanks to FSSP for this post

Libyan War Maps 
Syrian Arab Spring Protest Maps - Batch One
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Two - Syrian Air Defenses 
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Three - Twitter and News Update Maps 
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Four - The Soccer Map  
Syria Civil War Maps: Batch Five - Ceasefire Violations
Syria Civil War Maps: Batch Six - Houla   
Syria Civil War Maps: Batch Seven - June 2012    
Syria Civil War Maps: Batch Eight - Battle of Damascus 
Syria Civil War Maps: Batch Nine - September 2012 
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Ten - October 2012 
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Eleven - Propaganda Maps
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Twelve - First Quarter 2013
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Thirteen - Chemical Weapons Attack?
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Fourteen - Israel Strikes Again
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Fifteen - Second Quarter 2013
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Sixteen - The Coming Western Intervention
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Seventeen - Al Qaedastan in Iraq and Syria

American President Obama and British Prime Minister Cameron are making it known that they are planning to attack Syria because of Syria's alleged use of chemical weapons.

An anonymous map maker made the a Google Maps mashup claiming to show chemical weapon attacks since December 2012.


View Alleged chemical weapons attacks in a larger map

The news magazine Foreign Policy made a map showing chemical weapon and air bases which the Western forces may attack.


View Syrian chemical sites and air bases in a larger map

The Times of London made a map showing American and British naval ships that may be involved in a strike against Syria as well as potential targets.

This map, allegedly from Russia's largest tabloid daily, claims to show Syrian and Russian forces in and off the coast of Syria.  It is clear the cartographer does not know what he was doing because Jordan is shown as part of Syria and it seems units were just placed randomly on the map.

Finally there is a short and easy guide to understanding the complex middle east alliances in play.  It reminds me of The Onion's article about World War I.

Ten Myths (Eight Geographical) About Fracking

Pro-fracking activist, journalist, and filmmaker Phelim McAleer has created a list of the top ten myths about fracking.  Two of these myths are more about McAleer's disagreements with anti-fracking activists but the remaining eight are of an environmental-geographical nature.

Three of the myths I like to point out are

• Fracking makes your water flammable - Flammable water in the region is due to natural causes and has been reported for over 100 years.
• Fracking is new - Fracking has been around since 1947
• Fracking in earthquakes - Fracking has indeed been tied to earthquakes, but less so than "green" geothermal energy and hydro-energy.

One of the biggest issues I have with the environmentalist establishment is how they always focus on the worse case scenario even when it is not warranted.  Anti-fracking environmentalists fall into this trap by using the movie Gasland to spread falsehoods that can be dismissed to the point rational people will doubt any possible problem caused by fracking.

Alternative Reconstruction: Southern States Renamed After Unionists, Victors, and Victories

Z Geographer and myself got in a fun discussion with a neo-Confederate about alternative historys of Reconstruction.  One thing that we brought up was that the Union (North) could have forced a geography of conquest upon the former Confederate (South) states.  This inspired me to make a map of renamed Southern states.  I looked for major Union victors in each state and barring that either a famous Union location in the state or something equally as relevant.

The meaning of each state's renaming is as follows

Virginia is renamed Grant.  Ulysses Grant commanded the various Union armies which defeated Confederate General Robert E Lee's forces defending Richmond.

North Carolina is renamed Burnside.  Ambrose Burnside captured the North Carolina coast in the early part of the war.  Although he disgraced himself as commander of the Army of the Potomac, Burnside was a political survivor and repaired his reputation with major political leaders.

South Carolina is renamed Lincoln.  "South Carolina must be punished" drove much of the Union's thinking during the war.  What better way to punish South Carolina than rename it after the leader of the Union?

Georgia is renamed Sherman.  William Sherman commanded the Union army in its march of destruction from Atlanta to Savannah.

Florida is renamed Pickens.  Fort Pickens was one of the only forts on the southern mainland to never fall into rebel hands.

Alabama is renamed Farragut.  Admiral David Farragut was a key player in seizing the Mississippi River.  He is also well known for yelling "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" during the Battle of Mobile Bay.

Mississippi is renamed Knight.  Newton Knight led the anti-Confederacy Jones County rebellion in Mississippi.

Tennessee is renamed Johnson.  Andrew Johnson was the only senator from a Confederate state to stay loyal to the Union.

Arkansas is renamed Steele.  General Frederick Steele captured much of Arkansas including its capital of Little Rock.

Louisiana is renamed Butler.  Benjamin Butler was the military commander of occupied New Orleans and much hated by the upper class of Confederate citizens.

Texas is renamed Houston.  Governor Sam Houston was forced out of office by Confederates because he refused to denounce his pro-Union beliefs.

Slightly Misleading NASA Map of Asteroid Hazards

The only safe spots seem to be places so close to the Sun that the Earth would likely fall into the star if we were located there.

NASA published a map showing the paths of 1,400 Earth-threatening hazard asteroids.  As I have mentioned before, the Earth is floating among some serious threats we are barely aware of.  However, the map has a problem.  The map is only in two-dimensions while three dimensions are needed to truly understand orbits in space.  Almost certainly these asteroids are not on the same plane as the Earth so where they actually cross the Earth's path is something to consider.

Where Country Code/Area Code Confusion Can Lead to NSA Spying on Americans

According to an internal review, the National Security Agency admitted that it spied on phones in Washington, DC (area code 202) because of an error which confused Washington's area code with Egypt's country code (20).  Foreign Policy's Passport blog researched other possible country code/area code confusions.  There results put some surprising areas on notice that they may be accidentally spied upon.  These regions are

• China (86) : Northwest South Caroline (864)
• Iran (98) : the wetlands of Louisiana (985)
• Pakistan (92) : Green Bay, Wisconsin (920)
• Venezuela (58) : rural Oklahoma (580)
• North Korea (850) : Gulf Coast Northwest Florida (850)