First Time Blogger - Year in Review and Amazon Bookstores of 2008

January 2nd, 2009

2008 was the year of the blog for me.  I started with Robot in the Woods, which was no failure, but lacked focus.  Then 30 Second Words came along.  It started as a sort of graduate school application advice site, but morphed into a Podcast site for students studying for their GREs by providing brief audio of a GRE word and an informal, sometimes humorous definition.  At this point, fifty so-called “30 Second Words” have been produced, but not posted… so this blog is still viable.  Then I started Open Source Geography as a placeholder for my thoughts about teaching and learning Geography, as I was hired as an Adjunct Geography Professor at Virginia International University.

Additionally, contributed to the Time to Quit Podcast, a podcast about learning how to live without cigarettes.  This site is managed by my good buddy SP Gass who also manages “The Low-Tech Times” and “Old Dominion Wildlife.”

In terms of priority, I am going to keep Robot in the Woods alive, but dormant for another year.  For the 30 Second Words Podcast site, I will keep alive and actually post the Podcasts.  I would have done that sooner, however, the Geography course took much of my time.  Since I was not hired on for a second semester, I may let Open Source Geography to pursue other blogs.

There are two blogs I am anticipating starting in 2009.  The key this year is focus.  Open Source Geography did better than the others, but there was still no cohesive theme or niche.  Therefore, I am announcing a photoblog called Shaker of the Day, dedicated to photos of my aunt’s 2500+ salt and pepper shaker collection.  Also, for 2009, I will be creating a blog called “First Time Farmer” about my dreams of rural life.

Finally, I really enjoyed creating Amazon bookstores for these sites.

My Favorite Bookstores

Miscellaneous

2009 Blogs

Geography Tags

November 7th, 2008

Notes on Geography Lecture: Political Geography

October 25th, 2008

Nations of the World - The Animaniacs

What is a State?

What is a Nation?

History of the European State

Geopolitics

  • Columbus
  • Ghengis Khan:  Map of the Mongolian Empire
  • Freidrich Ratzel - The State is an Organism:  Feed to Thrive
  • MacKinder’s Heartland Theory
  • Containment: The Rimland Theory
  • NATO
  • The Fall of the Berlin Wall
  • The World is Flat - The Rise of a Global Middle-Class
  • —Global Consumption Patterns
  • —Abundant but Finite Energy Resources
  • —Thoughts on Malthus in Globalized World

Boundaries

Balkanization

Annexation

Difference Between a Nation and A State:  Soveriegnty

  • Nation-State
  • Multi-State Nation
  • Multi-Nation State
  • Stateless Nations
  • Kurds
  • The Basque
  • The Flemish
  • The Zulu
  • The Palestinians

Boundaries

Evolution of Boundaries

  • Delimitation
  • Demarcation

Boundary Type

  • Geometric Boundaries
  • Antecedent Boundaries
  • Physical Boundaries
  • Super-Imposed Boundary
  • Relic Boundary

Shape of States

  • Compact
  • Elongated
  • Fragmented
  • Perforated
  • Prorupted

Governance Systems

  • Federal
  • Central

Notes on Geography Lecture: GIS

October 25th, 2008

Discussion of Mid-Term Exam

  • Did you like the format?
  • Did you learn anything you would like to share with the class?
  • How did you approach the exam?

Demography in Prince William County

Building a European Geographic Information Infrastructure

GIS Samples

Electoral College Map

What is a State?

Virginia International University Geography Students to Participate in Google’s Ten to the 100th Program

September 25th, 2008

Paper Proposal Extension
Did anyone see the email from Professor Powell about Google’s new $10 Million Project called “The 10 to the 100 Project”? This is a program seeking ideas from people that improve the lives of as many people as possible. I am encouraging everyone to participate and can be used as your paper and presentation. Thedeadline for the Google proposal is October 20, 2008. Therefore, I am extending the deadline for the paper proposal to October 19, 2008. This will be an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of geographic inquiry while participating in a project that could have tangible benefits outside of the classroom. I will discuss further in class, but in the meantime, please review the following website:

http://www.project10tothe100.com/index.html

Geography Lecture Notes: Population

September 25th, 2008

Study of Population: Demography

Components of Demographic Analysis

  • Gender
  • Age
  • Location

Geographic Analysis of Population

  • Population is not uniformly distributed over the surface of the Earth
  • Population growth is not uniformly distributed
  • Resources supporting large populations are not uniformly distributed over the surface of the Earth

  • Where: Where is population distributed?
  • Why: What explains this distribution?
  • How do Geographers describe/explain these distributions?

Major Centers of Population Concentrations

  • Ecumene: The portion of the Earth occupied by permanent human settlement
  • East Asia
  • South Asia
  • Southeast Asia
  • Europe
  • Other Concentrations
    • Megalopolis – Northeastern United States

Sparsely populated regions

  • Dry Lands
  • Wetlands
  • Highlands
  • Cold Lands

Population Density

  • Arithmetic density
  • Physiologic
  • Agricultural density
  • Arable land

Where is Population Growing

Natural Increase

Fertility

Mortality

Why is it growing?

The Demographic Transition

Phase 1: Low Growth: Hunter/Gatherer Societies

Phase 2: High Growth: Agricultural Societies

Phase 3: Moderate Growth: Industrial Societies

Phase 4: Low Growth: Service Economy Societies

Zero Population Growth

Population Pyramids

Overpopulation

  • Carrying Capacity: The number of people that can survive on a piece of land
  • Thomas Malthus
    • Population growth will exceed food production leading to mass starvation
    • Critics: Does not take technology, economic development, other food sources or reproductive health into account

Lecture Notes: Tools of Geographic Inquiry

September 13th, 2008

What is Geography?

Divisions in Geography

· Human versus Physical

· Topical versus Regional

· Descriptive versus Systematic

Tools of the Geographer

Geographic Information Systems

Global Positioning System

Types of Maps

  • Reference Maps
  • Thematic
    • Cartogram
    • Flow-lines Maps
    • Cartographic

Scale

· Map Scale

· Scale of Human Understanding: Atomic – Universal

· Spatio-Temporal Scale

o Geographic Scale: Individual to Global

o Historical Scale: Real-time to Human History to Planetary History

Five Themes of Geography

  • Place
    • Toponym
    • Mental Map
  • Region
    • Functional
    • Formal
    • Vernacular
  • Location
    • Types
      • Relative Location
        • Near
        • Far
        • Next to
      • Absolute/Mathematical Location
        • Latitudes/Longitudes
        • Parallel/Meridians
        • Equator/Poles
        • Prime Meridian/International Date Line
    • Site (Physical Geography)
    • Situation
      • Good Site/Poor Situation: Agricultural Region with limited access
      • Poor Site/Good Situation: New Orleans - Below Sea Level but located at Mouth of Mississippi
      • Good Site/Good Situation: Arlington – Urban located next to Washington DC (Federal $$$)
      • Poor Site/Poor Situation: Poor agriculture/poor access
  • Human Environment Interaction
    • Physical Geography
      • Climate
      • Vegetation
      • Soils
      • Landforms: Geomorphology
    • Limiting Factors in Human Settlement
      • Hot, Cold, Hilly, Dry, Wet
  • Spatial Interaction/Movement

Spatial Association

Distribution

· Density

· Concentration

o Cluster

o Dispersion

o Pattern

Spatial Interaction

  • Connectedness
  • Diffusion
    • Relocation (Migration)
    • Expansion
      • Hierarchical
      • Contagious

My First Geography Lecture at Virginia International University

September 6th, 2008

Today I had my first class session as adjunct professor of Geography at Virginia International University. The class is very interesting in that they are entirely international. I have a Gambian, Nigerian, 2 Brazilians, 7 Mongolians, 1 Russian, 1 Croatian, 1 German, 4 Nepalese and 1 japanese student. One thing that makes this an interesting audience is that I cannot rely on previous lectures given to a primarily American audience at Piedmont Virginia Community College.

For example, when discussing the concept of vernacular regions, I brought up “The South.” A quick definition of a vernacular region is an area people recognize as part of their cultural identity. To Americans, the South is a familiar concept, typically referring to the area of the Southeastern United States. It references the American Civil War. These students did not have a concept of the American Civil War. This is a challenge, but not an impossible one. Since I more interested in teaching the concept rather than the South, I know when the students understand the concept when they can identify vernacular regions in their own experience. For example, most students could identify with The Middle East.

When discussing Place, Location and the Geographic Grid, students enjoyed using Google Earth as a teaching tool. Their first assignment was to find the latitude and longitude of their home. This is the first in a series of assignments requiring them to provide a descriptive account of the geography of their home.

The lecture itself was titled The Tools of Geographic Inquiry and included the following concepts:

  • Place
  • Location
  • Region
  • Functional Region
  • Formal Region
  • Vernacular Region
  • Space
  • Distribution
  • Density
  • Site
  • Situation
  • cultural landscape
  • scale
  • spatial association
  • cultural ecology
  • density
  • diffusion

We also discussed Yali’s Question in Guns, Germs and Steel, relating to wealth distribution in the world post 1492, which dispels the notion that wealth belongs to the Western world because of quality of the people and replaces it with the physical geographic factors contributing to European dominance.

Conspiracy at the ESRI Conference: Eye in the Sky

August 8th, 2008

My participation in this year’s ESRI conference is over, but I must say I had a blast. It was overwhelming and interesting and re-ignited my passions for maps and other cartographic and geospatial technologies.

However, being someone who keeps track of conspiracy theories, I have to say that whoever chose “Eye in the Sky” by the Alan Parson Project for a theme for the Defense, Homeland Security and Intelligence Showcase runs counter to advocates of privacy in an era of ubiquitous computing and geospatial technologies. This is exactly what Alex Jones is taking about when discussing the concept of “hidden in plain sight” and provides him with a bit more mainstream credibility.

Though it may be a memorable song, the last time I heard it was when I saw Alan Parsons at Wolftrap in 2002. It is no coincidence that the song should be playing, especially considering that it is not difficult to decipher its meaning. The song itself is about 1984-esque themes of Government Control and spying on the public. Though I agree that intelligence gathering and defense related matters are as important as matters of social justice, environmental quality and urban planning, the choice of that song was in very poor taste.

Am I wrong here? Consider the chorus:

Chorus:
I am the eye in the sky
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I dont need to see any more
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind

PICK GEOGRAPHY AS A MAJOR: 7 Reasons

August 8th, 2008

Perhaps I am biased, but I believe Geography is a great major with excellent career opportunities.  If you do not know what to study in college, consider taking a Human Geography or Physical Geography course to get a taste for how interesting the science of Geography actually is.  Also, don’t think of Geography in terms of what you may have learned in grade school about where places are.  Geographers do ask “Where” but then they follow up with “WHY?”  This is why I say “science” in that, unlike psychology, it is a discipline recognized as a science by the National Science Foundation complete with rigorous and accepted methodologies.

So here are some reasons to consider Geography as a major:

1. It is intellectually challenging, but relatively intuitive which is another way of saying that it is an “easy” discipline

2. There are more jobs than qualified people. Check out the Geography Jobs Clearinghouse if you need specific examples (http://www.gjc.org)

3. Like statistics, Geography can be applied to every discipline. I can make the case that the social and hard sciences rely on some sort of spatial reasoning.

4. The job market continues to expand and like #2 above the number of jobs outpaces the number of qualified applicants

5. Considering #2 and #4, its a field that continues to grow despite recessionary economic conditions

6. Again, because it is underlooked but a growing field, graduate funding in the form of assistantships (i.e., tuition waivers and paid living expenses) is typically available upon acceptance. Though I don’t have the statistics to support this statement, I imagine that the rate of graduate funding in Geography is the highest amongst all disciplines. I was not a stellar undergraduate, but gained acceptance and funding in all 5 master’s level Geography programs I applied to. With my overall undergraduate 2.9 GPA (admittedly with a 3.8 in Geography) I don’t think the same can be said for psychology or the hard sciences.

7. Finally, and back to my point, since Geography is at least tangentially ubiquitous in every field of the academy, you can choose topics that uniquely interesting to you and still increase your odds for a successful career.

8.  Extremely Cool Technology!