Zombie-Based Geography

David Hunter, a humanities teacher at the Bellevue Big Picture School, teaches geography to 7th graders using a zombie-based learning system that he created with the help of Kickstarter.

How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse? Learn Geography - KPLU
 

David Hunter / Zombie Based Learning

Meteorite Map

Software developer Javier de la Torre has created an interactive map of every recorded meteorite impact on Earth since 2300 B.C. 

Every recorded meteorite strike on Earth since 2,300 BCE mapped - The Verge  
via cnet 

The Willamette Meteorite at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Dante Alighieri / Wikimedia Commons

Meteorite Victims

Despite the large number of injuries caused by the meteorite that impacted in Russia last week, only one person is known to have ever been hit by a rock falling from space.

The True Story of History's Only Known Meteorite Victim - National Geographic Daily News

The Hoba meteorite in Grootfontein, Namibia.

Damien du Toit / Wikimedia Commons

Happiest State in the U.S.?

Researchers at the University of Vermont analyzed 10 million geotagged tweets from 2011 and determined that Hawaii is the happiest place in the United States.  Louisiana, on the other hand, is the most miserable.

Tweets study says Hawaii happiest, Louisiana not so much - cnet

For a captivating read on the topic of happiness, try Eric Weiner's The Geography of Bliss.

For some not-so-happy stories about Hawaii, pick up Jack London's South Sea Tales.

Loompaland

Mrs. Teevee: Loompaland? There's no such place.
Willy Wonka: Excuse me, dear lady, but...
Mrs. Teevee: Mr. Wonka, I am a teacher of geography.
Willy Wonka: Oh, well, then you know all about it and what a terrible country it is. Nothing but desolate wastes and fierce beasts. And the poor little Oompa Loompas were so small and helpless, they would get gobbled up right and left. A Wangdoodle would eat ten of them for breakfast and think nothing of it. And so, I said, "Come and live with me in peace and safety, away from all the Wangdoodles, and Hornswogglers, and Snozzwangers, and rotten, Vermicious Knids."

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

I'll say it again:

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

Adriao / Wikimedia Commons

Famous Geographers: Yi-Fu Tuan

Yi-Fu Tuan, 1930-present

Geographer Yi-Fu Tuan - about.com Geography

www.yifutuan.org

Famous Geographers: J.B. Jackson

John Brinckerhoff Jackson, 1909-1996 - American National Biography Online



Topophilia

topophilia - a strong sense of place, which often becomes mixed with the sense of cultural identity among certain peoples and a love of certain aspects of such a place.  (Wikipedia)

Legal Marijuana in Washington

The legalization of marijuana in Washington for both medicinal and recreational use has generated some interesting questions.  Planet Money explores some of the financial aspects in two of its podcasts from December of last year.  There are geographic questions, too, related to how cities and towns will control the places that cannabis can be grown and sold through laws and zoning restrictions.

The (Legal) Marijuana Business - Planet Money

How to Sell Marijuana Legally, In Four Inconvenient Steps - Planet Money

Seattle Seeks to Close Medical Pot Loophole with Zoning Rules - KPLU 88.5

Male hemp flowers.

Erik Fendersson / Wikimedia Commons

We Don't Need No Stinkin' GPS

Scientists have found new evidence that salmon navigate back to their home streams using a combination of smell and the earth's magnetic field.

Animal Magnetism: How Salmon Find Their Way Home

Salmon at the Seattle Aquarium.

Earth'sbuddy / Wikimedia Commons

The Bridge Over the River, Why?

The Tappan Zee Bridge crosses the Hudson River at a place where the channel is three miles wide.  Much better crossing sites can be found not far away.  Why did New York governor Thomas Dewey decide to build a bridge here?  All will be made known . . . as soon as you listen to this podcast.

A Big Bridge in the Wrong Place - Planet Money

Tappan Zee Bridge.

Steve Pomeroy / Wikimedia Commons

Political Geography 101

Strange Maps has a post on one of the most elementary concepts in political geography: territorial morphology, or the shapes of states.

It's Always Chile in Norway: the Five Types of Territorial Morphology - Strange Maps

The presence of Vatican City makes Italy a perforated state.

Erin Silversmith / Wikimedia Commons

Mouth Bacteria Dig Geography

Scientists have discovered that the bacteria in your mouth are not controlled by your genetic make-up, but by where you live.

Where You Live May Determine What Lives Inside Your Mouth -  NPR



Saintswithin / Wikimedia Commons



Bilbo Loved Maps

"He loved maps, and in his hall there hung a large one of the Country Round with all his favourite walks marked on it in red ink."

J.R.R. Tolkein writing of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit

Zsófia Ziaja / Wikimedia Commons

This Is Your Brain on Geography

Researchers are able to predict a subject's location in a virtual room by measuring hippocampal blood flow with an fMRI.

Brain Scanners Know Where You've Been - Wired Science



Wikimedia Commons



Has Twitter Killed Geography?

New research reveals that maybe the internet has NOT obliterated geography just yet.

Why Twitter Ties Resemble Airline Hub Maps - NPR

Wikimedia Commons

The Inner Landscape of Beauty

Even when he's not speaking of physical landscapes, the language of Irish poet and philosopher John O'Donohue is suffused with the vocabulary of geography.

The Inner Landscape of Beauty - On Being

John O'Donohue's Landscape


Blackrock Castle, County Cork, Ireland.

Raul Corral / Wikimedia Commons

People Who Hate Sofas

Read about the interior design equivalent of Helvetica. 

No Room for Mistakes: Design Perfectionists at Home - New York Times

Interested in the psychology of interior spaces?  Check out Chapters 7 ("House Space") and 8 ("Working Space") of Colin Ellard's book You Are Here.

Villa Verbruggen in Ijburg, Amsterdam.

Michelpost / Wikimedia Commons

Earth Art Through Google

"Collecting" Swimming Pools and Stadiums: Art Made From Google Maps - NPR

Malaspina Glacier, Alaska, in false color composite.

Library of Congress