Geography and Climate Change Here is the answer to the poser question. Read this BBC News article. Richard Branson is apparently giving away the profits from his transport businesses to tackle climate change. But what impact do cheap flights have on the atmosphere ? Richard Branson is a very rich man, but he perhaps owes a lot of that to Mike Oldfield and his 'Tubular Bells' album which was the first Virgin release with catalogue number V2001, and went on to sell millions of copies. I saw Richard Branson in the rain at the World Premiere for Tubular Bells II at Horseguards Parade on 4th September 1998 - he was very wet, but then so was everybody (although Gore Tex trousers and jacket kept me dry... I'd checked the weather forecast...) Just been watching regional news programme, and September is looking to be the hottest on record by some distance...
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Geography and Music (Cont.) Spent some time today on my SAGT presentation. A Photo Jam will be used at the start, and decided it'sprobably going to be accompanied by 'Ramblin' Man' by Lemon Jelly. A visit to the website also shows that the excellent cover art from the 'Lost Horizons' CD can be seen. This is a great image for Rural-Urban interrelationships as the image shows a stylised move from Urban to Rural. You can download a Screensaver for your PC from the Lemon Jelly website. And here are some of the places that the Ramblin' Man rambles to.... I'm a ramblin' man. Paris Tibet Sydney Naxos Rangoon Rotterdam Runcton The Cayman Islands Malawi Mauritius Haight-Ashbury Patagonia Kingston Kentish Town Codrington Koh Samui Felixstowe Fingrinhoe Valmorel The North Pole Brixton Antwerp Gujarat Prawle Uganda Shennington Sudbury Sri Lanka Ecuador Edinburgh Stockholm Abu Dhabi Lexington Lindos Tokyo Harlem Ipanema Nicosia Granada San Jose Damascus Mandala...
Geography and Maps Just got an e-mail from Ordnance Survey to say that my Free Maps for my current Year 7 pupils have been dispatched and should arrive within the week. I've ordered Explorer Map 250 : Norfolk Coast West, which is shown above. Many thanks to the OS for continuing this initiative, and a reminder to Dr. Vanessa Lawrence that King Edward VII school is covered up on the OS 1: 50 000 map of King's Lynn by the word 'Coll' - hopefully we'll re-appear on the next edition of the map ? UPDATE: Maps now received and distribution has started... Geography and Jazz (Continued....) Finally Pat Metheny's "The Way Up" is released on DVD in early October. An essential purchase. Has an HD option, and a 5:1 sound mix. Mmmm... Order through Amazon, follow the link from my Bookshop if you do.... Update 4th October - DVD is on the way... Update 10th October - DVD arrived, and is fabulous ! - great Lyle Mays solos...
Geography and Advertising I set my Pilot GCSE groups the task of looking for advertising which used Extreme Environments as a context for selling the product. One of my favourite examples of art which blends the product with Geography is the Adnams campaign. Beer from the Coast is the name of the site. I own a number of items, particularly the mugs. The print above has pebbles on a beach, but if you look closely, several of them are beer bottle caps. There are lots of other clever visual designs, and I like the artwork which is a little Brian Cook-ish. Geography and the Pilot GCSE Course Just registered for the Virtual conference which is being hosted on the new VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) of the GA. Check it out at http://pilotgcse.geography.org.uk
Geography and Brazil http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5342168.stm An interesting article on the BBC website which discusses the latest state of some favelas. 1 in 3 people in Rio de Janeiro live in slums, and the article suggests that there is a growing trend for turning residences into hostels to allow tourists to experience "the real Rio". Good quote: What appears to be the sound of gunshots rings out across the neighbourhood. "Oh no, that's just fireworks," explains Louis. "It's because the football is on." Wonder if they do a full Brazilian breakfast...
Geography and the Disappearing World The Independent newspaper turned up trumps again today, with a 5 page special on the climate crisis facing us, and a very useful glossy poster of the Dynamic Earth, with Plate Tectonics and Volcanic detail... This is useful for those of you who are teaching Climate Change. There is also a feature on "An Inconvenient Truth" which I have heard mixed things about, and also an interesting piece on the author JG Ballard. Geography and Development Why not try the weird and wonderful GAPMINDER, which has apparently been appropriated by Google. http://tools.google.com/gapminder Track the blobs, draw graphs, watch the map change...
Geography and Retailing Supermarkets in the UK are beginning to realise that there is a huge market to exploit with the large number of East European migrants who have settled in the UK since the expansion of the EU. In Dublin recently, I noticed a whole range of stores POLSKI SKLEP, which were opened to cater for the Polish community, probably BY the Polish community. This BBC article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5332024.stm has details on this trend. "Tesco will start selling its own Polish range this week, ranging from borsch and salt sticks to delicacies such as cabbage-based dish golabki and flaki, a popular soup. Asda is expected to follow suit next month." There could be around 600 000 Poles in the UK.
Geography and Fruit Drinks OK, so I don't just drink beer. For more on this, keep reading. In the distant past, my wife worked in advertising, and one of the campaigns she was involved in was for Libby's UM BONGO. This drink is still available, and would make a good idea for a starter for work on tropical ecosystems. It's a catchy little tune. Visit http://www.umbongo.com for downloads of the Quick Time movie, and the original song as an mp3 file. Check out the lyrics: Way down deep in the middle of the Congo, a hippo took an apricot, a guava and a mango. He stuck it with the others, and he danced a dainty tango. The rhino said, "I know, we'll call it Um Bongo", Um Bongo, Um Bongo, They drink it in the Congo. The python picked the passion fruit, the marmoset the mandarin. The parrot painted packets, that the whole caboodle landed in. So when it comes to sun and fun and goodness in the jungle, They all prefer the sunny funny one they call Um Bongo! Catchy...
Geography and Beer (Continued) Another ale tonight, this time the aptly named Adnams Explorer. Adnams is brewed in Southwold in Suffolk, one of my favourite places and one I try to get down to as often as possible, although it's also a good case study of a honeypot location where house prices have been driven up by second home owners. Explorer is part of the Beers from the Coast range, which has excellent graphics, and of course, they taste rather nice too. Explorer is rather good for a Geographer to drink I would say, although the brewery website does say it's designed to get younger drinkers and women interested in beer, of which I am neither... Geography and Cheese And as Mike Oldfield famously said in "On Horseback" from the classic album "Ommadawn" "I like beer, and I like cheese" Here's the lyric in question, by William Murray & Mike Oldfield I like beer, and I like cheese I like the smell of a westerly breeze But what I like more tha...
Geography and Pebbles Here's a nice image of pebbles on Budleigh Salterton beach taken by my wife last week - however, there's a maximum £1000 fine if you take beach material. Wonder if that's per pebble or in general ? Seriously though, if there are a couple of hundred people visiting the beach each day and they each take a couple of pebbles that's a lot of beach disappearing during a summer season. Does it matter ? What impact is that likely to have on the beach ? Can a value be put on preserving the beach material ? What is the best form of protection against erosion by the waves ? And where is Budleigh Salterton ?
Geography and Clothing Went to Norwich International Airport today to collect my wife and daughter who were returning by Flybe from Exeter. Some good images taken on the outward flight - will post some images shortly. They had also brought some geographical gifts for me - they know me so well. One was a marble from House of Marbles which was printed with a map of the world - cool! Another was a shirt from a shop in Topsham whose name is the position in latitude and longitude of the shop: 50 degrees 41 minutes North 3 degrees 28 minutes West The shirts also say clothing with latitude on them (rather than attitude...) Have done a search for the shop but can find no more details... People as Consumers for Pilot GCSE - design some geographical clothing... On the way back, passed a sign for a road called "Nowhere Lane" - the road to nowhere ? Geography and Jazz Oh, and here's the first jazz mention. The record of 2005 for me was Pat Metheny's "The Way Up" It'...
Geography and Football Just before the start of the England Vs Andorra match, John Motson said that Andorra was the country with the longest life expectancy in the world... Of course, I had to check, and NationMaster confirms that Motty is right. Andorrans live to an average of 83.49 years, compared with 78.16 in the UK, which ranks at 36th Geography and Beer Just finished 2 bottles of fine ale. They were from 2 contrasting breweries and got me thinking of perhaps keeping a track of the breweries I sample the wares of this year - not that I drink a lot you understand.... purely medicinal. The first was a rather nice Jolly Ploughman's from Tom Wood's Highwood Brewery in the Lincolnshire Wolds http://www.tom-wood.com Second one was from the Darwin Brewery in Sunderland, and was called Rolling Hitch Can anyone tell me the connection between this beer and Peter Kay the comedian ? http://www.DarwinBrewery.com Watch this space ! Geography and Music Just testing my new Sony Wireless H...
Geography and Photos Flickr is one of my crucial sites. It is a fantastic source of images for use in the classroom, although you may find that you need to source them at home as many schools filter out Flickr because not all of the images are SFW as they say (suitable for work) Try a search on TAGS which are relevant to your topic and you'll find lots of fodder for desktops, Powerpoints and PhotoJams. You can also bookmark your favourite FLICKR photographers. In the last few days I've searched for Svalbard, Beijing, Food, Lahars and Population. http://www.flickr.com Lots of tools for altering the images too. Check out one of my top five sites: the wonderfully named Flagrant Disregard's FlickrToys http://flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/ Geography and Japan Just watching fantastic "Journeys into the Ring of Fire" with Iain Stewart visiting Japan. It shows in a clear and well illustrated fashion how the Japanese have had to cope with extremes of climate and a lack of s...