Geographic Travels

Syria Civil War Maps Batch Three - Twitter and News Update Maps

2012-02-09T21:30:00.000-06:00

Libyan War Maps
Syrian Arab Spring Protest Maps - Batch One
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Two - Syrian Air Defenses

As the Syrian Civil War intensifies with the Battle of Homs and international stalemate instant news updates are becoming must for intelligence analysts, news analysts, policy makers, and the interested public.

Mibazaar has created a map showing Twitter messages posted with the hastag #Syria from "allegedly" a 400 mile (~650 kilometer) radius of Damascus. I say allegedly because people can falsify their location and I have seen several Tweets from Bahrain which is over 950 miles (over 1,500 kilometers) from Damascus.

Meanwhile al Jazeera has a frequently updated map of recent developments from Homs. The map is reposted below.

View Homs - Recent developments in a larger map

Request for Presentations for the Geographic Travels' Hosted Virtual Geography Conference

2012-02-09T13:41:00.001-06:00

Sadly I'll be unable to attend the AAG as will several of my good friends of mine this year. However, I'm thinking that a virtual conference could be accomplished via the blogosphere. If anyone wants free publicity I would love to post your presentation and any other information you would like on the blog. Please contact me if interested!

The Erie Canal, American Exceptionalism, and the Second Great Awakening's Burned-Over District

2012-02-08T18:51:00.002-06:00

When studying religions and their politics one must realize the difference between traditional conservatism found in such faiths like Orthodoxy and the many varieties of rural Sunni Islam and Protestant Christianity and the revolutionary-rightism found in religions like Pentecostalism or Islamism. Traditional conservative faith likes "the old ways" while accepting the world as an imperfect place with imperfect system created by man and not God. Revolutionary-rightist faiths seek to create their god's "kingdom" on Earth, renew the old ways so that while the morals stay the same they are tweaked for the contemporary generation, and usually are aggressive in seeking expansion. Sometimes these revolutionary movements which initially seek only to retweak old ways advance so far that they end up looking nothing like the original traditionalism.

Traditional religious conservatives usually will become revolutionary-rightists when conditions are right. These conditions require a relatively sudden integration into the greater, usually more secular, culture and the exposure of benefits and risks associated with becoming upperly mobile through greater connectivity and economic advancement.

With this knowledge in mind it is now possible how the backwater western portion of New York state became the hot bed for the Second Great Awakening in the 1820s and 1830s. This hot bed led to the rise of many short lived faiths but also two major global religious streams of thought.

Background: Western New York, A Dumping Ground

Early settlement in New York between the Hudson River near Albany and Lake Erie near Buffalo was hardly an example of industrialization or development. The overwhelmingly agricultural region was not as cutoff as Appalachia but the region was distant enough to discourage development. Besides those farms near Buffalo or Albany the infrastructure was too poor to support exporting crops and there was no desire to develop industry because there was no means to transport it elsewhere.

The American settlers focused on their own needs and then the needs of the immediate, if sparse, community. The established religions in Protestant America such as the Episcopalians overlooked this "unchurched" population. These "unchurched" considered themselves Christian though they had little formal religious instruction. Methodist circuit riders would pass through this area but even there numbers were low in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

The Start of the Second Great Awakening and the Opening of the Erie Canal

The Second Great Awakening began in the early 1800s but did not truly gain energy until the 1820s. At the same time in 1817 construction on the 363 mile (584 kilometer) Erie Canal began between Albany and Buffalo. The canal opened in 1825 just as Western New York was getting its first wave of the Second Great Awakening.

The Erie Canal changed everything. The canal, its support roads, and roads specifically designed to connect nearby areas to the canal made Western New York's economy take off. All the sudden any point along the canal became a port for trade anywhere along the Great Lakes, Hudson River, and even Atlantic Ocean. Western New York society, long traditional conservative, became connected and upperly mobile. The stage was set for change.

The Erie Canal and water ways connected to the canal. From Wikipedia

Burned-Over District

The primary means of religious education and experience in the Second Great Awakening was the revival. These mass events combined showmanship, social networking, and fed the longstanding need for religion the "unchurched" wanted. Various forms of Baptists and Methodists came and preached to newly connected and socially mobile Western New York. The evangelization was so thorough that the region would later be called the Burned-Over, or Burt-Over, District because there was no fuel, unconverted population, left to burn (i.e. convert).

Best map I could find of what would become the Burned-Over District. From Oliver Cowdery.com

Religion Infused with American Values

Unlike other areas which experienced the Second Great Awakening, the new revolutionary-rightists proved to be fertile ground not only for Americanized Protestant denominations but even heterodoxical faiths which combined elements of Christianity with extreme American Exceptionalism.

Ideals such as woman's rights and anti-slavery were not rare to the original traditional conservatives of Western New York. Of course women were equal, they did equal work on the farms. Meanwhile slavery was seen not only an economic ill keeping the free white farmer down economically but there was no religious justification for keeping Blacks as slaves like the Ancient Egyptians kept the Jews enslaved. However, traditionalist rarely sought to implement their beliefs. What the revolutionary rightist taught was that it was time for change. Woman were allowed to partake in Protestant sermons and have their own equal religious experiences. Some revivals and denominations in the Burned-Over District were led by women. Meanwhile slavery was taught as a sin blemishing God's new Israel, America (the view of America as God's new Israel was a Puritan belief that the established churches in the United States had generally abandoned by the early 1800s).

The lessons of women's equality and slavery abolition spread from Western New York down the Erie Canal to New York City and New England where they were formalized and spread. The Burned-Over would eventually host the 1848 Senaca Falls Convention in which radical Quakers allied with moderates in support of women's rights. Frederick Douglass and other abolitionists were found throughout the Rochester area.

View Larger Map
Seneca Falls

Religion Infused with American Exceptionalism

Besides the normal spread of Methodists, Baptists, and even Quakers, other groups began to grow in the Burned-Over District. These groups saw America as the New Eden and/or New Israel where the "true" Christian faith free from Catholic and man-made Protestant "corruptions" could finally be reestablished. Adventism claiming that the Saturday Sabbath and not the Sunday Lord's Day was the true day of rest was founded in eastern New York but found fertile soil in the Burned-Over District. Radical, women-led, sex-free groups such as the Shakers and Universal Friends Society centered their efforts in booming Western New York. On the other end radical, male-led, sex-obsessed, Utopian groups like the Oneida Community were formed in areas around Oneida.

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Onedia

Two important new trends grew out of the Second Great Awakening in the Burned-Over District which still last today. The first is modern Spiritualism. In 1848 in two teenage sisters of the Fox family of Arcadia, New York claimed to have made communication with spirits. They laid the groundwork for modern Spiritualism which took off two decades later as millions of Americans desperately sought some closure for the loss of their loved ones during the Civil War. There have been claims by some academics that state without America's Civil War and the spread of occultism from the United States to England that Spiritualism and its descendants in several New Age movements would have never of reach the heights that they did. Today Spiritualism and its related occult practices thrive in its own counter-culture.

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Arcadia is right outside Newark

The greatest revolutionary movement that came from the economically and socially mobile Erie Canal-affected region was Mormonism. The whole old Northwest region of the United States was covered by ancient Indian mounds which earlier settlers concluded that American Indians were incapable of creating. Instead they believed a great people had to had built them because the mounds were great and America was a great country. No way could backwards American Indians have made the mounds. Many theories were purposed to explain the origins of the mounds and even American Indians. Theories ranged from Ancient Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Trojans, Germanics, and even Israelites. Books such as the 1823 View of the Hebrews and the 1826 The Wonders of Nature claimed Ancient Hebrews discovered America and made it their new Israel. This belief helped justify the Puritan/Revolutionary belief that America was indeed the new Israel. Many elements of in those books turn up in the Book of Mormon (1830) which is one of the main tenants of Mormonism. Joseph Smith founded Mormonism in Palmyra (which is less than 10 miles away from the Fox Sisters' Arcadia) in 1830. The movement prospered in the Burned-Over district even after Smith moved to Ohio and beyond in 1831.

Map of religious communities in the Burned-Over Distirct in 1831. From George Mason University

Conclusion

All elements came together in the Burned-Over District for the vast spread and growth of faiths. The Erie Canal provided the social mobility and cultural connectivity to make revolutions, American ideals and exceptionalism allowed new ideas to infuse with faith, and the greater Second Great Awakening made people hunger for more religion. This cultural geographic perfect storm led to many failures and some successes which still impact the world today.

Geography of Thermostat Settings

2012-02-08T06:34:00.001-06:00

Energy Hub has an interesting research study blog post about the geography of thermostat readings. According to EnergyHub's "smart" thermostat readings, Northern states have lower thermostat settings than Southern states. EnergyHub theorizes that those from colder areas are use to being cooler and therefore do not need to keep temperatures as high.

The states with the lowest thermostat settings are Vermont (63.4 Fahrenheit or 17.4 Celsius), New Hampshire, Maine, Delaware, and Iowa. The states with the highest thermostat settings are Nebraska, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Oklahoma (70 Fahrenheit or 21.1 Celsius). As a side note, EnergyHub states Vermonters save over $500 (£315 or €380) by not using the Texas thermostat settings.

Geographic Travels for Religious Freedom: Letter from the Military Archbishop

2012-02-07T12:55:00.001-06:00

Long time readers will know I clearly have my own slant/biases but I rarely openly endorse specific causes. However, after my one of my former chaplain's masses was censored by the United States Army I decided to make a special blog post where I repost Archbishop Timothy P Broglio, of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, letter to the faithful concerning insurance mandates. I approve of the Archbishop's message.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

It is imperative that I call to your attention an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith. The federal government, which claims to be "of, by, and for the people" has just dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people – the Catholic population – and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful. It is a blow to a freedom that you have fought to defend and for which you have seen your buddies fall in battle.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that almost all employers, including Catholic employers, will be forced to offer their employees' health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception. Almost all health insurers will be forced to include those immoral "services" in the health policies they write. And almost all individuals will be forced to buy that coverage as a part of their policies.

In so ruling, the Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation's first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to choose between violating our consciences or dropping health coverage for our employees (and suffering the penalties for doing so). The Administration's sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply.

We cannot – we will not – comply with this unjust law. People of faith cannot be made second-class citizens. We are already joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious freedom. Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build America's cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture, only to have their posterity stripped of their God given rights. In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties. I hope and trust she can count on this generation of Catholics to do the same. Your children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.

Therefore, I ask two things of you. First, as a community of faith we must commit ourselves to prayer and fasting that wisdom and justice may prevail, and religious liberty may be restored. Without God, we can do nothing; with God, nothing is impossible. Second, I would also recommend visiting www.usccb.org/conscience, to learn more about this severe assault on religious liberty, and how to contact Congress in support of legislation that would reverse the Administration's decision.

Grateful even now for your support I remain

Sincerely in Christ

Bishop Timothy P Broglio

OCED's 2009 Report on Student Performances

2012-02-07T00:00:00.000-06:00

Fellow blogger TDAXP has been lately discussing education reform. One of his latest posts concerns Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development's (OCED) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

The PISA is a survey of sixty-five member states' student performance in mathematics, sciences, and readings. Everyone can read their own country's results in respect to other countries for pride or shame but one thing is for certain: the education system in the United States is lagging behind. The United States is not even in the top ten of any of the three categories!

All hail the Asian/European overlords of school subjects. Image from Wikipeida

The 2009 results for the United States were

Math: 24th (below Poland, Hungary, and Spain)
Science: 21st (below Denmark, France, and Iceland)
Math: 15th (below Iceland, Norway, and France)

Now these results are not so surprising when one looks at the various American states' fourth and eighth grade math and reading scores but it is still depressing.

There was one state that captured dead last in all categories: the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan.

Through the Looking Glass: Geography and History Gibberish

2012-02-02T21:37:00.000-06:00

A quasi-Catholicgauze rant

A quick look at several American Association of Geographers specialty groups reveals many academic geographers who focus on topics barely (if at all) geographic. These groups have siblings in other social science fields such as history.

Recently the historian KC Johnson wrote about how the Montana Supreme Court has forced to consult old history texts because modern historians produced nothing of relevance or use. Others have also noticed a change in the last decades in the various sciences. The conservative Weekly Standard wrote a feature on how a congress of academic Medievalists focused on matters of little use and trivia. Meanwhile Alex Standish has pointed out that what is taught as geography in geography is not really geography.

Trivia has its place and as do rare in-depth studies of minutia (like some of my blog posts for instance). However, the purpose of study and education should produce knowledge that is useful in some way, shape, or form. Sadly much money ear-tagged for education in academia, including tax money in the form of grants, is wasted on the overproduction of pointless knowledge. The excess of this waste is actually choking real education by denying it resources and clouding peoples' minds.

I take great joy in people contacting me saying they wish their geography class "back in the day" taught things like I blog about. I am glad to be such a service but I wish the various levels of classes would teach what I discuss. Geography and other fields can be useful, informing, and interesting if taught correctly. That is what I am trying to do. I hope I can fill that role for you, my readers.

Canadian Teens Send Lego Man into the Atmosphere, Not Space

2012-02-02T00:00:00.000-06:00

The news is buzzing with the story of "the Lego Man in Space" launched by two Canadian teens. I applaud their efforts in exploration and hope they can learn scientific knowledge first hand from their efforts. (I also share the fear of many who warn about the risks to air traffic).

However, it is sad to point out the geographical fact that the the Canadian Lego Man never went into space. The Lego Man did in fact travel far enough to see the curvature of the Earth when it reached 80,000 feet in altitude (15.2 miles or 24.4 kilometers) which is 2.75 times higher than Mount Everest, but that is not space. The scientifically recognized boundary for where the atmosphere ends and space begins, the Kármán Line, is about 62 miles (100 kilometers) above sea level.

There are several reason why the line was drawn at that height. At 62 miles the atmosphere, which does not abruptly ends but fades away into space, becomes too thin to support aeronautical traffic going slower than orbital escape velocity while the temperature greatly increases and solar radiation's impact dramatically rises.

The height of the line has prevented balloons from being a means of putting astronauts and satellites into space. Even Captain Joe Kittinger of Project Excelsior never went into space during his balloon ride to (and jump back down to Earth) 102,800 feet (19.5 miles or 31.300 kilometers). On the plus side this means Natural Light was not the first beer in space (note that you can the balloon pop, in space there is no air to hear a popping sound).

February 2012 Travel Photo: Sierra Nevadas from the Air

2012-02-01T00:00:00.000-06:00

The Sierra Nevada Mountain Range runs some 400 miles (about 650 kilometers) through eastern California. The name means "snowy mountain range" in Spanish.

View Larger Map

The mountains began to 200 million years ago in the Triassic Period. The subduction of the Pacific Plate underneath the North American plate helped form the mountains throughout the millions of years. Even today the movement of the plates is causing the mountains to slowly grow.

The mountains became critical to the development of the theory of conservation. The California settlement rushes focused on gold and silver which were found along the flanks of the mountains while the inner parts of the mountain range were ignored. The first exploitations of the area revealed a natural paradise just at the time the idea of a natural American paradise was being formulated. Yosemite Valley inside the Sierra Nevadas was first declared a protected by the federal government in 1864. This is one of the first cases of a government protecting an area for public benefit and not the pleasure of the ruler and most countries since then have made conservation parks for the public.

Best Selling Cars in 160 Countries and Territories

2012-01-31T00:00:00.000-06:00

Sometimes random browsing of the internet can discover the neatest things. Case in point: the well written and researched Best Selling Cars blog which documents the best selling cars in 160 countries and territories.

Some countries pages are fairly mundane. The best selling vehicle in the United States is the Ford F-Series while the Ford F-Series and Dodge RAM share the monarchy in Canada. However, some other countries' pages are windows into the bizzaro world:

The Land Cruiser is the best selling car in Somalia. I guess the vehicle is great for driving off road and for being an excellent war wagon.
North Korea makes their own van known as the Pyeonghwa Samchunri.
And Cubans buy Chinese cars, basically the only car they can afford now that Cubans can buy cars.

Meanwhile other countries make geographic sense and are predictable. SUVs are big in the cheap oil, money rich Arabian Peninsula petroleum states, Europe loves German cars, and the Hilux leads in a plurality of countries.

Oman: A Vast Geography of Former Exclaves

2012-01-30T00:00:00.000-06:00

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The Sultanate of Oman's geography is unique. Many geography blogs have already blogged before about its exclaves on the Musandam Peninsula. This exclave branches off the United Arab Emirance and serves as the Arab side to the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz. This exclave allowed Oman to monitor, and to a certain extent control, trade between Persian Gulf ports and the Indian Ocean port cities from the 1600s until European domination of Middle East trade in the 1800s.

View Larger Map

Many people, however, do not know about the former exclaves of Oman which made the geography of the sultanate even more extended. The major one was Zanzibar, off the coast of present day Tanzania. In 1698 the Portuguese were forced off of Zanzibar by Oman. Oman used Zanzibar to act as its major spice, goods, and slave trade port for Africa. Sultan Said bin Sultan loved Zanzibar so much that in 1837 he made Zanzibar the capital of Oman! After his death his sons divided the empire with one brother getting Oman and a few other possessions while the other became the sultan of an independent Zanzibar. Though the British made the sultanate a protector after the shortest war in the history of the world, the Arab descendants of Zanzibar ran the country until a revolution and ethnic cleansing led by Marxist Black Africans against the Arab rulers and Indian business class in 1964.

The Zanzibar Protectorate, then ruled by the Arab-African descandants from Oman, sits off British Tanganyika in the 1922 National Geographic Map.

The other major exclave of Oman was Gwadar in present-day Pakistan. In the 1500s to 1800s Oman kept very close ties to the various Muslim states in the Indian subcontinent due to trade. This links survives with Oman's food being spicy like Indian food (unlike Arab food) and with many Indian/Pakistani Muslims and even some Hindus living in Oman today.

Small Omani Gwadar is near the western edge of Baluchistan's coast in this 1946 National Geographic map.

In 1783 the exiled former Sultan of Oman, Saiad Sultan, used his personal connections to become ruler of the small port city of Gwadar. He later retook control of Oman. Once Saiad moved back to Oman but he continued to rule Gwadar through a governor. Gwadar stayed under Oman's control until Pakistan bought the small port in 1958 for three million dollars.

Oman's African and subcontinent exclaves are no longer on the political map but their legacies still survives. As mentioned above there is a strong Indian presence in Oman and many shipping lanes and airplane routes continue to connect the subcontinent to Oman. The ties are even stronger between Oman and Zanzibar. Most Omani and Zanzibaris (and even some Pakistanis around Gwadar) are Ibadi Muslims, neither Sunni or Shia but a unique denomination which recognizes philosophy, use of a smaller and separate hadiths, and other beliefs. Oman is responsible for the survival of the Ibadi Muslim faith as the only Ibadi Muslims who cannot claim Omani descent or influence are a few remote Berber tribes in the Saharan Desert. These exclaves cannot be found on a map but their legacy lives on in the realm of human geography.

The Arab Spring: One Year On

2012-01-27T00:00:00.000-06:00

Today, Friday the 27th of February is the first Friday after the one year anniversary of the start of Egypt's Revolution. The Middle East is still on fire on Egyptians protest against the military junta while liberals slowly realize they lost the country to Islamists, Bahraini Shia begin to violently resist the minority Sunni's monarchy, and Syria continues to be in civil war as Syrians fight against the Arab national socialist Baath Party.

All videos are from the past three days.

Egypt

Bahrain

Syria

Aloha Oe: The Geography of Oahu in Song

2012-01-26T00:00:00.000-06:00

The song "Aloha Oe" is a classic Hawaiian song frequently sung to express loneliness, homesickness, love, and even Hawaiianess. The song was composed by then Princess, and future Queen, Liliuokalani in 1877 during a tour of the island of Oahu. The most accepted story is the princess based the song off the love one of her officers had for a Hawaiian female farmgirl.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=oahu&amp;sll=37.0625,-95.677068&amp;sspn=32.939885,79.013672&amp;vpsrc=6&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Oahu&t=m&amp;ll=20.262197,-157.697754&amp;spn=7.210414,9.338379&z=6&iwloc=A&output=embed</a>">
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=oahu&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=32.939885,79.013672&vpsrc=6&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Oahu&t=m&ll=20.262197,-157.697754&spn=7.210414,9.338379&z=6&iwloc=A" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map

While the tune is deeply associated with the Hawaiian islands in many minds, the lyrics themselves also express the geography of eastern Oahu, where Liliuokalani was when she thought up the song.

English Lyrics

Proudly swept the rain by the cliffs
As it glided through the trees
Still following ever the bud
The `ahihi lehua of the vale

Chorus:
Farewell to you, farewell to you
The charming one who dwells in the shaded bowers
One fond embrace,
'Ere I depart
Until we meet again Sweet memories come back to me
Bringing fresh remembrances
Of the past
Dearest one, yes, you are mine own
From you, true love shall never depart I have seen and watched your loveliness
The sweet rose of Maunawili
And 'tis there the birds of love dwell
And sip the honey from your lips

The first line mentions rainswept cliffs. The princess was leaving Maunawili in eastern Oahu when she first started thinking of the song. Eastern Oahu is the windward side and is frequently hit by rain showers. The cliffs, formed due to Oahu's volcanic history, act as a barrier which causes the eastern side to receive even more rain than it would if the island were flat.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&vpsrc=6&amp;ll=21.477351,-157.955933&amp;spn=0.447276,0.583649&z=10&output=embed</a>"></iframe> <a href="<a href="http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&vpsrc=6&ll=21.477351,-157.955933&spn=0.447276,0.583649&z=10&source=embed" target="_blank">http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&vpsrc=6&amp;ll=21.477351,-157.955933&amp;spn=0.447276,0.583649&z=10&source=embed</a>" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a> The <a href="http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/carr/metrosideros.htm" target="_blank">ʻāhihi lehua</a> is a red flower found on Hawaii with related species being found throughout the Pacific. <table style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; text-align: center;" class="tr-caption-container" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" align="center"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M1HzMtK0HvE/TyC8IxNEeMI/AAAAAAAABMI/tfy4LAevJbE/s1600/hawaiianflower.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M1HzMtK0HvE/TyC8IxNEeMI/AAAAAAAABMI/tfy4LAevJbE/s400/hawaiianflower.jpg" style="" border="0" height="341" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;" class="tr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50823119@N08/4832598918/">Photo by D. Erickoff</a> </td></tr></tbody></table>The song is short but the tune and even the lyrics sweeps the geography of Hawaii no matter who sings it. </DIV>

Military Geography of the Strait of Hormuz and the Allied Coalition

2012-01-25T00:00:00.000-06:00

The British Daily Mail has a great infographic showing the Strait of Hormuz, the regional geography, the oil output of the various countries which use the strait (about 30% of the world's output though not all their oil goes through the strait), and the America-British-French naval coalition which is currently there to ensure Iran does not close the strait.

Click to enlarge. From Daily Mail.

Of interesting note, the United States led an international alliance into the 1990-91 Gulf War to prevent Saddam Hussein from controlling less than seven percent of the world's oil when he annexed Kuwait. If Iraq would have been able to take Saudi Arabia's oil fields in the "doomsday scenario" he would have controlled twenty percent of the world's oil output. Iran currently has five percent of the world's oil output and could control twenty-five to thirty percent of the world's output by closing the strait.

The Strait of Hormuz is now a flashpoint with Iran trying to demonstrate its control of the Persian Gulf with the Allied Coalition trying to keep trade with the Arab Oil states open.

From The Daily Star of Lebanon

Upcoming Aurora Borealis at 1400 UT

2012-01-24T06:11:00.001-06:00

From Spaceweather.com

INCOMING CME: Big sunspot 1402 erupted on Jan. 23rd, producing a strong M9-class solar flare and a fast-moving coronal mass ejection (CME). Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab say the CME should reach Earth on Jan. 24th at 14:18 UT (+/- 7 hr) and Mars a little more than a day later. Strong geomagnetic storms are possible when the cloud reaches Earth. Our magnetic field is still reverberating from a CME impact on Jan. 22nd, so another blow could spark impressive auroras at high latitudes. Sky watchers in northern Europe, Canada, Alaska, and northern-tier US states such as the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin should be alert for Northern Lights.

UT is Universal Time. 14:18 UT is 9:18 am in America's Eastern Standard Time.

Joshua Project: Christian Missionary GeoInfo for the World

2012-01-23T00:27:00.000-06:00

The Joshua Project is an Evangelical Protestant effort to preach the Gospels to communities that have very small (or no) Christian population. The project details the many various ethnic and national groups of countries around the world. The website is generally map driven.

The bias in the project is that Catholic and various Orthodox faiths are considered good but not good enough. For a population to be "fully reached" the website rates the group by number of Evangelicals.

A related project is Unreached People of the Day. This website sums up the information of the Joshua Project into daily updates.

Help the World Health Organization by Mapping Libya

2012-01-20T06:25:00.001-06:00

The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently trying to assist the recovery in post-civil war Libya. However, their knowledge of medical facilities in the country is greatly limited. They are creating a user edited map hoping that those who can fill in the gaps will help. Here is a memo I received

We have so far collected more than 400 correct points using the great help of HOT, CrisisMappers and GISCorps but we need more! We know there where more than 1400 Centres in Libya in 2006. How many are there now?

We would need to try to fill the gaps you can see on this map, use it to add you data with just one click! Please ad all the locations you might know!

http://pierzen.dev.openstreetmap.org/hot/openlayers/libya_health.php

We need to locate people in Libya than can add new points on the map, using the on line web application (English and Arabic) or by using a paper map (we can provide help if needed), by sending an e.mail a twit or any other mean!

Please we need to develop a network of volunteers living in Libya or that have colleagues in the country that can provide information on where Health canters are located.

Contacts of great help would be people working on
1. Doctors (they might have some contact outside their hospitals)
2. Nurses and medical staff (same as doctors)
3. police officers (they know the territory)
4. Post offices (they are a source of information for locations! they deliver letters all over cities sand towns))
5. Teachers /school directors (they might know how to use a computer or know someone that can and know a lot of people)
6. Telephone outlets and Telephone companies (they normally use computers and know where their customers are)
7. Cybercafés (computers and knowledge on a single place)
8. Community radios (they can help us spread our message and questions)
9. electrical companies (they know a lot about the territory and they normally have cars to move)
10. Telecom companies (they might have some data regarding use of telephone networks,…
11. bus drivers (for remote locations. They criss-cross the territory)
12. NGO and associations working on the field 8they are on the terrain)
13. Any other person you might think!

Getting this data will help the community, the nation and the people of Libya go back to normality faster. We need all the help we can find!

There are areas where we know there are health facilities but we do not have them located on the map

Can you help?
Please, resend this message to anyone you think it can be interested, translate it to Arabic if you can and think your cooperation is crucial and greatly accepted in times of crisis

Maps of the Sex Industry Worldwide

2012-01-19T00:00:00.000-06:00

The sex industry worldwide is huge. About forty million people (0.5% of the world's population) are prostitute and three-forths of all prostitutes are between the age 13 and 25. The United States has one million prostitutes, the same as Nigeria, while East Asian countries rank first with the amount of prostitutes.

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The international sex tourism industry meanwhile is a pure Western phenomenon. Americans tend to travel aboard to Latin America and South East Asia. Europeans meanwhile travel to Africa, Kenya is an extreme hotspot, and Eastern Europe.

Blue countries have the sex tourists and red countries are the destination. Click to enlarge.

(Hat tip: Washington Post)

The Keystone Pipeline, Perceptions and Attitudes, and Why It All Matters

2012-01-18T00:00:00.000-06:00

The Keystone Pipeline debate is the latest in a series between environmentalists and those who argue the need for energy sources. Previous battles include ANWAR and the Alaskan Oil Pipeline. Groups such as Tar Sands Action oppose the Keystone project because they claim that obtaining the oil will ruin the environment around the tar sands. The debate is currently involving the Obama administration as American environmentalists are pressuring him to end American cooperation with Canada.

There is a party who is quite upset with the American environmentalists: the Canadian government. Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the angry point that Canadian environmental matters should be decided by Canadians and not Americans. Harper went on to say that Canada was not a national park for America.

The statement signifies Canadian anger towards American attitudes towards Canada. Canadians often feel that Americans take Canada for granted, assume that there is no national difference between the two peoples, and care little for the Canadian perspective. This feeling is summed up well in Margaret Atwood's Through the One Way Mirror. Americans deciding what is best based off Canada's environment and not Canada's economy has just inflamed this already existing resentment.

This anti-Americanism could have major consequence for the United States. The pipeline helps Canada export oil from the Athabasca oil sands. The current production from those oil sands is 1.3 million barrels a day. That's slightly under the daily output of Qatar and the United Kingdom. Harper has threatened that if the United States does not work with Canada to expand the Keystone Pipeline then Canada would have no problem selling the cheap, non-terrorist funding oil to the People's Republic of China.

American attitudes towards Canada and how Canada perceives American attitudes could have a huge impact on jobs, the economy, and who gets the fuel to power their superpower country.

NASA Imagery Shows Beijing Smog Cover

2012-01-17T00:00:00.000-06:00

NASA has released imagery from January 10th and 11th showing the massive extent of smog coverage over Beijing and much of the nearby area. Visibility on the ground was reduced to about two hundred yards (about 180 metres) as tens of thousands of square miles were covered in smog.

On January 10th smog covered much of the North China Plain

On January 11th winds changed and the smog was blown away

Happy Birthday Nicolas Steno, Founder of Geology

2012-01-11T16:27:00.001-06:00

Nicolas Steno: Sort of a geological Catholicgauze. As Bishop he sold his bishop's cross and ring and donated the money to the poor.

Nicolas Steno was a Danish Renaissance man who believed in proving to himself long held beliefs and disgrading things shown to be false. This strong drive for the truth led him to become the founder of geology and laid the ground work for the development of archaeology and paleontology. His first major test was analyzing his Lutheran beliefs. When Steno reasoned that Catholicism was more grounded in traditional Christianity than Lutheranism Steno converted. He would study and follow his new faith all the way to becoming a bishop.

But geographers and other earth scientists better know Steno for his geological work. Early on Nicolas Steno realized that glossopetrae – literally 'tongue stones' were not fallen moon rocks or weird natural growths but instead fossils of shark teeth. Later on Steno discovered rock strata were actually layers of rock which formed on top of each other over time. He stated the deeper one digs into the earth the older the material. Before Steno this was too much a leap for scientists to realize due to the general scientific disinterest in anything below the Earth's surface unless it was for alchemy. His discovery also ended the belief in an unchanging creationist Earth. Since then all science has agreed the Earth is dynamic.

Steno's birthday is January 11th and his popularity has spiked today due to Google celebrating his life with a "Google Doodle" showing strata.

Israel Preparing to Resettle Syrian Alawites in the Golan Heights

2012-01-11T00:08:00.000-06:00

Israeli Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said that Israel is preparing to resettle potential Alawite refugees in the Golan Heights, the valuable highlands which oversee much of northern Israel and the Syrian capital of Damascus. If this plan is true and it is implemented then it will be one of the most odd, complex geopolitical schemes in Middle East history.

For background, Alawites are a religious-tribal minority in Syria comprising ten percent or so of the country's population. They believe Ali, cousin of Muhammad, was God incarnate. They also believe Jesus was God in the Trinity and Alawites practice Communion as the body and blood of Christ. Orthodox Islamic scholars have traditional classified Alawites as a Christian sect, a Shia heresy, or a pagan religion that disguises itself in the majority religion. Some modern scholars have declared it a strange sect of Islam, but there have been charges that these scholars are merely making propaganda for governments which desire closer relations with Syria. However, a recent New Republic article claims that in the past decades Alawite religion has been Sunnized by the Alawite-controlled Syrian government.

The Alawites have run Syria under the Assad family since the 1970s. The regime has been secular, Arab (national) Socialist which regards religion as more of a private matter if not a threat when mixed with politics. The battle between the Arab Sunni majority and the minority alliance of the Alawites and various Catholic/Orthodox Christians has been bloody before. The late 1970s and early 1980s saw the Muslim Brotherhood rebellion which was brutally crushed by the brutal assault on Hama, the "Islamic capital" of Syria, which killed somewhere between 10,000 and 40,000 people. Now, the Arab Spring wave has reached Syria and the old battle between Sunnis (the anti-government forces) and the minority alliance (pro-government) has reached the point of civil war.

The fear of ethnic displacement is very high in Syria, much higher even in post-Arab Spring Egypt. The fear of ethnic displacement comes from the probability of the victimized Sunni Islamists seeking revenge on the Alawites if the Assad government falls. The crackdowns against the Sunni Islamists in the past were so harsh that Syrian Muslim Brotherhood propaganda commonly features statements along the lines of "kill all Alawites" and attacks against Alawite civilians has become a new disturbing trend in Syria.

So as a bit of a propaganda coup, and perhaps geopolitical smartness, Israel is making it known that it is willing to resettle Alawites in the Golan Heights. The propaganda coup portion comes from the fact Syria's Alawite-controlled government has been demanding the return of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the Six-Day War, for decades. It would be deeply ironic for the Israel-annexed Golan Heights to be the Alawites' safe haven from Sunni Syria.

The intelligence of this geopolitical move is straight-forward: entrenching the Golan Heights with an anti-Syrian population. Currently the Golan Heights' population is about 40,000 Druze (who in the past have been pro-Assad Syria and part of the minority alliance; however, they have been silent during the current Arab Spring uprising), 16,500 Israeli Jews, and about 2,000 Sunni Muslims (who would have good reason to support a Sunni Syria). There are about three-and-a-half million Alawites in Syria. Even if just one percent were to move to the Golan Heights that would be 35,000 new settlers who would be willing to make a pragmatic agreement with Israel to prevent Syria from retaking the Golan Heights.

It is a little bit of a leap though to assume that Alawites would first flee to Israel but that does not mean an eventual move is unlikely. A potiential alternative would for the Alawites to flee to Lebanon, which has a small Alawite population. However, any disruption in the delicate religious-ethnic balance in Lebanon would likely end in bloodshed. Hezbollah, Syria's Shia friends in Lebanon, are unlikely to be accommodating to such a large influx of needy, non-Shia. Neighboring Turkey has long had its own problem with respecting non-Turkish people. So if ethnic displacement does occur it would likely be an internationally scattering with perhaps some realizing the Golan is their only chance of sticking together.

If that is the case then Israel's offer may pay dividends in its efforts to keep the Golan Heights.

See also: Israel's Point-of-View of Vulnerable Geography

Digital Ballparks: The Online Museum of Baseball Parks

2012-01-09T00:32:00.000-06:00

During my travels across the United States one particular joy I have is being able to visit various baseball parks and enjoy America's pastime. Digital Ballparks is like traveling all across United States, Canada, and even some parks in Mexico. There are over five hundred ballparks documented on the website; each park has tons of photos with the history of the park well described. The website features Major League, minor league, independent, and college stadiums.

While we wait for the dead of winter to end this is the perfect website to get in the mood for spring training!

Saturday Humor: Oregon Trail Movie Trailer

2012-01-07T09:05:00.000-06:00

Long time readers will remember that I love studying the Oregon Trail. Part of my love for the trail is based off my time playing the Oregon Trail computer game during my youth. Half Day Today has taken the game of my youth and made a fake movie trailer based off the game. Enjoy!

Virtually Traveling the Canary Islands

2012-01-06T00:00:00.000-06:00

The Canary Islands are an archipelago about 60 miles (100 kilometers) off the coast of Morocco.

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The islands are a popular tourist destination due to its subtropical climate. Another reason for the islands allure is the volcanic landscape which provides for mountains, deep cut valleys, and laurisilva vegetation.

The population is mostly comprised of the descendants Spanish colonists from the mid-1400s and the few original Guanches, a Berber race who settled on the islands sometime between 1000 BC and 100 BC.

According to Expedia the average ticket for a one way flight in the United States to the Canary Islands costs over $1,000 dollars. Since that is above most people's price range here are several beautiful Google Street Views on Gran Canary, the main island, which one can virtually travel the island.

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Demographic Map of 1919 New York City During the First Red Scare

2012-01-05T00:09:00.000-06:00

In 1919 the New York City Police Department mapped out the various ethnic neighborhoods of the city. The effort was part of a push to monitor anti-American/criminal/undesirable elements of society. During the days of the First Red Scare much of the justified fear of revolution and anarchy was inflamed into plain old bigotry, sometimes with deadly results. In non-deadly cases various groups pushed with tighter monitoring of "hyphenated Americans" as opposed "regular Americans" aka White, Anglo-(or)-Saxon, Protestants.

The New York Times blog has a zoomable digital copy of the NYPD's map. Popular stereotypes of the various ethnic groups labelled on the map help explain why they were charted out. Germans (Kraut spies), Russian Jews (Commies), and Italians (mobsters) are the first three groups on the map. Other groups leave me wondering why they were even bothered with: Scandinavians (blondes a big threat in the 1910s?) and French (I seriously do not know why the French were feared).

The Times' blogger points out that ethnic mapping continues to be very controversial. The FBI recently received harsh negative press for its geographical monitoring of American Muslim communities. What many people ignore; however, is that normal census data can be and is used to do detailed racial, social, and economic mapping for police departments, academics, and even private companies to name just a few.

East and West Florida: The Two Colonies Which Rejected Independence

2012-01-04T00:13:00.000-06:00

Early on in school American students learn about how the Thirteen Colonies united against cruel English rule to become the independent United States of America. Later on in schooling students learn about Loyalists, those Americans who stayed loyal to the British crown and even fought against independence. Some students are even lucky enough to learn about how Canada was different from the Thirteen Colonies and how Georgia did not send delegates to the First Continental Congress because of Georgia's status with ex-convicts populating the colony (this soon changed and Georgia was allowed in for more famous the Second Continental Congress). But through all this the thirteen, unified colonies are shown as an example in schools of all real Americans (not pro-British elites) and all of America uniting together to make the United States of America.

This idea of American Revolutionary history is captured with maps showing the Thirteen Colonies.

The way Americans like to think of colonial America: thirteen colonies destined to be thirteen states.

The myth of the thirteen American colonies ignores a historical geographic reality: there were Fifteen Colonies. The Spanish colony of Florida was ceded over to the United Kingdom at the end of the French and Indian War in 1763 in exchange for Spain receiving all French North America lands west of the Mississippi River and New Orleans. The British in turn broke the Florida up into two colonies: East Florida, capital St. Augustine, and West Florida, capital Pensacola. The native Spanish population willingly left the Floridas and settled primarily in Cuba. They were replaced by a small population of British merchants and settlers. Both colonies had active, productive, and life sustaining ties with British colony companies based in London.

Because of these factors the Floridas were very Loyalist. West Florida even rejected an offer to participate in the First Continental Congress (remember, Georgia was not even invited). Effigies of John Adams and John Hancock were burned in St. Augustine when news of the Declaration of Independence reached the colony.

One of the reason Americans know little about the two extra colonies is that these colonies were not added to the United States after the Revolutionary War. Spain reconquered both Floridas with the Gulf Coast Campaign from 1779 to 1781. After Spain reestablished control most Loyalist Americans left for Canada or the Bahamas and they in turn were replaced with Spaniards (who do not fit the mold of an "American colonist"). Spanish control of Florida was not done away with until America claimed West Florida as part of the Lousiana Purchase in 1810 and East Florida with Andrew Jackson's 1818 and the Adams-Onis Treaty in 1819.

Today Loyalist Florida is ignored in most history books and maps of the Revolutionary War. Florida is either ignored or even shown as belonging to Spain during the war. However, its existence was real and it is a reminder that not all of America choose to side for independence during the Revolutionary War. It also sadly reflects American thoughts on who was an American back then.

Geography Related Books Read in 2011

2012-01-03T00:06:00.000-06:00

A long year for me has given me time to read geography books and other related genres as well (even more than last year).

Afghanistan-Pakistan

Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History by Thomas Barfield: Yes! A great book on the history and culture of Afghanistan that is not afraid to point out that the great myths about Afghanistan, such as it being a graveyard and a self-sufficient country, are wrong.

Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way by Jon Krakauer: I never trusted the story of Three Cups of Tea and this book seems to prove me right. Be sure to read by Three Cups of Tea and a Coffee Cake of Lies post.

Obama's Wars by Bob Woodward: A look at Obama and Afghanistan, late 2008 to mid-2010. I can't wait to read the next one in order to find out just what the administration is thinking when it comes to America's plans for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

War by Sebastian Juger: A look at one unit's fight in Afghanistan. Goes into the mind of the solider look no other recent book

Africa

Blood Diamonds: Tracing the Deadly Path of the World's Most Precious Stones by Greg Campbell: A decent rundown of the civil war in Sierra Leone and how the diamond trade funded the war.

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa by Jason Stearns: Wow. The shocking history of the two wars you never heard about.

Americana

How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein: The fun guide to how the states got their shapes. Equality of size, battles over slavery, and politics are the three primary reasons.

How the States Got Their Shapes Too: The People Behind the Borderlines by Mark Stein: Brief biographies on those who impacted state boundaries.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt: A fun murder mystery and an examination of what makes Savannah Savannah.

Asia

The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters by B.R. Myers: With their weird racist-nationalistic desire for a strong mother I can say with certainty that the Koreas are very, very different.

God Is Red: The Secret Story of How Christianity Survived and Flourished in Communist China by Liao Yiwu: A look at the lives of those in the various Christian movements, Protestant-Catholic / Independent-State run, in China.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick: A decent collection of biographies of North Koreans in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Eurasia

Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War by Thomas de Waal: Ten years old but still good. A history of why Armenia and Azerbaijan went to war over Nagorno-Karabakh. Imagine the Israel-Arab conflict if no one cared.

Europe

The Balkans: A Short History by Mark Mazower: A good but way too brief history of Balkans with a focus of the pre-Cold War Balkans.

Discovering the Camino de Santiago by Rev. Greg J. Markley: An easy read done in one sitting. A rare book in the sense that it is a religious travelogue of the Camino de Santiago... and done by a priest too!

Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World by Roger Crowley: A history into the war that saved Europe, a history we know little about.

Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire by Victor Sebestyen: The best book I read on 1989. It does a great job looking into events pre-1989 which made the European revolutions possible. Much more in-depth than "The Year that Changed the World."

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany by William L. Shirer: One of the best history books I ever read (and by far the longest). It is the book on Nazi Germany. The 1990 afterward offering words of caution about the reunion of German is somewhat humorous now, though.

The Year that Changed the World: The Untold Story Behind the Fall of the Berlin Wall by Michael Meyer: A quick tour of the events of 1989... with a weird, unrelated introduction.

Latin America

The Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba, and the Search for the American Dream by Steve Fainaru and Ray Sanchez: The good, bad, and ugly about Cuban baseball, those who made it to the majors, those who failed, the heroes, and the villains for free baseball

Middle East and North Africa

Children of Jihad: A Young American's Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East by Jared Cohen: A very readable book but Cohen fails to realize that the younger generations he talks to are those predisposed to talk to Americans. Meanwhile, a huge bulk of the youth population is overlooked. One would get the impression that Iran is full of Europeans if they don't read this book with a grain of salt.

Egypt and the Revolution of 2011: A really poor stitching together of Wikipedia articles. I cannot recommend this book less.

The Instigators by David Wolman: A good, short look at one of the Egyptian protest leaders.

The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years by Bernard Lewis: Truly a good "brief history of the last 2,000 years." I enjoyed the parts on culture more than the geopolitical history.

The New Arab Revolt: What Happened, What It Means, and What Comes Next by the Council of Foreign Relations: A great collection of essays on the Arab Revolts and Protests much a local, regional, and international perspective.

On the State of Egypt: What Made the Revolution Inevitable by Alaa Al Aswany: While I don't agree with all parts of his world view, this is a good book to see what issues were bothering Egyptians before the revolution.

The Persian Night: Iran under the Khomeinist Revolution by Amir Taheri: This could have been an informative book but Taheri makes claims that I even know are wrong (such as using Ghurabiyya Shia, a dead sect, to make claims about current Twelver Shia beliefs).

Revolution in the Arab World: Tunisia, Egypt, And the Unmaking of an Era by the Contributors of Foreign Policy Magazine: A good collection of essays and reports on the development of the Arab Protests of 2011. Some essays are great while in others you can tell the authors have drunk the Kool-Aid.

Tweets from Tahrir: Egypt's Revolution as it Unfolded, in the Words of the People Who Made it: A good collection of English-language tweets from the Egyptian Revolution... though I wonder how these compare to the Arabic tweets in message and ideology.

Miscellaneous

Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing "Hoax" by Philip Plait: A fun yet smart book showing that one holds a lot of false beliefs about the Earth and astronomy.

God's Battalions: The Case for the Crusades by Rodney Stark: A military, political, religious, and social history of the Crusades.

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner: Sometimes I question the objectivity of the book (the case of British Guyana being a primed example) but a good book none-the-less on failures in the CIA and how it affected America.

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel: The discovery of the means to determine longitude at sea was the last battle which ended the marriage between astronomy and geography.

Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks by Ken Jennings: Besides acting like the smartest kid in the room and one or two factual errors this is a wild, fun romp through the world of non-academic geographers

McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld by Misha Glenny: An interesting look at organized crime that seems to speed through and jump around a little too much for its own good.

Valkyrie: The Story of the Plot to Kill Hitler, by Its Last Member by Philip Freiherr Von Boeselager: "It's a good personal biography of an aristocratic Catholic German officer on the Eastern Front. However, do not read it to learn about Valkyrie. Boeselager was only a very minor player on the side.

Religion

The Fathers Know Best by Jimmy Akin: The Hebrew, Desert, Greek, and Latin Church Founders and their quotes on religious matters of both the past and present.

Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection by Pope Benedict XVI: Who Jesus was and what He said and meant.

Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 years by John Philip Jenkins: Great read on the battle between One-Nature and Two-Nature Christians from Nicaea to the Rise of Islam.

War on Terrorism

Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground by Robert Kaplan: A look at those in the Navy and Air Force and the geopolitics that affects them and vice versa.

Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror by Robert Young Pelton: An inside look into armed contractors, mercenaries, and adventurers in the post-9/11 world.

The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict Between America and Al-Qaeda by Peter Bergen: A biased mix of contradictions (Al Qaeda didn't have ties to Iraq except when it did) and focus on intelligence instead of the actual battles caused me to lose interest.

Militant Islamist Ideology by Youssef H. Aboul-Enein: An excellent look at the difference between Islam, Islamists, and Militant Islamists; as well as the denominational battles within each group.

January 2012 Travel Photo: Forsyth Park in Savannah, Georgia

2012-01-01T23:36:00.000-06:00

Picture by Catholicgauze

Savannah was the first English settlement in what is now the state of Georgia. The colony was founded as a buffer between the English colony of South Carolina and the Spanish colony of Florida. It also served as a convenient way to put debtors to work (rather than have them sit in debtors jail the British had them found Georgia). The colony originally forbid four things: no rum, no slaves, no lawyers, and no Catholics.

The city was well planned out with a series of squares being spaced out by a few blocks.

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As the city expanded people wanted something more grandiose than the standard square. By the mid-1800s Parisian city planning became popular throughout the world. The Parisian model had residential neighborhoods radiating from giant parks with fountains, open green spaces, gardens, and children's areas. So in the 1840s the city of Savannah constructed Forsyth Park to serve as the radiant for the new neighborhoods growing south of the Historic Downtown.

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The fountain is a widely recognized site featured in movies Cape Fear and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Iran and the Strait of Hormuz

2011-12-29T00:06:00.000-06:00

Iran knows the value of its geography... too bad its map has the old borders of Yemen and one Sudan

Iranian Admiral Habibollah Sayyari has told Iranian press that Iran would close the choke point Strait of Hormuz in case Iran was attacked or felt truly threatened. He further added that closing the strait would be as easy as "drinking a glass of water." Closing the strait, Sayyari claims, would be done by both conventional naval forces as well as asymmetrical tactics, implying suicide boat bombs and forms of terrorism.

The strait at the narrowest are thirty-five miles wide at the point where Iran faces Oman's exclave off the United Arab Emirates. This narrow geography would allow a small fleet to wreck havoc on oil shipping convoys.

This threat, if acted upon, would cause a serious disruption in the world's oil supply and gasoline prices as well as being a cause of war/theater of war. Oil from Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates go through the strait to markets in China, Europe, and North America. Ships transport around 20% of the world's oil supply through the strait.

There are reasons to believe Iran will not do this. The primary one is Iran needs its oil money to survive. To close down the strait or to make them a war zone will cost them much of their budget and throw their own economy into a depression. Also, it would turn a war against American and/or Israel into a war against many of Iran's Arab neighbors. The United States said that it would reopen the strait by force if need be. It would not be the first time the United States fought the Islamic Republic of Iran over its actions in hurting the oil trade: Operation Praying Mantis saw the United States sink several Iranian naval ships over Iran's mining Persian Gulf convoy routes.

Saudi Arabia has also vowed to increase oil production if the strait are closed to reduce the economic damage. However, the shear shock of the closing of the strait would not be fully covered by more oil pumping. If the strait were to be closed then the world's economy would suffer for some moderate period of time.

The Strait of Hormuz are a chock point and Iran's ultimate trump card in terms of geography. While the potential of its damaging effect are well known, only time will tell if the strait are actually closed.

Transnistria Votes Against Russia's Candidate, Experience Democracy

2011-12-28T00:08:00.000-06:00

Transnistria has joined Abkhazia and South Ossetia in expressing their independence of choice against Russia. Since the end of the independence war against Moldova which ended with Transnistria de facto independent with no country officially recognizing it, 1992 Transnistria has been ruled by the Moscow-backed Igor Smirnov, who has been described by some as an evil Sean Connery. The country has a KGB, the official Che Guevara School of International Studies, and the hammer and sickle in its flag. Smirnov was Moscow's tool to keep Moldova tied down in negotiations and out of NATO and the European Union.

However, 19 years of keeping a country in frozen animation has made Smirnov a bit of a corrupt politician. An opposition party, Renewal, began to oppose Smirnov. Renewal sought Transnistrian independence (like Smirnov), a pro-Russia stance (like Smirnov), and an open economy (unlike the "post"-Communist Smirnov). Last year Russia, tried of a incompentant money hole which Transnistria became, switched support from Smirnov to Renewal and endorsed Renewal's canidadate in last week's election (like it did in South Ossetia).

Like in South Ossetia; however, the people of Transnistria voted against Russia's candidate and Smirnov. Yevgeny Shevchuk, an independent who promises a true negotiation with Moldova and even talks with the European Union, won with over 70% of the vote. For a president and Moscow's candidate to lose in Transnistria is truly something. I am personally shocked that Shevchuk was allowed to win.

While these vows are promising, one has to remember Russia has oil money while the European Union is strapped for cash with its currency's very future in question. Shevchuk will have to reach out to Moldova's weak pro-European Union government right away otherwise the frozen conflict between them will likely remain frozen due to Russia's control of Transnistria's budget and a Communist threat opposed to European integration in Moldova.

The Earth Has Multiple Moons

2011-12-27T00:04:00.000-06:00

Throughout history man has studied and told stories of the Moon. The Moon is rather hard to ignore due to its size and its futures are noticeable enough for people to realize there is only one moon. People throughout history have been wrong, though. According to scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at any given time there are multiple Earth moons at any given time. Various small asteroids, mostly a few yards (meters) wide, are captured by Earth's gravity and will rotate the Earth for a while and then spin off again into space. This small moons are invisible for the naked eye. But complex math and spacial observation can confirm their existence.

Track Santa with NORAD

2011-12-24T05:58:00.003-06:00

The yearly tradition continues as NORAD, originally meant to track incoming Soviet nuclear missles, turns its eyes towards tracking Santa Claus.

Hanukkah

2011-12-22T21:27:00.001-06:00

For eight nights starting on Kislev 25 the celebration of Hanukkah begins. The holiday is commonly thought of as somesort of Jewish Christmas or even the Jewish winter solstice festival. However, a look at the history, culture, and geography of everything related to Hanukkah reveals a rich story of humanity.

Hanukkah's Pre-History: From Aristotle's Student to a Line in the Sand

By his death in 323 BC Alexander the Great had created, at that time, the world's largest empire. The Macedonia Empire stretched from present-day Albania to India, from Romania down into Egypt. With his passing the empire collapsed not back into native regimes but into feuding Greek-in-culture, Hellenistic, empires. The two Hellenistic empires that matter to the story of Hanukkah are the Seleucid Empire, which ruled modern Syria, Iraq, and Iran, and the Ptolemaic Kingdom, which ruled modern-day Egypt.

The region of Judea, the Jewish homeland, was a piece of property which both the Seleucids and Ptolemaic Egyptians repeatedly fought over. In 168 BC Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes launched his second invasion of Egypt over rumors the Ptolemaics were plotting to win back Judea and lower Syria. However, this time the Ptolemaics had aligned themselves with the expanding regional power: the Roman Republic. A Roman ambassador intercepted Antiochus on his way to war, drew a circle in the sand around Antiochus, and said if Antiochus stepped out of the circle before giving Rome an answer on its demand Antiochus end the war that Rome would declare war against the Seleucids. Antiochus got the message and withdrew. This was the origin of the saying "line in the sand."

The War Which Made Hanukkah

Meanwhile a rumor that Antiochus was killed in Egypt spread in Judea. A coup was launched against the pro-Seleucid Temple High Priest Menelaus (who was pro-Greek culture) by Jason (who was also pro-Greek culture). Antiochus was advised of the situation and crushed the rebellion and instituted a policy of Hellenization which outlawed Jewish religious rites and required worship of Zeus. His thinking was that if the Jewish religion were destroyed then Jews would be easier to control and Temple politics would stop being a source of conflict.

A rebellion originally led by a priest named Mattathias broke out. Mattahias and his family/follwers, the Maccabees, launched a war against the Seleucids and the pro-Greek Jews. At the end of the seven year war, which the Maccabees won, the Temple was cleansed from paganism and a day's worth of oil burned for eight days. Since then the celebration of the miracle has been a minor holiday in Judaism.

The Maccabees founded a new dynasty which ruled Judea until the Roman conquest and founded the Pharisee school of thought which later provided the basis of non-Temple, Rabbinical Judaism.

The Catholic History Which "Saved" Hanukkah

The rebellion is recorded in the Biblical books First and Second Maccabees. These books were originally written in Hebrew and fairly quickly, and ironically, translated into Greek. The Hebrew copies were lost so that when scholars were actually putting the Bible together it was only found in the Greek-language Bible known as the Septuagint. The early Church recognized the books in both the Hebrew and Greek versions of the Old Testament and therefore First and Second Maccabees were declared cannon along with the other books of the Bible.

To this day the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Churches, and Oriential Orthodox consider both Maccabees books as biblical (Protestants first had the Maccabees books in a separate section of their Bibles but then these and several other books were dropped during the rise of Bible societies in the 1800s to save printing costs). However, as Christendom gained power in both the Latin and Greek world the Jewish world began to reject all Greek influence again. Since original Hebrew versions of both the Maccabees books could not be found they were rejected. Jews still celebrated Hanukkah but the meaning was being lost over time. It took Christendom to restore its meaning. Professor Jon Levenson, professor of Jewish studies at Harvard Divinity School explains: (Hat Tip: Shameless Popery)

The Roman Catholic tradition honors these Jewish martyrs as saints, and the Eastern Orthodox Church still celebrates Aug. 1 as the Feast of the Holy Maccabees. By contrast, in the literature of the Rabbis of the first several centuries of the common era, the story lost its connection to the Maccabean uprising, instead becoming associated with later persecutions by the Romans, which the Rabbis experienced. If the change seems odd, recall that the compositions that first told of these events (the books of Maccabees) were not part of the scriptural canon of rabbinic Judaism. But they were canonical in the Church (and remain so in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox communions).

And so we encounter another oddity of Hanukkah: Jews know the fuller history of the holiday because Christians preserved the books that the Jews themselves lost. In a further twist, Jews in the Middle Ages encountered the story of the martyred mother and her seven sons anew in Christian literature and once again placed it in the time of the Maccabees.

Hanukkah Today: American Jewish Christmas

Rabbi Kerry Olitzky writes that Hanukkah, traditionally a minor holiday, is big for two reasons 1) It is close to Christmas and allows Jews to celebrate along with everyone else while doing something different to preserve Jewish identity and 2) it is a celebration with few rules unlike other Jewish holy days.

However, there is concern that Hanukkah and its meaning is being abandoned by American Jews and those in interfaith marriages. Israel even created an ad warning that children in the United States will forget Hanukkah and celebrate Christmas instead.

Hanukkah: Every Judeo-Christian's Holiday?

Besides its obvious Jewish base Hanukkah's appeal various, primarily American, Protestant and Catholics are starting to pay attention to the celebration. Some Protestants are attracted to Hanukkah due to the old Anglo-Protestant tradition of Judaizing (adopting Jewish customs). Meanwhile some Catholic intellectuals since Vatican II see the holiday as part of the universal tradition of Abrahamic faith in God. Even Neo-Protestant (i.e. Catholic Rejectionist) Mel Gibson is planning on making a movie about the rebellion.

Meanwhile Hanukkah continues to integrate itself into mainstream culture. Adam Sandler has sung multiple versions of his Hanukkah song while in 1996 the first animated cartoon series in the United States marked the holiday with a special: Rugrats Hanukkah. Now the holiday, if not its meaning, has been well known to most Americans.

Happy Hanukkah! Remember its meaning of fighting for what is right!

America's Most Wanted 50 Fugitives in 50 States

2011-12-21T21:05:00.003-06:00

Catholicgauze is a huge fan of America's Most Wanted, the long running television show which serves as a giant public service announcement alerting people to fugitives. A new feature on the show's website combines crime fighting and geography (a fun combination) which only makes the America's Most Wanted experience even more enjoyable. 50 States/50 Fugitives has a map of all American states and the District of Columbia with each state assigned a fugitive. Each state's fugitive has a link where one can learn more about them.

Michele Bachmann Does Not Understand Sunni Islamism versus Shia Islamism

2011-12-16T07:06:00.002-06:00

During last night's Republican Presidential Primary Debate in Iowa Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann sparred over the threat posed by Iran. During the debate Congresswoman Bachmann stated Iran's constitution calls for Jihad and the establishment of a worldwide Caliphate.

Mrs. Bachmann is correct in that the Islamic Republic of Iran sees itself as an exporter of Islamic revolution and the constitution does indeed call for Jihad. From the constitution discussing the purpose of the military:

Accordingly, the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps are to be organized in conformity with this goal, and they will be responsible not only for guarding and preserving the frontiers of the country, but also for fulfilling the ideological mission of jihad in God's way; that is, extending the sovereignty of God's law throughout the world (this is in accordance with the Koranic verse "Prepare against them whatever force you are able to muster, and strings of horses, striking fear into the enemy of God and your enemy, and others besides them" [8:60]).

However, the Caliphate is a Sunni tradition long abandoned by the supporters of Ali (those who would become Shia). Shia, which comprise the majority of Iran's population, believe in Imams descended from Ali. Iran's official denomination of Shia, Twelver, believe the twelfth Imam is currently hiding and will come again. Iran's Islamic government sees itself as a placeholder until the Imam's return. The Caliphate, an institution which any Sunni can become leader but in practice has been restricted to feuding Arab and Turkish families, has been denounced throughout history by Shia theologians.

If Bachmann wanted to warn about Shia Islamism she has solid ground in the Jihad passage of Iran's constitution. Her argument though is greatly weakened by her warnings of Shia supporting the Caliphate.

Currently Out, Blogging to Resume Next Week

2011-12-14T07:27:00.001-06:00

See you then!

Advent Geography: The Geography of the Historical Figures Before Christmas

2011-12-08T19:30:00.001-06:00

The Season of Advent is about preparing oneself for the Christmas, for the coming of Jesus. As many people prepare themselves for this season, one can remember that the various players who made Christmas were getting ready with their own goals.

Mary

Mary was a girl who lived in the village of Nazereth in Galilee. Being a Galilean could have been a handicap, Galilee was considered a backwater of the Jewish world, but a woman in a village would most likely expect never to travel too far from home.

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Mary's response to the Angel Gabriel in the Book of Luke pondering how she could ever be pregnant implies she could have taken a vow of perpetual virginity.

Joseph

Joseph was a carpenter who was a descendant of King David. David's lineage was vast however so having royal blood did not translate into a comfortable life. Being of the House of David his family home was the town of Bethlehem near Jerusalem. While not rich his geographic heritage gave him a full Jewish identity.

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Joseph was betrothed to Mary.

Caesar Augustus

Caesar Augustus, adopted son of Julius Caesar, was the first Roman Emperor. Augustus had a special tie to the Jews: King Herod had backed Augustus against Marc Anthony during the Roman Civil War. In return Augustus granted the Jews a religious exemption excluding them from required worship of the Imperial Cult (the Jews were the only religion to not be required worship of the Imperial Cult).

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Towards the birth of Jesus Caesar was planning a decree to require a census throughout the Empire. At the time this would be the largest census attempted in the world.

King Herod

King Herod "the Great" was reigning in Jerusalem with the backing of the Roman Empire. Most of his time was divided between restoring the Jewish Temple and other massive building projects, managing his fratricidal family, and balancing the Pharisees, Sadducee, and Zealots against each other.

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Herod's constant obsession was being paranoid about any potential threats to his rule.

The Magi

The word "Magi" comes from Avestan Iranian word magauno, meaning a priest in the Zoroastrian religion. Zoroastrianism is a Persian religion which teaches that there is one God who is good and the good God is opposed by an equally powerful creature who seeks the ruin of mankind (when Muslims conquered Iran they judged that Zoroastrians worshiped the same God as Muslims, Jews, and Christians). Zoroastrianism was the religion of Persian speaking people including the Parthians, Greeco-Iranians who ruled lands from modern-day throughout western Asia from about 200 BC to AD 200. The Parthians' lands match the description in the Book of Mathew which states that the Magi came from "the East."

Zoroastrian priests were known for their studies of the stars looking for signs from God. The three that would later travel west spent their time looking for a star they thought would guide them to a great king.

New Blog: Spatial Law and Policy

2011-12-07T21:26:00.001-06:00

Spatial Law and Policy is a blog dedicated to providing news links and analysis concerning the wide open frontier of legal matters and geospatial technology such as GPS geotracking, social networks that monitor the locations of your usage, businesses interested in your pattern of life data from smartphones, and of course government. While not geography in and of itself, the grey world of geospatial technology law will impact the geography tools most businesses, governments, and people use everyday.

A Crowd Sourced Map Becomes the Symbol of Russia's Democratic Decline

2011-12-05T19:17:00.001-06:00

The run up to the Russian parliamentary election was full of news stories saying Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party would lose ground to Kremlin-approved alternative parties. Another widespread story was how the election was more or less rigged due to United Russia's control of the voting booth and Nashi and other ilk's vote fraud techniques.

United Russia denied the claims of voter fraud and laughed off anyone who challenged them. The GOLOS Association tried a new technique to show/prevent fraud. On their website they created a map which allows users to place and document voting irregularities. The Kremlin responded with arresting the leader GOLOS and shutting down their vote monitor teams.

I would like to show you the map on GOLOS' website but that website is currently under cyber attack and is inaccessible and for all practical purposes destroyed due to the data loss. The map itself was merely a documentation of voting problems, but its destruction has made it a symbol of Russia's democratic decline.

The Growing Canary Islands

2011-12-05T00:07:00.000-06:00

The eruption's disruption of the Atlantic Ocean is visible from space. The new land could become a new island or an extension of El Hierro (From the BBC)

Off the cost of El Hierro Island, part of Spain's Canary Islands, a submarine volcano is erupting. Currently the eruption is approximately 200 feet (60 meters) below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. The closeness of the eruption is causing scientists to wonder if a new Canary Island could surface soon. No one knows for sure though because the volcano could stop erupting anytime. One should not bet on visiting the new island too as the creation of new islands can take time: for over thirty years some people have been predicting the Loihi Seamount will become a new Hawaiian island yet the world is still waiting.

South Ossetia's Struggle For Independence... From Russia

2011-12-02T09:51:00.001-06:00

In 2008 Georgian forces were pushed out of South Ossetia by Ossetian militia and the Russian army. Since then only Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and a few small Pacific islands have recognized the independence of South Ossetia and the other breakaway republic, Abkhazia. One of the primary reasons for the lack of international recognition is the thought that these two states are merely Russian satellite-puppet states. In reality, Abkhazia has been struggling to maintain its own identity while South Ossetia has been viewed as merely awaiting formal annexation into Russia.

However, earlier this week the people of South Ossetia demonstrated their desire for their own course not necessarily matching that of Russia's. A presidential runoff election was held in which the former Education Secretary Alla Dzhioyeva dominated with fifty-nine percent of the vote compared to the "Emergencies Minister" Anatoliy Bibilov's vote of slightly less than forty percent. This is despite the fact Bibilov was publicly endorsed by Russian Primer Vladimir Putin, President Dmitry Medvedev, and the ruling United Russia party. Dzhioyeva, who still supports closer ties to Russia, won primarily because she campaigned against the corruption of the current Russian-backed regime in South Ossetia. The people of South Ossetia demonstrated that while they value Russia as an ally they will not be dictated to by Moscow if Moscow's interests collide with that of the people.

Sadly though for those who want democratic rule in South Ossetia, the whole government-bureaucratic complex in the country was established and still is controlled by Russia. The supreme court annulled the results due to "election tampering" and the parliament has stated there will be a new election in which Dzhioyeva will be banned from running. The South Ossetians are not happy with these pro-Moscow moves however. Dzhioyeva has declared herself the winner and her supporters are calling on parliament's complete resignation.

This is not the first time a power struggle has erupted over South Ossetia and control from Moscow. The Provisional Administrative Entity of South Ossetia, a pro-Georgia government in exile, is led by a former prime minister of the breakaway republic, Dmitry Sanakoyev, who left due to conflicts with the current government of South Ossetia.

The next few months could be critical for South Ossetia. If Moscow has its way then many people will become disgruntled with the way their republic is heading and may start to look for alternatives with their opposite, Georgia. If Dzhioyeva's victory is recognized then a cleaning house of the pro-Russian corrupt government apprartus will begin while Dzhioyeva purses a friendly yet cautiously aware relationship with Moscow.

December 2011 Travel Photo: The Basilica of The National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima

2011-12-01T00:11:00.000-06:00

Outside of Buffalo, New York, close to the small town of Lewiston is the Basilica of The National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. The shrine and campus occupy sixteen acres and is a very popular pilgrimage site.

The shrine is notable on a purely secular geography-lover note as the dome where the Virgin Mary stands upon is a globe with the Earth's landmasses. One can climb to the top of the dome and stand next to Mary of in order to feel the cool lake breeze come off Lake Erie.

Every year the shrine and its campus is lighted up at night from November until the end of the Christmas season in early January.

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New Satellite Data Map Shows Northern Regions are Net Carbon Dioxide Absorbers

2011-11-29T00:03:00.000-06:00

A new map made from satellite data by Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies revealed that northern regions such as Siberia are net carbon dioxide absorbers and that regions around the equator, including the rainforests of Africa and South America, are producing more carbon dioxide.

The results contest previous beliefs and worries that natural geothermal energy releases in the north could greatly increase carbon dioxide releases and potentially affect climate change. What is truly shocking is the data showing that equatorial regions are producing more carbon dioxide than absorbing. Either previous models of natural absorption are wrong or the industrial growth of those regions is more polluting than previously known.

Recovering from Thanksgiving - Last Dictator Standing

2011-11-27T20:24:00.001-06:00

I'm currently recovering from Thanksgiving and normal blogging will resume Tuesday. Until then I understand you feel alone... like Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe without Libya's Muammar Qaddafi, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, and South Africa's P.W. Botha.

Happy Thanksgiving... an American Holiday of Multiple Origins

2011-11-24T09:10:00.001-06:00

Let us give thanks to God for all that we have.

The story that the Pilgrim Puritans held the first Thanksgiving in 1621 is a myth meant to tie American with a solid Anglo-Protestant foundation.

Doubtlessly there were plenty feasts giving thanks by American Indians during the America's prehistory. The first recorded Thanksgiving was held by the Spanish and local Timucuan Indians in Florida in 1565. The thanksgiving mass was followed by a feast of American and Spanish foods such as oysters, clams, garbanzo beans, olive oil, bread, pork and wine.

The Puritans held their Thanksgiving and it was celebrated locally in Massachusetts around harvest time on no set date. However it was not the first Protestant American Thanksgiving as English Virginia was holding a legal holiday of Thanksgiving as a religious service since 1609. President George Washington pushed for a national day of Thanksgiving for November 26 in 1789 with no mention of any historical background. However, each state celebrated their own Thanksgiving on their own date until President Lincoln codified the date on 1863. President Franklin Roosevelt made the final move for Thanksgiving's date to the fourth Thursday in November in 1941. The reason was to extend the Christmas buying season.

Even though the holiday has been commercialized let us remember the original meaning of the various Thanksgiving and give thanks for what we have.

The Most Accurate Map of the Moon Released

2011-11-22T00:29:00.000-06:00

NASA has unveiled the most accurate, highest resolution map of the Moon's elevation. The scale of the photo is one pixel equals 328 feet (100 meters). The data was gathered over 66,000 images and readings from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The full map can be downloaded from Arizona State University's press release.

This map is a long time coming. The only truly accurate readings of lunar elevation have come from satellite readings but these were never complied together to make a complete map. In the past there have been a couple atlases claiming to have elevations marked, like the 1969 Times Atlas of the Moon, but these were guesstimates and in many cases out right lies created in part to deceive the Soviets. Until recently, some of the most accurate lunar elevation measurements were done by an amateur astronomer using his own telescope and CCD camera.

A "Tribute" to Critical Geographers

2011-11-21T00:05:00.000-06:00

Now another Catholicgauze rant. Normal geography blogging to continue on Tuesday.

A geographer friend of mine is currently suffering due to his reading papers by critical geographers for class. These "critical" "geographers" are Marxists, feminists, and alike who tend to study issues through their own political lenses. Most do work that most people would not recognize as geography. These geographers are almost always academics who hate the state that pays them to work in ivy towers. What irks personally me the most is that they completely reject the concept of truth.

Example

Currently my friend is reading the book "Rethinking the Power of Maps" by Denis Wood. Wood's now famous argument (in academia) is that maps are not depictions of places but instead propaganda trying to argue a particular viewpoint. Some maps certainly are arguments but Wood's claims every map is an argument... even highway road maps and city chamber of commerce maps.

Wood spends a full chapter in the book blasting the North Carolina's official road map for highlighting North Carolina at the cost of other states. Yes, you read that right. Wood repeatedly savages North Carolina for cartographic "sins" including the use of a legend which, in Wood's mind, highlights what only North Carolina thinks important and "rapes" the landscape of other features. My friend stated Wood goes straight into a rant that only an "educated, highly paid conspiracy theorist could write."

So is my friend right or is Wood's an academic genius? Is there any way to find out? Maybe. Knowing that Wood's was a state of North Carolina employee until he lost his job for repeatedly raping a child in his care and then threatening the kid does help one reach a judgment.

Conclusion

Are all critical geographers rapists, no of course not. However, they tend to spout out ideas that either have little relevance to geography or fail to advance the science in any meaningful way (check out what the the Socialist & Critical Geography specialty group's presentations or Antipode for examples). So much academic time and resources have been spent on trying to figure out if maps are really depictions or arguments rather than focusing geography on exploration of other planets, cultural studies for military and foreign policy, or even figuring out how to improve geographic literacy without just throwing money at the problem. Give me a good National Geographic, book, or a blog post on the Catholicgauze Reads list anyday for real geography.

Post-Script

My friend created "The World According to Critical Geographers" as a rebuttal to critical geographers...

The World According to Critical Geographers. Click to enlarge

Geography Awareness Week 2011: A Very Special Last Word

2011-11-20T17:43:00.001-06:00

I was originally planning on writing a post on how one can explore a place through a really detailed map. However, while writing that post I got to thinking.

My love for geography started out with my mom taking my fingers over a 3D globe and telling me things like "this is where mommy's coffee grows" (Colombia), "this is where Santa lives" (North Pole), and "this is where the kangaroos hop" (Australia). It was this event, which was repeated several times, which started my interest in the wider world.

I love that incident not just because of the geography though. Knowing about the world makes one really good at trivia and maybe a related career. What truly mattered is the love and interest my mother showed for me. So, for geography in the community, show love for others by teaching them the world but not to teach them trivia, but to spend time with them and show you care. That is what truly is important in the community and in the world.

Geography Awareness Week 2011: Geocaching

2011-11-18T19:01:00.001-06:00

Geography Awareness Week: Clouds and Weather Prediction

2011-11-16T18:30:00.001-06:00

Geography Awareness Week 2011: Making and Using an Astrolabe

2011-11-14T18:34:00.001-06:00

This week is Geography Awareness Week! The powers that be have declared this year's theme to be Geography: The Adventure in Your Community. In this spirit, I will be blogging about various geographical exercises one can do by themselves, with family, with friends, or with the community!

An astrolabe is an ancient Greek tool for measuring star positions. It was so effective that it was used by mariners even past the time of Columbus and into the 1700s.

First off you need to create an astrolabe. Fortunately, the University of California Berkley has a cut out design with steps on how to put together the finishing touches (or you can use a protractor). Then one needs to know how to read the astrolabe. The next page of the guide offers insight. Long story short: use straw/tube to look at object, where the string crosses the scale is the height of angle in degrees.

Now that you have a working astrolabe let us do some geography and astronomy.

Finding Latitude (For Northern Hemisphere)

First off find the big dipper in the sky at night. Make a line connect the far two stars of the cup. Continue that line until you see a medium bright star. That is Polaris, the north star. Polaris is currently hovering around the north pole (not exactly but close enough) to be used as a reference for ancient scientists, mariners, and you. Here's a helpful image to show what you are looking for.

Now that you know where Polaris is use the astrolabe to determine the degrees in height it is. The answer you get is your latitude . This is the number of degrees you are from the equator. Take 90 and subtract your number and this is the number of degrees you are from the North Pole.

Charting the Stars

Pick out a star, preferably one in a constellation you can quickly find. Determine the height in degrees with the astrolabe. Do more measurements 30 minutes, 60 minutes, and 90 minutes later. See how the movement is like clockwork? That it is because the stars are not moving but the Earth is at a steady pace. Try estimating where the stars will be in 30 minutes. Remember, the horizon is 180 degrees and the Earth rotates 360 degrees. Try estimating where the stars will be tomorrow at a certain time and check your results.

Geography Awareness Week 2011: Mental Mapping

2011-11-13T17:39:00.001-06:00

This week is Geography Awareness Week! The powers that be have declared this year's theme to be Geography in the Community. In this spirit, I will be blogging about various geographical exercises one can do by themselves, with family, with friends, or with the community!

Today's post is a challenge to do mental mapping. A mental map is one's personal view of how they envision their surroundings. A mental map is not necessarily geographically correct but instead reflects what the thinker considers important and where the thinker envisions various locations to be at.

Either by yourself or with a group of friends map out your hometown. If done with a group of friends be sure to do your own individual maps first. Now examine your own map. Consider what is the focus of the map, what's in the center, what is labelled, what elements are big and what barely appear, and even what may be missing. Do the same with your friends' maps. Now obtain a map of your hometown (try Google Maps) and compare the mental maps to the real map. Consider how your (and your friends') understanding of the local geography differs from reality. Discuss why this is.

Veterans Day 2011

2011-11-11T00:09:00.000-06:00

Thank you for all those have and are serving their country.

For all those who are safe in their homes right now be sure to pray for peace. Blessed Karl, the last Emperor of Austria-Hungary and now a candidate for sainthood, is favored by some as a champion for peace even during the worst times of war.

God our Father, through the gift of Blessed Emperor Karl You have given us an example to follow.In extremely difficult times he performed his burdensome tasks without ever losing his faith.He always followed Your Son, the true King.

He led a humble life, sincerely loving the poor and giving himself heart and soul to the search for peace. Even when his life was in danger he trusted in You, putting his life in Your hands. Almighty and Merciful God, by the intercession of Blessed Emperor Karl, we pray that You may give us his unconditional faith to support us in our most difficult situations, and the courage to always follow the example of Your only Son.

Open our hearts to the poor, and strengthen our commitment for peace within our families and among all peoples.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

The Weird Geography of Jeopardy

2011-11-10T21:44:00.001-06:00

So last night I relaxed after work by watching Jeopardy. I was thrilled by the fact one of the categories was European Geography. However, when the contestants began to pick geography questions the weirdness began.

First, apparently "the United Kingdom" is not a specific enough answer for a country in Europe.

See Geography@About.com on why Scotland is not a country (sure it is a "country within the United Kingdom" but it is not a country as most people understand the term: a sovereign, independent state).

Then things got really odd when Jeopardy brought out the map.

Transnistria (yellow oval in location where it would be on the map) does not get Jeopardy's recognition like Kosovo, Abkahzia, South Ossetia, and the now defunct Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

Widely but not universally recognized Kosovo was shown on the map. As were partially recognized by a handful countries Abkhazia and South Ossetia. So was the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast... which was disbanded in 1991. Jeopardy most likely wanted to show the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic which has different borders and is recognized by no other state. I can understand showing de facto states if one is consistent. However, Jeopardy did not show Transnistria on the map.

One who wants to see the "real" de facto borders of Europe should look past Jeopardy and use Geographic Travels' Atlas of True Borders

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Tutorials for Map Mashups and GIS

2011-11-10T00:29:00.000-06:00

Ever wanted to make a Google Map or another map mashup? Ever wanted to use GIS to explore data and make simple maps? Found the standard tutorials too hard? Well forunately there is hope: tutorials made by non-geographers.

The Knight Digitial Media Foundation at the University of California Berkley's Graduate School of Journalism has a series of easy to read, understand, and use tutorials on how to make your own maps or use QGIS, a free GIS program.

Those who already know how to use QGIS or make a mashup will learn nothing new. However, students and a curious public will indeed get the skills they need to indulge their inner cartographer. (Hat Tip: Der Hunter)

5 Minute Time Lapse United States Travel Video

2011-11-09T00:26:00.000-06:00

Videographer Brian DeFrees drove across the United States and made a really fascinating time lapse video of his journey. It is a wonder to see America flash by.

Below is a map Brian made of his two month journey.

European Economy Joke and a Memory

2011-11-08T10:26:00.001-06:00

From the National Review

Q: An Irishman, a Portuguese, and a Greek go into a bar and have a round of drinks. Who pays?

A: The German.

Meanwhile I am still recovering from flashbacks of a scene from the 2000 game Deus Ex, which takes place in a dystopian 2052, when a character remarks that we [the United States] could really use another Chinese loan. I remember thinking what a crazy world that was in which China would be the capital/credit supplier of the world. Sigh...

Genographic Project Indicates Humans Left Africa via a Land Bridge to Arabia

2011-11-07T00:13:00.000-06:00

The Human DNA geography project Genographic, which I used and blogged about the proto-Catholicgauzes before, has DNA evidence which seems to confirm a new thought in human migration out of Africa: that Humans left Africa via a land bridge between Arabia and Africa and not the Sinai.

The Out of Africa migration to Arabia is estimated to have happened "only" 70,000 years ago.

The study indicates that the Saharan Desert, despite having periods of greening, was truly a natural boundary preventing sub-Saharan Africans from moving north. The Genographic-backed history has North Africans being the descendants of ancient people who lived in Greater Arabia before moving back into Africa.

If true, this story makes one grateful for the periods of low sea levels which aided the populating of not only the Americas around ~15,000 years ago but also the escape from Africa.

This evidence also has a modern day impact. Hopefully it will be another nail in the coffin of pseudohistoric theories such as Afrocentrism in terms of Ancient Egyptians being Black, a theory embraced by some academics and even religions.

Map of Violence at Various Occupy Events

2011-11-03T22:18:00.000-05:00

The Occupy Wall Street aka Occupy Movement aka #OWS movement has spread across the country, though its occurrence is still greatly biased towards the West Coast. The movement has attracted not only people who are upset at corporate culture but also counter culturalists, drug addicts, violent anarchists, and various other hangers on to political Left movements. While the various Occupy camps are not "rape, kill, murder" zones, violence has repeatedly occurred at said places unlike the peaceful Tea Party movement.

The pro-free market MacIver Institute has an active, updating Google Maps mashup of violence at various Occupy Movements. The map is also embeded below. (Hat tip: the conservative Big Government blog)

View Mapping the #Occupy Hate and Violence in a larger map

Flyovers of Jerusalem From Biblical Times

2011-11-03T00:11:00.000-05:00

The Gospel Coalition has gathered a collection of flyovers of Jerusalem. One of them shows how the holy city grew from the City of David to the capital Jesus knew.

The second film is a flyover of Jerusalem at the time of King David.

The third film is of the Second Temple at the time of Jesus.

Bikini Atoll's Flag: A Geography of Sadness

2011-11-02T00:01:00.000-05:00

The flag of Bikini Atoll features main signs of a geography of sadness. Image from Wikipedia.

In 1954 the United States tested a 15 megaton hydrogen bomb, at the time it was by far the largest nuclear device ever detonated, on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The fallout forced the United States to prevent islanders from returning to their homes.

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In 1987, islanders and the descendants of islanders adopted the above flag to represent their home. The flag includes several key geographic elements representing their sadness over the loss of home.

The flag purposefully models itself after the flag of the United States. The islanders link themselves to the United States due to their belief that the United States owes them a significant debt.
The twenty three stars represent the twenty three islands of the atoll.
The three black stars at the top right represent the three islands which were physically altered by the bomb blast.
The two black at the bottom right separate from the other stars represent Kili Island and Majuro Atoll, the two locations the islanders were resettled on.

The text, MEN OTEMJEJ REJ ILO BEIN ANIJ, translates to "Everything is in the hands of God." It is the response Juda, leader of the Binkini islanders, said to Admiral Ben Wyatt when he asked the islanders to allow the United States to use the island for the "betterment of mankind."

November 2011 Travel Photo: The Second Oldest War Memorial in the United States

2011-11-01T00:31:00.000-05:00

In September 1777 the Revolutionary War was not going well for the American Rebels. Philadelphia was under threat and the rebel army was in no one position which would be able to stop the British march towards the capital. General Washington, in an effort to keep his rag tag army in fighting condition, ordered his troops to secure vital lines of communication and supply around Philadelphia. Outside of Paoli tavern General Anthony Wayne made camp with his 2,500 men secure with the knowledge that the British were over ten miles away and the on coming rain storm would slow any British movement.

Wrong.

1,200 British forces under Major General Charles Grey moved late on 20 September and managed to get the jump on the rebels. Bayonets made quick work of over 50 rebels and around seventy Americans were taken prisoner.

American propagandists created stories about the British not taking prisoner and called the battle a massacre. The cry of "Remember Paoli!" became one of the main rally war cries of the Revolution. Forty years after the battle (1817) veterans and locals gathered together to mark the battle and dedicate a memorial to the dead. The memorial is the second oldest American war memorial, the oldest American war memorial is at Lexington, Massachusetts and was dedicated in 1799. The myth of a massacre was made permnament on the landscape with multiple interpreative signs around the memorial discussing British brutality and quoted sources making statements such as

"I with my own Eyes, see them, cut & hack some of our poor Men to pieces after they had fallen in their hands and scarcely shew the least Mercy to any..."

and

The Annals of the Age Cannot Produce such another Scene of Butchery...

The memorial itself is on top of a mass grave of American dead and in a park open to the public.

View Larger Map

7 Billion Humans on Earth

2011-10-31T00:31:00.000-05:00

Twelve years ago, 1999, an advertisement for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six computer game featured the phrase "Play as if 5.7 billion lives depended on it." How the earth population has grown. Today, October 31st, the United Nations is guestimating that the world's population reaches seven billion (7,000,000,000).

Granted the margin of error of this guestimation, not all countries have censuses and even many that do are not high quality, is plus or minus six months so who knows when and where the seventh billion human alive was born.

While this growth seems fast most population estimates have the world's growth slowing down. According to most demographers, the world's population will reach 9 billion around 2050 and stabilize.

To celebrate seven billion humans the BBC has made a web application that allows one to see where they are in the world's population count based on birthday. Comparing the my ranking to that of my parents and grandparents current showed the quick rise in the world's population.

New Blog: Exciting Cartography

2011-10-27T18:47:00.001-05:00

Reader Michael G has started a new blog called Exciting Cartography. The blog only has a few posts but so far I can tell its subject matter will focus on interesting maps, the stories behind said interesting maps, and other cartographic matters. I wish Michael the best of luck and look forward to seeing some new beautiful maps described on his blog!

Lord's Resistance Army Crisis Map

2011-10-26T00:24:00.000-05:00

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) claims to be the movement for the implementation of the Ten Commandments. In reality it is a murder cult that combines African mysticism (spirit mediums), Christianity (soldiers pray the Rosary), and even little bits of Islam (some LRA prayer practices require bowing to Mecca). The war cult is well known for its massacres and brainwashing kidnapped children to become soldiers forced to kill their parents.

Originally the LRA was confined to Uganda but the Ugandan military forced the LRA out in the early 2000s. The LRA then attempted to turn its effort to capture control of Uganda into a central African regional war. In 2008 the Ugandans, Southern Sudanese military, and Democratic Republic of the Congo forces chased the LRA out of their sanctuary in northwest Congo.

Sadly the war against the LRA goes on. The excellent World Geography Blog has linked to the LRA Crisis Tracker which maps out the latest news of LRA battles and crimes. With American special forces advisers being deployed to combat the LRA this map might heat up soon.

Brief History of Egypt in Maps: 1500 to 1800

2011-10-25T00:23:00.000-05:00

There is a nice short video of the evolution of Egypt in maps from about 1500 to 1800. While one is unlikely to learn anything new cartographically, it is interesting to see the old maps of Egypt and how the land was displayed. Hat tip: Sky to Earth

The Globe and Mail Notice What "Geographers" Do Today

2011-10-24T00:15:00.000-05:00

American-born Canadian journalist Margaret Wente loves her adopted homeland. So in loves that she once wrote of a story of how she tried to live out Pierre Berton's saying that "a Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe" and she humorously wondered if present-day immigrants would try to live that out as well.

Sadly for her the present-day elites of geography accused her of racism. One of those elites is the current head of the Association of American Geographers, the Canadian Audrey Kobayashi. These geographers-elites wrote such words as "Against a backdrop of imagined wilderness, it [the love-in-a-canoe comment] privileges the universality of Canadian canoe culture, marginalizes dark-skinned bodies as peripheral to national origins, and positions white heterosexual procreation in a canoe as the highest achievement of national identity."

This so surprised and confused Wente that she looked into the present state of academic geography and wrote the article They hijacked the humanities, then my canoe. While I wish I could defend geography here I have to agree with Wente that many academic geographers, more in the human subfield vice the physical subfield, are no longer doing geography. She provides a few good examples of how academic geography has been hijacked by the same wave of Marxists, femistists, and even "queer" "geographies." Instead of actual geography much of what is discussed is radical theory with no real purpose or possible implementation.

This infiltration has been mirrored in lower education as documented in Global Perspectives in the Geography Curriculum: Reviewing the Moral Case for Geography. In the meantime, those who want real geography can read National Geographic or some of the fantastic geography blogs that I follow as well as this one!

Home is Where the Heart is for Some Fleeing Dictators

2011-10-21T00:07:00.000-05:00

Muammar al-Qaddafi has been killed right outside his hometown of Sirte, Libya. His choice of a last stand around his hometown puts him in a line of dictators who decided to flee towards home during their downfall. Here is a list another geographer (who realized this "home is where the dictator is" relationship) could put together of other post-World War II dictators who went home.

Saddam Hussein - Republic of Iraq: Saddam was captured in 2003 outside his hometown of Tikrit.

Nicolae Ceausescu - People's Republic of Romania: In 1989 Ceausescu was the last Communist dictator to fall in the year that brought down multiple regimes. After being chased out of the capital Bucharest Ceausescu and his wife fled into his native south. It was in the south where the police captured them and eventually turned them over to the rebellious army.

Benito Mussolini - Italian Social Republic: Il Duce of Italy, Benito Mussolini, was forced out of his position in the Kingdom of Italy and placed under arrest in 1943. However, he was quickly sprung by the Nazi SS and spent the last year and a half of his life leading the Italian Social Republic in his native northern Italy.

While not all post-World War II dictators fled towards for home it makes sense that some would as home is usually a support base where well rewarded relatives, friends, and follow travelers live but it is also where the heart is.

Cartoon Map of Middle Eastern Countries' Feelings for Each Other

2011-10-20T00:00:00.000-05:00

The Economist has a hilarious but accurate map showing the feelings various Middle Eastern countries, and the United States, have for each other. The map reminds me of The Onion's map of World War I's complex alliances.

Geography of the Occupy Protests: It is a West Coast Thing

2011-10-19T00:00:00.000-05:00

The New York Times political blog 538 has a geography of the Occupy movement in the United States post. After examining the various protests and assigning them into census bureau regions (PDF) the blog has discovered the Western Census Bureau Region by far has the most protesters. Over half the protesters despite only having twenty-three percent of the countries population.

Further examination shows that most of the Western Census Bureau Region protests are along the West Coast, which is jokingly called the "Left Coast" by conservatives. The West Coast still has a large plurality of protesters even when one excludes non-coastal Western cities like Denver and Las Vegas.

Income gaps and Comparison of the Poor and Rich Around the World

2011-10-18T00:40:00.000-05:00

A recent book by World Bank economist Branko Milanovic, The Haves and the Have-Nots, reminds one that the United States is very fortunate, especially those less well off in the country. The New York Times economics blog features the below graph showing income disparity and comparisons to the world for the populations of the United States, Brazil, India, and the People's Republic of China.

From The Haves and Have-Nots

The chart takes a little explaning to understand but it does indeed show a lot. The flatter the line the closer the highest and lowest incomes in a particular country are in comparison to the rest of the world.

The height of the lines for Brazil and China show that those countries have some of the richest and poorest people on the planet. The United States' line begins at about 68%. This shows that the poorest Americans are better off (in comparison of goods, government provided care, and income) than 68% of all other humans. The initial step from the very poor to poor shows a steep difference that begins to level off in the "regular" low, working, middle, upper-middle, and upper classes.

Seven Seas: Sailing the Seas of Your Imagination

2011-10-17T00:05:00.000-05:00

The term "sailing the seven seas" is engrained in many people's minds. One can imagine long voyages to new lands across vast spaces of water. But what exactly are the Seven Seas? The beautiful thing is that the Seven Seas are whatever you want them to be. Imagination can make the Seven Seas your travel plans or the vast, single connected world ocean.

After extensive literary review and online research including reader friendly sites such as the Library of Congress and Geography@About.com has shown that the idea of seven seas seems universal. Sumerians praised their gods for the seven seas as far back as 2300 BC. The Romans called the salt marshes around present-day Venice, a great place for training ship captains, as the seven seas and believed one should know how to sail in and out of the marshes before becoming sea going. The early Muslims wrote of the Seven Seas between Arabia and present-day Indonesia (a very popular trade route). And now today geographers and others will create unique categories of oceans and seas to create their own Seven Seas.

Perhaps it is the old belief that seven is a perfect/God's number. No one can say for sure but when various cultures consider the vastness of water Seven Seas is agreed upon as the great openness out there to be explored.

94 Years of Fatima

2011-10-13T17:52:00.001-05:00

Pray for Peace

Wisconsin Cheese Tourist Map

2011-10-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

Wisconsin is known for its cheese. Many of Wisconsin's promotions are tied in with cheese in one way shape or form. Now travelers and tourists in Wisconsin have means of finding locations to sample Wisconsin's wide range of cheesy delights. A Traveler's Guide to America's Dairyland is made by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. The map shows locations of member cheese farms and stores where one can buy Wisconsin's pride products.

Online Geography Dictionary

2011-10-11T00:43:00.000-05:00

ITS Tutorial School, an English-language tutoring service for Hong Kong students, has a growing online dictionary of geography terms. The dictionary is lacking in GIS terms for the most part but is rich in human and physical geography terms as well as those from related sciences such as geology and biology.

Columbus Day 2011

2011-10-10T00:21:00.000-05:00

Happy Columbus Day!

Map of Columbus' 1492 voyage. Image from Wikipedia

Christopher Columbus was a bad geographer. His theory on the rounded Earth's circumfrance was dead wrong (it was way too short). The first country he approached, Portugal, told him never to contact them again because the Portugese geographers correctly knew that the distance between Europe and East Asia was far larger than Columbus' claims.

However, by his mistake and Spanish support, Columbus opened the New World. Besides proving St. Augustine's geography wrong he also helped give Nicolaus Copernicus the idea to rethink the universe. His opening of the age of exploration also added greatly to the geographic knowledge of the world. He also saved the world

First, he saved Europe. A few years ago I wrote in 1491 that Europe was slightly ahead of the Islamic world. Wrong. The authors of Nuremberg Chronicle thought the world was going to end soon because things were going so poorly. Italian Franciscan monks switched sides and became Islamic pirates, thousands upon thousands of people were captured into slavery in raids all along the Mediterranean by Islamic pirates, and the great Roman Empire fell in 1453 to the Ottomans.

The great book Admiral of the Ocean Sea : A Life of Christopher Columbus by Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison describes the situation pre and post-Columbus in Europe as so

At the end of 1492 most men in Western Europe felt exceedingly gloomy about the future. Christian civilization appeared to be shrinking in area and dividing into hostile units as its sphere contracted. For over a century there had been no important advance in natural science and registration in the universities dwindled as the instruction they offered became increasingly jejune and lifeless. Institutions were decaying, well-meaning people were growing cynical or desperate, and many intelligent men, for want of something better to do, were endeavoring to escape the present through studying the pagan past. . . .

Yet, even as the chroniclers of Nuremberg were correcting their proofs from Koberger’s press, a Spanish caravel named Nina scudded before a winter gale into Lisbon with news of a discovery that was to give old Europe another chance. In a few years we find the mental picture completely changed. Strong monarchs are stamping out privy conspiracy and rebellion; the Church, purged and chastened by the Protestant Reformation, puts her house in order; new ideas flare up throughout Italy, France, Germany and the northern nations; faith in God revives and the human spirit is renewed. The change is complete and startling: “A new envisagement of the world has begun, and men are no longer sighing after the imaginary golden age that lay in the distant past, but speculating as to the golden age that might possibly lie in the oncoming future.”

Christopher Columbus belonged to an age that was past, yet he became the sign and symbol of this new age of hope, glory and accomplishment. His medieval faith impelled him to a modern solution: Expansion.

Most importantly he ensured Western European ideals, specifically and ironically English-ideals, survived. Ideals of a separation between religion and State (the Catholic states had this compared to Islamic Caliphate and Sultanates where secular and religious offices were one in the same), the rights of individuals apart from being property of the state, and check-and-balances in governments were threatened by the Ottoman horde. Fortuantely, New World gold supplied the Hapsburg Empire with enough money to build an army and navy which could stop the Ottomans. Trade of New World goods destroyed the Ottoman's economy which was based on controlling the old trade routes. The stopping of the Ottomans and appeal of New World resources encouraged France, the English, and others to colonize. These colonies brought ideas of freedom to the New World.

Columbus' drive led to the opening of the New World. Western ideals of limited government and personal freedoms grew in the New World. While New World governments have not been perfect, sometimes failing miserably, in putting these ideals into practice, there is a constant drive to make a more perfect system. The New World also led the charge for the establishment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Meanwhile, the former Ottoman world suffers somewhere between troubled democracy and dictatorship.

Columbus was not perfect. Spanish and other colonial rules had horrible defects. However, history has shown how the New World made the whole world better.

20 Cool Facts About the New Madrid Seismic Zone

2011-10-07T00:20:00.000-05:00

I grew up learning about the New Madrid Seismic Zone and the major earthquakes of 1811 and 1812. The earthquakes led to mass migrations outside the area, modified the borders of Missouri, caused the Mississippi River to flow backwards, and was felt as far away as Boston.

Click to Enlarge

The USGS has made a neat poster of twenty "cool" facts about the zone. One can view the PDF version online or click on the graphic above to read it. For those interested in historical and physical geography this is an interesting read!

Maps Uncommon on 2012 Presidential Campaign Websites

2011-10-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

In 2007 I remarked on how both French presidential candidates used interactive maps on their website s. In the same post I pointed out only Wesley Clark, among all the 2008 American presidential candidates, had an interactive map on his campaign site. Now in the 2012, interactive maps are not to be found. What is somewhat worse though is that anysort of map on a presidential campaign website is rare and those to be found are likely to have noticeable errors.

Republicans

Among the Republicans Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Buddy Roemer, and Michele Bachmann all lack a map on their main page.

Both Mitt Romney and Herman Cain have a map of the 48 contiguous states, no Alaska nor Hawaii, serving as a link to subpages.

Ron Paul has a map of all fifty states on his homepage; however, the map also has Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron as states as well.

Ron Paul's America has a gold currency and 53 states (Lake Erie and Lake Ontario apparently are Canadian provinces)

Only Garry Johnson, the alternative to Ron Paul libertarian candidate, has all fifty states (and only fifty) on a map on his homepage.

None of the maps are mashups though and they all serve as merely links to other subpages.

Democrat

Barack Obama's 2012 website has a "choose your state" map which includes Alaska and Hawaii.

Growing Jobs Market for Geographic Minded People

2011-10-05T00:10:00.000-05:00

Not everyone is meant to be a geographer is a geography degree a must. However, spatial knowledge (the understanding what is where, why there, and why care) and skills to not only "map" out what needs to be studied but also being able to analyze are needed skills in many jobs. ESRI, the United States Department of Labor, and the British Royal Geographical Society (PDF) are all emphasizing how businesses need not necessarily "geographers" but people who can do geography to improve business. The Department of Labor even predicts the geospatial technology field will continue to be a "high growth industry."

So if you or someone you know is educating themselves for a future career, consider taking geography courses that will emphasize spatial thinking. You never know who will look at your resume and see spatial thinking as a plus.

Syria Civil War Maps Batch Two - Syrian Air Defenses

2011-10-04T00:03:00.000-05:00

Libyan War Maps
Syrian Arab Spring Protest Maps - Batch One
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Three - Twitter and News Update Maps

The protesters, now turning into rebels, in Syria are desperately trying to copy the success the rebels of Libya. First, the Libyan rebels established a republic by founding a National Transition Council so the Syrian rebels setup on Sunday the Syrian National Council (SNC).

Now the SNC realize that a NATO-led air war in the model of Libya is needed to stop the tide of the Baath Party's Syrian Arab Republic's war machine. The SNC has not only learned the lessons of Libya but also the need to establish easy to reach information like in Tunisia and Egypt. To accomplish this SNC has published maps of the Syrian Arab Republic's air defenses! This pretty much says "bomb here to establish air dominance." Unlike Iranian protesters, it seems Syrians have no problem with foreign intervention right now. (Hat tip: Foreign Policy)

October 2011 Travel Photo: Justice Square, Riyadh

2011-10-02T22:05:00.000-05:00

From Saturday to Thursday Justice Square in downtown Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is a normal courtyard in front of the Ministry of Justice building. Children play in the water fountains and men play soccer in the vast openess while women gather and chat.

Then Friday comes around. On Friday thieves who were caught for the third time and murders are drained of blood to lower their resistance. They are then brought to the square where the fountains do not run, children and men do not play, and women do not chat. Instead the square is filled with people who want to see what some call "chop-chop square." A Saudi police man has a sword while an imam gives prayers.

Non-Muslims are actually highly encouraged to go the front of the crowd. Saudis like to show off what "true justice" is. Meanwhile, as a Saudi told me, the government likes to tell the condemned that the last thing they will see is an infidel looking at them.

The deed is done and the crowd disperses. The fountains begin to run again. The water helps wash the blood into the drains. The kids, men, and women return to Justice Square to talk and play.

Extreme Weather Killing Less People

2011-09-29T00:42:00.000-05:00

The libertarian but acknowledging human impact on climate Reason Foundation has published a detail report documingtin how extreme weather is killing less people since 1900. Extreme Weather Events Are Killing Fewer People Than Ever Before states that deaths from extreme weather events are down 98%!

The decline is deaths is due to much more than warmer weather killing less than colder weather. Death from droughts, which caused 60% of extreme weather deaths, is down 99.9% since the 1920s. Meanwhile deaths from floods is down 98% and deaths from storms such as hurricanes and alike are down 55%.

Less deaths are happening due to extreme weather, according to the study

Interestingly though is the dramatic increase in events despite the drop in deaths. The study states "the average number of extreme weather events recorded increased from 2.5 per year in the 1920s to 8.5 in the 1940s to 350 per year for the period 2000-2010." The reason given for the contradiction is better communication and scientific reporting giving warning of events as well as economic development which gives better sheltering infrastructure.

Help Scientists Discover Extrasolar Planets

2011-09-27T17:03:00.000-05:00

The explorers of old dreamed of new, strange lands beyond the reach of ancient ships. The explorers of yesteryear dreamed of overlooked lands, the territories which we knew of but remained blank on maps. Both these types of explorers wondered about lands which they could not see but could visit if only they knew the way.

But today's explorers can dream about lands which we can see but cannot visit due to the great space between them. I am talking about planets beyond our solar system.

When I was born there was no scientific consensus on whether or not there were planets beyond our solar system. Many thought there were but no one could prove it. Now extrasolar planets are scientific facts and there are new planets found every month. I have repeatedly blogged about the new discoveries and wealth of information available on these planets.

Now the discoverers of extrasolar planets need your help in finding these worlds. Planet Hunter, a joint venture by Yale University and Zooniverse, is allowing anyone to look over sceintific data for signs of extrasolar planets. The user is shown light intensity from stars. If the intensity drops dramatically it is possibly from a planet eclipsing the light. The user, once they identify the drop in light intensity, can simply drag and drop a box around the data to call for further scientific review.

Crowd sourcing technology is allowing for any computer user to become a geographer (astronomy was once part of the classic science of geography). Whether one is helping National Geographic look for Genghis Khan's lost tomb or finding alien worlds, this is a great time to help explore the universe.

United States of [Insert Region Here]

2011-09-26T00:23:00.000-05:00

When one thinks of the "United States" one most probably thinks of the United States of America. The namely "translates" to "the union of countries on the American continent." The name is that way because the original idea when founding the country was a federal system where highly autonomous units, basically their own country in terms of domestically, while united in international and interstate matters.

However, the United States of America was not the only country to be called "the United States." There were others which shared federalism and in some cases freedom.

United States of Belgium

Both founded and collapsed by 1790, the United States of Belgium was the first sense of independence Austrian Netherlands (present-day Belgium) had. The Enlightenment republic rebelled against the Holy Roman Empire's effort to centralize political control in the region. The rebels modeled their republic on the Dutch Republic and the United States of America. However, Austrian troops of the Holy Roman Empire managed to crush the rebellion within months.

Republic of the United States of Brazil

Unlike other United States, the Republic of the United States of Brazil was never a true democracy. The elections were rigged and the republic was little different from the Empire of Brazil which the republic replaced in 1889. The federal system was meant to give states freedom from the central government but the federal government was quickly usurped by oligarchs from the most populaces coastal states. The republic eventually fell into control of President Getúlio Vargas who in the 1930s turned the country into the quasi-fascist New State. The Republic of the United States outlasted Vargas, however, and existed until the military coup of 1964.

The United States of Colombia

This United States was the first iteration of Colombia to be called "Colombia." The system was meant to give each Colombian state more autonomy in order to limit the amount of civil wars in the country. However, the United States, which lasted from 1863 until 1886, was unable to stop the on-again, off-again fighting and was reformed as the Republic of Colombia.

The Republic of the United States of Indonesia

The Republic of United States of Indonesia was an effort by the Dutch to save face in the late 1940s after their defeat in quelling Indonesian rebels. The United States were a combination of Sukarno's Republic of Indonesia, liberated Java and Sumatra, and various other islands which were established as states by the Dutch. However, the states did not care of the Dutch established boundaries and dissolved themselves into the Republic of Indonesia within the first six months of 1950.

The United States of the Ionian Islands

The United States of the Ionian Islands were a British protectorate which was located off the western coast of Greece. Originally a republic, it was first a Ottoman then French protectorate where Greeks enjoyed the first freedom from Turkish rule since the Ottoman conquests. A British commissioner oversaw a local Parliament. The United States lasted from 1815 until 1864 when they were absorbed into the Kingdom of Greece.

The United States of Venezuela

The United States of Venezuela was founded out of the Conservative versus Liberal war of the 1850s and 1860s. The Liberals won out defeating the land-owning Conservatives and issued in an initial wave of land reform and decentralization, hence the United States. However, like most Liberal parties of the old Latin America, the Liberals of Venezuela eventually became the new oligarchs. The United States of Venezuela lasted until 1953 when military dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez renamed the country to the Republic of Venezuela as an emphasize to his centralized control.

The United States of Stellaland

The United States of Stellaland was the union of two Boer, Africans of Dutch descent, republics: Stellaland and Goshen, formed in 1882. The United States based much of its laws off the major Boer republic the South African Republic. The United States was forcibly annexed by the United Kingdom in 1885 and eventually became part of Botswana.

New York Times' Geography of College Football

2011-09-23T00:19:00.000-05:00

American college football went through a dramatic series of changes during its off-season. Many of the major schools switched leagues, which were primarily based on geography, for leagues more equal in terms of competition. The New York Times college sports blog The Quad wrote The Geography of College Football Fans (and Realignment Chaos) which examines college football fandom and how geography impacts fans and the leagues. It is a great article which deserves to be read in its entirety.

U-Boat Simulator Game on Google Maps

2011-09-21T17:48:00.000-05:00

"Sinking of a hostile armed troop carrier by German submarine in the Mediterranean sea" by Willy Stöwer.

Join the Kaiserliche Marine and bring the realm of King George V to its knees in Uboot-sim! The game is Google Maps based (no installation needed) and allows players to command a fleet of U-Boats to pray upon British and Allied shipping in World War I (remember, you are fighting for imperialism against imperialism, not for imperial fascism against imperial quasi-democracies like in World War II). This is a fun time killer. The "geography" of the game is that the shipping lanes are accurate and can give one an idea of transportation routes and nautical choke points. But mostly its just fun, enjoy it... for the Kaiser! (Hat tip: Google Maps Mania)

Australian Geographic Articles Now Browsable on a Map

2011-09-21T00:40:00.000-05:00

There is something in me that biases myself towards Australia. I do not what it is, maybe it is my personal construction of Australia being a giant American Midwest and West on its own contentent Maybe not. Either way I know I really like learning about Australia.

The magazine Australian Geographic would be on my must read list... if I could afford it. Sadly international subscription rates are extremely expensive no matter where one lives and there is no cheap online or kindle edition.

However, a collection of their articles are available for online reading. What is even neater in the geographical sense is that one can browse through the articles via a Google Maps mashup on Australian Geographic's Explore Australia page. Now is a great time to read up on all the articles you probably missed like a dispute over a T-Rex like dinosaur in Australia and the last horseback surveyors in Australia. Enjoy the readings and have a g'day!

Times Atlas versus Reality

2011-09-20T00:04:00.000-05:00

The new Times Atlas is coming out soon and has been making news for its recognition of climate change on Earth's geography. The biggest piece of news was the atlas showing that fifteen percent of Greenland is now "ice free." When I saw the map I could only think, "wow, I did not realize the changes were happening that fast and to that extent."

Alarmism versus Reality. Image from the Daily Mail

The only problem is that the charges are not happening that fast nor to that extent, yet. Scientists at the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge have written an open letter complaining to the atlas' editors about the errors in the maps. While recognizing the impacts of climate change on Greenland the letter states "Recent satellite images of Greenland make it clear that there are in fact still numerous glaciers and permanent ice cover where the new Times Atlas shows ice-free conditions and the emergence of new lands."

Score one for reasonable scientists who have to combat alarmists in the battle for science! Also of interest: the institute is part of Cambridge's Geography Department!

South Sudan Finally on Google Maps

2011-09-19T17:41:00.000-05:00

View Larger Map

South Sudan finally on Google Maps on this day, 19 September. The country declared independence on July 9th and was quickly added to OpenStreetMap. It only take two plus months to make the move to a major commercial online mapping site. Sadly the country is not yet on Bing Maps nor Yahoo Maps.

Abkhazia's Independence Struggle Mixes with Religion

2011-09-19T00:05:00.000-05:00

Abkhazia is the de facto independent country which broke off from Georgia in the early 1990s. The country was independent in almost every way possible. The Georgians only held a corner of the country, a moderate pro-Russian presidential candidate defeated the Russian-puppet in an election, and Abkhazian laws prevented non-Abkhazs from owning real estate.

Things changed for Abkhazia at the end of the 2008 Russia-Georgia War. Russia and a handful of countries recognized the independence of Abkhazia... at a very steep price. Russian troops now control all border points in Abkhazia, Russian elites and businesses bought much of the famous Soviet-era resort properties, and there are countless allegations that many members of Abkhazia's parliament are now under Russian control.

Adding to the mess is Russian-proxy control of religion. In the Eastern Orthodox Communion Abkhazia officially falls into the realm of the Georgian Orthodox Church. However, in 2009 Father Vissarion Apliaa declared the "Abkhazian Orthodox Church" into existence and began to act as its interim bishop though he was never consecrated. Since then Father Apliaa has imported priests from Russia with the help of the Russian Orthodox Church. The independence of Abkahz religion was furthered threatened by Father Apliaa pressing the churches to drop Abkhaz in the services in exchange for Russian.

The arrival of Russian priests and the loss of the Abkhaz language in services, which the Georgian Orthodox Church always allowed, has led to a young faction of Abkhaz clergy to form a Church National Assembly
to overrule the pro-Russian heads of the Abkhaz Orthodox Church. This factor is rumored to be moderate in its stance in Abkhazian Orthodox church independence from Georgia and even has appealed to the Georgian Orthodox patriarch, as well as the thirteen other undisputed Eastern Orthodox heads, for helping in removing pro-Russian Abkhaz from the church.

The only problem is that the Eastern Orthodox lacks a pope and therefore no one can make a final judgement on the issue of Abkhazian Orthodoxy. Eastern Orthodoxy cannot settle the issue of Orthodoxy in Estonia (Russian Orthodox v. national Estonian Orthodox), Ukraine (Ukrainian Orthodox pro-Russia v. two different national Ukrainian Orthodox), Macedonia (Serbian Orthodox v. national Macedonian Orthodox with the Greeks rooting the Serbs on) and Moldova (Russian Orthodox v. Romanian Orthodox) let alone issues of what if any Orthodox Church should be head of Orthodox in America. The various churches are too nationalistic for rational discussion.

Abkhazia is not a overly religious country. Orthodoxy never held massive sway over the population in modern times and various estimates given to me state there are no more than forty clergy in the country. However, a country's national Orthodox church is something it can rally behind and becomes an issue of pride when a country feels threatened. Look for Orthodox (and not-so-Orthodox) in Abkhazia to develop strong opinions concerning their Orthodox church and national independence

Cartografia i Mon: Pretty Maps in Catalan

2011-09-15T20:16:00.000-05:00

Foreign language blogs are tricky. Not everyone, in fact only a minority, can enjoy the analysis of what the blog has to offer. However, there are some blogs out there like La Cartoteca and the now sadly no longer updated ¡Mapas, mapas! which have such good images and maps that I will still recommend to people who cannot read the language. Now the Catalan-language (the language of eastern Spain) Cartografia i Mon or "Mapping the World" joins the list.

The blog is written by Geographic Travels reader Jordi Francesch. While the posts are in Catalan (which is sadly unreadable as my Romance Language abilities are pretty much limited to Castilian aka Spanish) the maps are in high quality and come in a multitude of languages including Spanish, English, and others. Plus they are very pretty to look at. Much of the cartography speaks for itself. Check out this blog today and enjoy!

Libya War Maps: The Ninth Post - Propaganda Maps

2011-09-14T00:01:00.000-05:00

BBC Map Guide to Middle East Unrest
Libyan War Maps: The First Batch
Libyan War Maps: The Second Batch
Libyan War Maps: The Third Batch
Libyan War Maps: The Fourth Batch
Libyan War Maps: The Fifth Batch - The Geography of Oil
Libyan War Maps: The Sixth Post - The Coalition's Size

Libya War Maps: The Seventh Post - The Invasion of Tripoli

Libya War Maps: The Eighth Post - More Battle of Tripoli Maps

Propaganda maps reveal stories that the cartographer wants you to think. I have been looking at various pro and anti-Qaddafi maps and have found both themes have their own narrative. I did my best to find maps from Libyan and Arab sources on their various Facebook sites. While not all these maps may necessarily be made by Libyans or other Arabs, they have been embraced by them.

Pro-Qaddafi maps depict Libya as a vitcim that only Qaddafi can protect. If he is gone outside forces would ruin Libya. The war is portrayed as a foreign plot.

Anti-Qaddafi maps show Libya itself fighting off or consuming Qaddafi. The war and Qaddafi's fall is shown as the work of Libya and Libyans themselves.

People's Republic of China Going Christian (Slowly)

2011-09-13T00:16:00.000-05:00

What's the fastest growing religion in the People's Republic of China? The answer is Christianity, According to the BBC, the quick rise of materialism and capitalism in the officially atheistic Communist state is causing a wave of Chinese to seek comfort and solace in the God who humbled himself into humanity. More Christians, 60 million (only five percent of all the People's Republic) attend church on Sunday than in partially secularized Europe.

The Christian religion is no stranger to China. Both Nestorian and Catholics have created many converts only to be shut out by a xenophobic regime. Then a missionary wave in the late 1800s began the conversion of many elites. Several prime ministers of Japan were Christians. A majority of South Korean and Republic of China Presidents were Christian. Yet Christianity remained a small religion overall in Japan and Taiwan. Now, however, Christianity is becoming a religion of the peasant, the worker, and the middle class like in South Korea.

The new converts are both Catholic and Protestant, both independent of the government and controlled by the government. Protestants do lead with the rate of new conversions though.

No spatial data exists to map out the new converts.

9/11 Ten Years On

2011-09-10T20:49:00.002-05:00

Pray for Peace in a Changed World

Kosovo Votes for More Secularism, Becomes Third European Country to Move Against the Hijab

2011-09-09T00:20:00.000-05:00

The parliament of Kosovo voted 43 to 39 to keep a ban against teachers and students wearing the hijab in schools. The parliament further voted 64 to 18 not to allow religious education in public schools. These votes demonstrate the desire of Kosovo's government to continue a path of Europeanization modeled after Turkey (which is now abandoning the secular, European vision for a neo-Ottoman model).

The ban is much like the ban in France and half the states of Germany. The hijab and other Islamic veils are still legal and religious woman can still wear them except when they are teaching or taking classes.

The ban raises questions about the "otherness" of Islam in Europe. Ruling Eastern European political parties in Poland and especially Hungary are taking very active steps to (re)emphasize the Catholic Christian nature of their European heritage. Meanwhile the various Orthodox Churches have reengaged governments to various degrees in countries like Romania, Armenia, Georgia, and Russia. However, Islam in Kosovo, which has been in the country for some 500 years, is still viewed as a hurdle to Europeaness. Whether Kosovo adopts more French-style state secularism or can integrate its Islam with a European identity in a Hungarian model will be something to watch.

Traffic Maps of Major United States Cities

2011-09-08T00:44:00.000-05:00

Checking the morning traffic reports is a daily ritual for many Americans. Some wait for the traffic report on the television news before they head out while others get their updates on the radio while they are driving to work. Many local news sites have traffic reports for their metropolitan area but the coverage is limited and quality can be hit and miss.

Navteq, maker of GPS products, has a website of live maps showing traffic updates for several dozen American metropolitan areas. The traffic map shows the intensity of traffic, number of incidents, road construction sites, planned events, and "jam" factor. The data is high-quality and is the same data Navtez uses in the car GPS products. This is an excellent resource for those who are interested in their daily commute, wish to study traffic flows, or who are just curious.

Maps of American and British Generic Stream Names

2011-09-07T00:05:00.000-05:00

Map by Derek Watkins. Click to Enlarge.

Cartographic blogger Derek Watkins has created a fantasticmap showing generic terms for streams in the contiguous (48 states) of theUnited States. The map ignores, actually makes grey, the terms “river” and “creek”because of their near universal use throughout the country. What is interesting are the other genericterms. The application of terms reflectsboth cultural and physical geography. For instance:

Kill - derived from Dutch is centered along theHudson River. This area was once theheartland of the New Netherlands.

Cañada, Arroyo, and Rio are found inthe American Southwest, which was once part of New Spain. Interestingly cañada, arroyo, and rio are separatedfrom one another in their own clusters. Cañada means “glen” and the use of the termreflects the rough terrain and the river-created valleys in present-day Arizonaand surrounding regions. Arroyos,intermediate streams and their sometimes dry river beds, populated dry NewMexico. Rio is the rarest Spanishwaterway term and reserved for major waterways like the Rio Grande.

Swamp is used in Southern states in areas where thecoastal planes meet the Application Mountains. In these regions the mountain rivers spread out and “swamp” the lowlying lands.

In response Spatial Analysis UK made a map ofgeneric stream terms in Great Britain.

Map of British stream names by Spatial Analysis

The English-derived river dominates much of Englandand even northern Scotland. A barrier ofwater provides a border between Scotland and England. The Scottish term burn is scatteredfocusing primarily in remote and eastern regions of Scotland. Wales remains cultural independent with its stream landscapewith the Welsh term afon being by far the most popular in the country.

Syrian Arab Spring Protest Maps - Batch One

2011-09-06T00:58:00.000-05:00

Libyan War Maps
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Two - Syrian Air Defenses
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Three - Twitter and News Update Maps

Unlike the high quality maps of the protests in Cairo, Egypt or the numerous maps of the Libyan civil war, there are very few maps being updated showing the protests in Syria. The Syrian protests lack maps and those maps that do exist are rarely updated.

Now Lebanon, a pro-March 14 news website, has detailed daily updates on the protests including location of events both big and small. They pull from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and professional news sources. On some days, like September 2, they create Google Maps mashup showing the day's events.

The Wall Street Journal has a map and links to new stories from mid-April up to July 8.

Normally fantastic al Jazeera has a map that was updated in July displaying Syrian map videos of the protests and their fallout.

Syria Unrest 2011 has a crowdmap which by far would be the best map of unrest but it suffers from lack of users. There seems to be only five Syrians updating the map.

September 2011 Travel Photo: The Palisades of South Dakota

2011-08-31T22:14:00.000-05:00

Palisades State Park is located in eastern South Dakota and is filled with Sioux quartzite formations estimated to be 1.2 billion years old throughout, including in Split Rock Creek which flows through the park. The park is popular with rock climbers who can climb the 50 feet or higher quartzite cliffs. The picture shows King and Queen Rock which are popular with rock climbers.

Sioux quartzite comes from sandstone that was fused into blocks of solid quartz and is pink in color. Plains Indians used this quartzite for their ceremonial pipes. An American Indian quarry outside of Pipestone, Minnesota was a trading hub whose goods have been found as far as the western side of the Rocky Mountains in archaeological digs. Many buildings in eastern South Dakota and Minnesota were built out of the rock including the Federal Building in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1892.

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