Tag: Five for Friday

Classroom Ideas

Five for Friday: Five ways YOU can affect your surroundings

1. Keep the travel industry on its toes.

Did you know that the airlines, hoteliers and other business that make up the travel industry check blogs to see what you think of their services? It’s true, and recently some businesses are changing their practices in response to negative reviews that appear online. So, next time you travel, be sure to let people know if you have a great experience… or a horrible one.
 
Check out this CNN article for more information.

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2. Keep ANYONE on their toes… or just make them angry.

delfinatee.jpgIn addition to blogging your opinions about your most recent vacation, you can also rate and review pretty much any business in your local community via websites like yelp.com. While some businesses become quite upset when they receive negative reviews from yelp users, Pizzaria Delfina in San Francisco has ‘taken back’ the insults and hurled them right back at their customers in a comedic use of irony.
 
More on Yelp and sites like it here.

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Classroom Ideas

Five for Friday: On Galaxies, Google Earth “Gs,” and Art-Geo GIFTS!

1. After a 16-year study, German astronomers have reported a black hole in the middle of the Milky Way Galaxy. At four million times the size of the sun, it’s a wonder why hundreds of international observatories haven’t noticed it before; especially those in Peru that have been around for 4200 years!  Don’t worry about the entire galaxy being sucked into this massive abyss though … Continue reading Five for Friday: On Galaxies, Google Earth “Gs,” and Art-Geo GIFTS!

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Classroom Ideas

Five for Friday: 12.5.2008

 

1. Have you ever imagined what your Facebook interactions might look like—in 3-D geographic space?  Project
Palantir takes actions from Facebook
(friend requests, profile views, wall posts, etc) and visualizes them in real
time.  When you request to add your
long-lost friend from California to your
social network, a line is drawn from you to California on a virtual globe. Because
hundreds of these interactions are happening at once, the results look similar
to a busy flight map.
This is a great way to see how
technology is connecting the world!

FBonMap

 

2. Need to find pictures of places around the world, but tired
of using a simple Google Image search? Try EarthAlbum.com
which allows you to search for pictures geographically.

Click on the interactive map to upload and
view photos!

 

3. Today, government officials meet again with the chief
executives of the Big 3
Auto Makers to discuss a multimillion
bailout plan to keep the companies from going under.  There has been considerable backlash from the
American public, citing the need for a “dying industry” to go in new,
environmentally friendly directions. While the CEO’s appear to be obliging
through actions both dramatic and symbolic–from acceptance of a $25 billion
federal loan to develop fuel-efficient vehicles to a decision to travel from
Detroit to Washington in hybrid cars rather than private corporate jets– most
would agree that the American automakers’ efforts lag well behind their
competitors’ in Europe and Asia. In places like England  and Poland, news headlines have
already shifted to highlight how those countries are embracing electric and
hybrid cars.  This past September, Japan
celebrated its first electric
car made from bamboo – très chic.

Bamboocar

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Geography Awareness Week

Friday: Geography on the Job

  Hopefully by Friday of Geography Awareness Week, you’ve realized the value of geography.  It’s current, it’s everywhere, and it underlies most of what you do – even if it doesn’t have the word ‘geography’ in it! The last themed-day of our Geography Awareness Week celebration is “Careers.”  We want to draw your attention to geography as a set of skills, as an academic discipline, … Continue reading Friday: Geography on the Job

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Geography Awareness Week

Five for Friday: Five Reasons to Celebrate Geography Awareness Week

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What else do you have
to celebrate?
The third week in November is typically reserved for digging
up old Thanksgiving recipes and preparing your home for the invasion of hungry
family members. Otherwise, this week is
a bust without the celebration of geography. You could celebrate Button Day on Sunday, Danny Devito’s birthday on
Monday the 17th, or pay homage to the delicious pop tart that was
invented 43 years ago on Wednesday (which would ruin your Thanksgiving Day
appetite!). Clearly, Geography Awareness Week is your best choice.

Geography is cheap!
Don’t have ten dollars to spend on the new Bond movie this
week? Celebrating geography is fun,
cheap and easy. Join the millions of
schools and communities across the nation that are making geography a priority. Check out different cultures, global
hotspots, and the exciting careers with our KMZ Google
Earth Tours. These tours have you
flying to dozens of different countries in 20 minutes or less–it’s free, fun,
and something that even the best Bond couldn’t accomplish.

You have an excuse to
take a vacation.
Depending on your negotiation skills, you could convince
your boss or teacher that you simply must
take vacation during Geography Awareness Week. To fully understand the
connection between people and places, you have to immerse yourself in the
culture. This year, Geography Action’s educational theme for schools during
Geography Awareness Week is, “The Americas” which just happens to include all
of the Caribbean islands and glorious coast lines of the western
hemisphere. And since the Week is a
federal proclamation, it would be of the utmost patriotism to celebrate properly.

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