Archive for 2013Page 5
Mental maps: Somali perceptions of the Twin Cities
Here’s an interesting project on “Mental Maps: Gaining Insight Into the Diverse Somali Perceptions of Residential Desirability in the Twin Cities” by Fartun Dirie, a geography student at the University of St. Thomas. The text below is excerpted from a St. Thomas newsroom piece by Kelly Engebretson. “Last semester, Fartun Dirie, a junior geography major, got […]
Annual income of richest 100 people enough to end global poverty four times over, says Oxfam
An Oxfam report, The cost of inequality: how wealth and income extremes hurt us all, argues that while “a certain level of inequality may benefit growth by rewarding risk takers and innovation, the levels of inequality now being seen are in fact economically damaging and inefficient” as well as a threat to democracy, socially divisive, […]
St. Peter bridge: Second bridge over the Minnesota River
According to a 26 May 2013 Mankato Free Press article by Nicollet County Historical Society Collections Manager Bob Sandeen, the Saint Peter bridge on Broadway Avenue, built in 1871, was only the second bridge to cross the Minnesota River. (The other bridge was a railroad bridge near Fort Snelling.) Prior to bridges, people relied on […]
Wasted Opportunity: Inefficiency and Waste in our Food Systems
Jonathan Foley, Director of the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, has a recent essay on meeting food needs in a world of growing human population. It is titled “Wasted Opportunity.” Here’s an excerpt (bold font added): “It never fails. Whenever we talk about meeting the world’s growing demands for food, energy and water, […]
An Islamic Google Earth?
The U.K. Guardian newspaper recently reported that Iran’s minister for communication and technology announced that their country will release an Islamic version of Google Earth by August 2013. Iran has long maintained that Google Earth is a tool of western spy agencies. The concept of an Islamic Google Earth contrasts with the common view of […]
Ice Out on Northern Minnesota Lakes
The ice went out in early May on many northern Minnesota lakes. For some lakes it was the latest ice-out date on record. NASA’s Earth Observatory captured fantastic images of the change between May 12 and May 16 with their MODIS satellite instrument. Read more here
Timelapse: Land transformation videos
These land change time-lapse series from Time Magazine and GoogleEarth are making the internet rounds. It’s fun to see land use and land cover change be so popular! Remote sensors: can you find the Landsat ETM+ SLC-off years?
Hate speech map based on Twitter feeds
Geography students at Humboldt State University in California created this map of hate speech in the U.S. based on Twitter feeds: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/13/twitter-hate-speech_n_3265916.html.
Fair Trade: On Our Interconnected World
Our world today is more interconnected than ever. One major expression of our interconnectedness is the global economy: the goods and services we purchase are often produced in far-off places, and the inevitable waste that is a byproduct of our current economy also has global impacts (see here for one example). The deaths of over […]
A record wet start to Minnesota’s spring
from WeatherTalk, by Mark Seeley, Univ. of Minnesota, Dept of Soil, Water, and Climate: “The south-central and southeastern climate divisions of Minnesota are off to a record start in 2013 in terms of precipitation. For south-central Minnesota observers the average total precipitation received through the first 4 months of the year (Jan-Apr) is 11.17 inches, […]