Incredible - Storm Chasers Take Direct Hit

Incredible footage taken by storm chasers northeast of Smith Center, Kansas on the same day that a killer tornado levelled Moore, Oklahoma. Filmed by Brandon Ivey and Sean Casey from inside a "tornado intercept vehicle" (TIV) - a tank-like vehicle based on the Dodge Ram 3500 and fitted with 1/8-inch steel plate armour and bullet-resistent Kevlar windows - this video captures the awesome brute force of a large wedge tornado as it passes over the TIV. Watch carefully as several images appear to show creatures and large debris flying by the windshield. Wind speeds were estimated at 280 kph (175 mph).

Great New Project - This is Geography!

Canadian Geographic Education and the Canadian Association of Geographers have joined forces to launch This is Geography," a national campaign to raise the profile of the discipline in Canada. Check out the information below, reproduced here with the permission of CG Education.

Upload your pictures with a description, then give us a head's up in the comments section so we can go and take a look.

As geographers, teachers, and general education enthusiasts we are asking for your help in a national campaign to raise the profile of Geography in Canada. This is Geography is a joint project of CG Education and the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) aimed and increasing Canadians’ perception of geography as a subject area and integral aspect of our daily lives. The program consists of two main strands: Google Plus Hangouts and a photographic collection. We are asking all Canadians to upload photos that answer the phrase “This is Geography” on the website and on Twitter and Instagram using the hash tag #thisisgeography. We want you to also include a brief description of why your photo shows geography. We know that there are endless possibilities of photos that you can upload so get creative! We’ve started the collection but need your help! Over the next few months we have planned to host our first few Google+ Hangouts. Each hangout will focus on one aspect of geography and have four expert panelists speaking about the issue at hand. The first hangout is scheduled for May 15th at 4:00 p.m. ET and will take a look at some cool “Geo Jobs.” Once completed the hangouts will be uploaded to Canadian Geographic’s YouTube channel, so even if you can’t watch at 4:00, check it out afterwards. Together we can let Canadians know just how inclusive of a subject area Geography is so get out there and start spreading the word! Thanks, Your CG Education executives Please keep your Canadian Geographic Education (formerly CCGE) membership information up to date! Manage your membership | Retrieve your Account password

© 2013 Canadian Geographic Education (reproduced here with permission)

 

Google Timelapse

A friend put me on to a couple of fantastic articles on Google’s latest offering – Google Timelapse.

The first article, written by Jeffrey Kluger, can be found on Time’s website: Timelapse.

Aman Kazemi has also written on Timelapse for CBC. See “Google’s new Timelapse Feature showcases the changing globe”

Timelapse lets you go anywhere in the world and mark geological and urban changes over a 26 year period between 1986 and 2012.

The project is part of an ongoing collaboration between the USGS and NASA called Landsat, which consists of millions of satellite images of the earth's surface. Google compiled these into 1.8 trillion pixels per frame images, which, according to the Time feature, is "the equivalent of 900,000 high-def TVs assembled into a single mosaic."

The result is incredible – a seamless moving image of  our changing earth – and will serve as a powerful tool for teaching students about the implications of human-environment interactions

To highlight the technology's capabilities, the project's designers have featured a handful of geographical locations that help to illustrate the technology's potential in a particularly vivid way.

A couple of the best examples include:

The Retreat of the Columbia Glacier in Alaska

Urban Sprawl in Las Vegas

Dubai Coastal Expansion

Amazon Deforestation

Interesting Information on Immigration in Canada for the Classroom

The Toronto Star has written a number of new articles focusing on immigration in Canada, the GTA and surrounding areas. Here are afew of the more interesting links:

Maps: Where immigrants settled in the GTA

http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration.html

These maps are based upon Statistics Canada data from the 2006 census to track changes in diversity since before 1941. The maps provide the most comprehensive — some say the last complete — snapshot of immigration patterns across the GTA.

They paint a picture of a major shift in immigration to the GTA beginning in the 1960s and growing rapidly each consecutive decade, from mostly European immigration to, in the last census period, natives of India, China, the Philippines and Pakistan.

According to the StatsCan data, 2.4 million immigrants have made the GTA their home since before 1941. The maps confirm for the first time what we’ve known anecdotally for years — that the GTA is home to the world.

Interactive Immigration Timeline

http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/immigrationtimeline.html

 

Toronto’s immigrant enclaves spread to suburbs

http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2013/05/07/torontos_immigrant_enclaves_spread_to_suburbs.html

Immigrant underclass in GTA fuels simmering frustrations

http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2013/05/08/immigrant_underclass_in_gta_fuels_simmering_frustrations.html

2011 census: Nearly one in five Canadians are visible minorities, StatsCan reports

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/05/08/2011-census-nearly-one-in-five-canadians-are-visible-minorities-statscan-reports

Canada’s Most Diverse Community According to Stats Canada

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/05/09/markham_is_canadas_most_diverse_community_according_to_statistics_canada.html

Graphical Highlights from Statistics Canada National Household Survey

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/05/08/national_household_survey_graphics.html

Immigrants in Cities – Charts by CMA

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/national_housing_survey/immigrants_in_cities.html

Aboriginal population young and growing fast

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/05/08/national_household_survey_aboriginal_population_young_and_growing_fast.html

Immigration dramatically changing makeup of Toronto and Canada

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/05/08/national_household_survey_immigration_dramatically_changing_makeup_of_toronto_and_canada.html

Just to make things interesting, an article that calls into question the validity of historical comparisons since the elimination of the mandatory long form census.

Statistics Canada disclaimer warns of ‘non-response error’

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/05/08/national_household_survey_statistics_canada_disclaimer_warns_of_nonresponse_error.html

Check Out “Genesis” Exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum

It is well worth the time to check out the  “Genesis” Exhibit currently on display at the ROM

Brazilian landscape photographer Sebastião Salgado’s exhibit “Genesis” opened on Saturday May 4, at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. This fantastic exhibit  is made up of over 200 black-and-white photos, taken by Salgado over an eight year period, showing landscapes, wildlife and human communities as yet untouched and unspoiled by modern society.

Featured areas include Antarctic, the Galapagos, Indonesia, Madagascar, the Kalahari, Southern Sudan, Ethiopia, northeastern Alaska, Utah, Siberia and the Amazon

The exhibit runs from May 4^th until September 2^nd.

See images from the Genesis Exhibit
(Reference: Toronto Star's Arts Blog)

Big Think - Big Ideas about our Planet

http://bigthink.com/

Great website. Lots of great stuff for Geography, History, Economics, Law, Politics and courses in the Social Sciences and Humanities.

Features include over 12,000 videos featuring experts from a wide variety of disciplines, and links to world renowned bloggers who provide insights and analysis of the “big ideas” in the news.

I particularly like the Frank Jacobs’ blog “Strange Maps.” http://bigthink.com/blogs/strange-maps

______________________________________________________________________________

From Big Think:

“We live in a time of information abundance, which far too many of us see as information overload. With the sum total of human knowledge, past and present, at our …fingertips, we’re faced with a crisis of attention: which ideas should we engage with, and why? Big Think is an evolving roadmap to the best thinking on the planet — the ideas that can help you think flexibly and act decisively in a multivariate world.

A word about Big Ideas and Themes — The architecture of Big Think

Big ideas are lenses for envisioning the future. Every article and video on bigthink.com and on our learning platforms is based on an emerging “big idea” that is significant, widely relevant, and actionable. We’re sifting the noise for the questions and insights that have the power to change all of our lives, for decades to come. For example, reverse-engineering is a big idea in that the concept is increasingly useful across multiple disciplines, from education to nanotechnology.

Themes are the seven broad umbrellas under which we organize the hundreds of big ideas that populate Big Think. They include:

• New World Order
• Earth and Beyond
• 21st Century Living
• Going Mental
• Extreme Biology
• Power and Influence
• Inventing the Future

(Thanks to PDSB colleague K. Anthon for putting me on to this great resource!)