May You Live In An Interesting World

(As if you had a choice.)

An exploration of how geography changes us and how we change geography.

This above saying of mine is based on a supposed ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times, come to the attention of important people and find what you are looking for.”  It seems that the Chinese origin may not be true but is a result of the work of the infamous Ben Trovato.

It may not be fun to live through geographic events that will long be remembered, perhaps because of the large number of fatalities. Understanding how our planet is treating us, and how we are treating our planet, can help us appreciate our interesting world and how it shapes our lives without needing to become statistics. Geography influences who we are and how we live. We also influence geography – did someone mention climate change?

•  Find some free on-line maps, geography quizzes and free map puzzles here.

•  It’s always summer somewhere!  Check out Hurricane Center and track your favorite Hurricane, Typhoon or Tropical Cyclone.

•  Despite its name the CIA World Factbook is an excellent resource. Many of you are paying for this, you might as well take advantage. Information about all of the world’s countries.

•  USGS Real-time earthquake maps. Did you feel it? Zoom and drag to see anywhere in the world..

•  We are an Urban Species, with over half of the world’s population now living in cities.

•  My own favorite bit of geography. Kilauea has been erupting for over 28 years. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Eruption Update.

• Great image of hurricane and typhoon tracks: Tropical cyclone tracks. Notice no tracks along the equator or in the South Atlantic. You are free to wonder why that is.

• If you are feeling adrift there is a good reason: all of the earth’s surface is on one tectonic plate or another and they are all moving as part of global continental drift. Forbes has an article on a recent publication with a great map of our present understanding of plate boundaries and an astounding animation.

•  Over 125 years after Edison developed the first practical electric light it has spread – but only where people are:  Night-time view of the earth. Note how dark North Korea is.

•  Strange Maps! – a collection of bizarre and amusing maps.

•  And also Brilliant Maps, a lot of thought provoking maps.

•  And not all maps are very useful: Terrible Maps.

•  Cartographers always project so much.

And a question for you to ponder: Why are there so many sham democracies, countries with adjectives in their names proclaiming how democratic they are, in the world but no sham dictatorships?