A Little Ditty from My Colleagues at UMN

This should help you catch up on the history of geography before you read the slides I posted on the right. Definitely watch this before your final exam!

Hiya

To the right you will find a reading that I expect you to do along with the Urban Geography readings from your reader mentioned in class -- "The Megacity."

When we meet again in a little over a week, we will discuss the readings and then begin the final phase of the class -- political geography! You may want to finish Harm de Blij's book this week to save yourself some time later this semester.

To emphasize Mr. Harm's point... here is a little clip of Miss Teen South Carolina explaining why geography and maps are important!

Check out this animation!

Hi class,

Check out this movie on the history of the world for a good laugh. It ties in with economic geography somehow... I just know it!

Cheers,

Ian

Cultural Geography Lecture Posted (Material May be on Exam)

Dear Class:

To the right I posted last Friday's cultural geography lecture. Please note that this material is fair game for the midterm. Please review the slides at least once, if not twice, before coming for the exam. However, no more value should be placed on these slides than any others.

Good luck studying tonight and at your study session tomorrow evening. Remember to bring lots of questions for your TAs.

Best,

Ian

P.S. I find that listening to that Kraftwerk song "Mensch, Natur, Technik" while grading papers makes me work far more efficiently. Perhaps it works for studying too?! You can listen to many of Kraftwerk's songs online at their own personal radio station -- www.kraftwerk.com. Hope it helps!

To get you revved up for Nature, Society & Technology!

Probably the most underrated song by a gang of robots ever recorded! Probably because it was merely a jingle for the 2000 Expo in Germany, but just wait... just wait... at around one-minute-forty you will hear the stellar line that summarizes our entire past week of lectures!!! Enjoy!

Midterm Study Guide Now Posted

Dear Class:

Your midterm study guide has been posted with all of my lectures (please find them on your right). Good luck studying! We certainly have covered a lot of material, but don't panic. Just learn! There will be a study review session next Monday or Tuesday with the TAs, likely in the evening. So keep your nights open!

Best,

Ian

Check Out This Article

Your next assignment will be to read this article, Big Foot, from the New Yorker several weeks ago. (No, it is not about searching for Sasquatch in the woods. Unfortunately, you have to take a class on Folklore to read about that. Rather, it refers to "Carbon Footprints.") I will give a hand out in class this week as to what you should do after you have read it. Anyway, if you want a jump start, you should just start reading the article now.

UPDATED @ 13:41, March 2, 2008: The assignment is posted to the right if you want to download it and begin straightaway!

This article is timely and just absolutely fascinating. I have been annoying my wife Birgit by talking about it all weekend at home. She can't even pour a glass of orange juice now without me speculating on how much environmental carnage she is inducing... yes, read this and you will surely have ammunition to drive your roommates and friends crazy for years to come! :) If you are from the East Coast and drink Californian wine out there you should be absolutely ashamed of yourself! After all, wine from France is far less destructive on the environment than wine from California if you are living out there. Geography... yes, transportation geography makes a difference! So cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, please listen to the follow up commentary by the author of the article, Michael Specter (New Yorker science writer). An interview/discussion is available in mp3 format so you can listen to it over and over on your iPods or Zen Micros or Zunes or whatever for years to come! Download it or listen to it by clicking on the respective blue, underlined words in this sentence. But you knew that.

I hope you are all having a great weekend! I for one have had too much coffee (from Brazil, because I am down on Sumatra)!!!! Which means I have contributed two tons of carbon to the air... shame on me! But I have an excuse, right? I am a caffeine addict! Of course, perhaps I am an energy addict, in which case nothing is excusable, but we can debate that on Monday (time permitting) and Wednesday.