Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Red Panda

The red panda is an adorable species that is sadly endangered. I like them because they manly eat bamboo leaves, berries, and small leaves. They only bad thing they eat is bird eggs. With this green diet I am sure they are friendly sense they are not meat eaters. They live in cool temperature bamboo forest in the Himalayas and China. They share there habitat with giant pandas. There are less than 2,500 adult red pandas in the world. They became endangered because of habitat loss.

KILAUEA

The volcano Kilauea is located in Hawaii and is the most active volcano in the world. I would love to see a volcano because they are uncontrollable. While humans are polluting and messing up the environment, there are some natural things that will never be changed or destroyed by us. The Halemaumau is the name of the fire pit that is in the southwestern edge of Kilauea. This is where you would find the lake of boiling water. The eruptions of lava flows create these lakes. It would be so cool to see something so huge and dangerous. Even though we can mess up a lot of the environment there is no way we could mess with a volcano. 



Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is unlike anywhere I have ever been. I think it would be so neat to see bison, elk, bears, and other animals wondering around. It is also famous for the Old Faithful Geyser. I would be nice to visit somewhere that is so natural. The web site says be prepared to emergencies and changing weather. While that sounds a little scary, I like the idea of not being around a lot of people. It would be a great escape from our over populated cities. The picture above of the Grand Prismatic Spring. The water is different colors because as it comes out of the spring it is hot, that is seem in the deeper blue. As the water cools the color goes from green to orange. The water is colored by algae species that are temperature specific.  There is also an active super volcano called Yellowstone Caldera that is still active. Yellowstone seems to have some unbelievable wildlife and scenery that could usually not be found all together. Living in a city sometimes I forget that neat things like this still exist.


http://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm

Science for Galapagos

Everyone has heard of the Galapagos Islands. But not many have been there. The research center I would pick to travel to would be the Science for Galapagos Charles Darwin Foundation Science and Research Center. There have a few areas of study. One that I believe is important to the world outside the Galapagos is the ecological restoration. In this department of research they look at how to help plants that are going endangered. As the human pollution is growing we have to keep in mind the wildlife that we are endangering. If we do threaten a species we should know how to help it to rebuild itself and thrive! The department I would enjoy the most would be ecological monitoring. This is because they monitor the giant tortoise!

My Google Earth Map!


This is a map of my neighborhood in LaGrange, Georgia. My house is marked my house on Gordon Street. It was  just a short walk from my cousin Margaret house and my Grandmothers house. These are both labeled. It was nice to be able to walk to see either of them. The blue line is the way I walked to my Grandmothers. The red line is the way to Margarets house. There is also a green line that is a short cut from my backyard to my Grandmothers backyard. My Grandmothers backyard is outlined in pink. This is because it was my favorite play to play as a child. It was huge with a swing set, sandbox, and hug grass area. 

Monday, January 24, 2011

Isorhythmic Map: The United States Weather Patterns


Isorhythmic Maps are used a lot as weather maps. This map looks a lot like the ones on the weather channel. the top map showing the average annual temperature for the United States in the Summer. The bottom map show the average annual temperature for the winter in the States. Although people probably do not look up Isorhythmic Maps when they are planning a vacation, they should! These maps can help anyone discover where their idea vacation weather would be. 

Choropleth Map: Leading Church Bodies in the United States


Choropleth Maps are shaded in a way that shows a statistic. A common choropleth map would be per capita income. This map shows the leading church bodies in the United States in 2000. It is strange to me that the Baptist church dominates so much of the south, and the Catholic church is popular everywhere else.