RE: INTERNATIONAL MAP DAY 2019 LOCATION: SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA DATE: JANUARY 29, 2019 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Maps.com, the recognized leader for geographic content and services, and twenty-five-year industry stalwart, is proud to launch the First Annual International Map Day, on February 3, 2019 (with observance on February 4), a global day to celebrate maps, geography, and all those who … Read More
Geo-Joint: Pretty Lakes in Pink
There are some lakes, like Tahoe, that can be crystal clear. Even those rare bodies are increasingly plagued by incursions of pollution or sediment that mar the clarity to some extent. And most lakes don’t come close to that kind of visibility, especially in summer when warmer water is so conducive to the growth of algae. Green, then, is a … Read More
Geo-Joint: Making Yourself at Home on Mars
There are a thousand and one places to go on this planet, and each dictates its own set of preparations for a successful trip. Even so, terrestrial destinations all have some similarity when compared to leaving this planet entirely and heading for another. That kind of excursion will require a good bit of time cooped up in a tin can … Read More
The Anniversary of a National Park: The Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon became a national park on February 26, 1919. President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill that established the park under the National Park Service (NPS). The canyon was not the first park to receive this honor. As early as 1872, Congress made Yellowstone the nation’s first national park. At that time, however, the National Park Service (NPS) did … Read More
The Growth of United States Presidential Power
BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT The United States has three branches of government: legislative, judicial, and executive. Each branch plays a different role in American democracy. The legislative branch includes the Senate and the House of Representatives. These two houses of Congress make the country’s laws. The judicial branch includes the Supreme Court. The Court’s nine justices interpret and make rulings … Read More
Copernicus’s Cosmic Revolution
In his study of the heavens, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle placed Earth at the center of the universe. Since then, his geocentric model became the official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. Most scientists at that time used a geocentric model to explain a planet’s apparent backward, or retrograde, motion. However, a geocentric view made retrograde motion extremely complicated … Read More
Why We Celebrate Martin Luther King Day
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once stated, “A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.” Arrested over twenty times, stabbed in the chest, his house firebombed and, ultimately shot and killed, King embodied the idea that equality and the African American Civil Rights Movement were worth dying for. He was a husband and father to four … Read More
Geo-Joint: Proving the Depths of Hranicka Propast
Snorkelers can see a lot of great stuff, because the water over coral reefs often isn’t that deep. But to really get down into what the undersea has to offer, it’s going to take some scuba gear and the know-how to utilize it properly and safely. If you’re just in it for recreation, 130 feet is about the limit. Technical … Read More
Geo-Joint: Drawing the Karman Line
If you live on the coast, the air is thick. It doesn’t feel like that, but at sea level you’re at the bottom of a sea of air. The gases of the atmosphere there are under the weight of the maximum column of overlying air. Thus they are pressed together more densely than at higher elevation. This barometric pressure is … Read More
Geo-Joint: Mysteries and Danger on the Plain of Jars
There must have been something in the minds of all early peoples. You just know they sat around the campfire, trading stories and plotting, scheming, and planning on how to create sizeable stone displays that would drive their distant progeny nuts trying to figure out just exactly what the heck they were up to. The Easter Island moai, the pyramids, … Read More