Earthquake in California

Just seen (via a non-Geography friend on Facebook, of all places) that there has been an earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter Scale in California - the epicentre was 29 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

This is the latest USGS map:

Brief report from the BBC here and several links on the Geography Newsroom website. No reports of the damage as yet, but there have been several aftershocks already.

Books...

Tried to avoid spending too much money during my wander around Borders today, so didn't buy these two books, but thought they looked interesting... Both have good reviews on Amazon...

Derby

Just seen on the BBC website that the Tesco that was planned for Derby City Centre is not going to go ahead. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/7517757.stm

The store was going to be on the site of the old Debenhams, which has been empty since Debenhams moved to the new Westfield Centre in October. The article also mentions the impact of the Westfield Centre on other city centre shops - a significant number are now empty - and the effect that this is having on the city centre as a whole... Particularly interesting when you consider this alongside Derby Cityscape Ltd's Masterplan.

What do you think?

Urban Earth

I am looking forward to seeing the results of Dan Raven-Ellison's new project - Urban Earth.

"For the first time in human history more people are living in urban than rural places. Over the summer of 2008 URBAN EARTH will be travelling on foot across Mexico City, London and Mumbai to witness our increasingly URBAN EARTH."

Check out the Urban Earth website and follow the progress of the project on the Urban Earth blog.

Why not take your camera and go on your own Urban Earth Adventure?

Happy Holidays!

At long last...

I didn't get round to launching a proper postcard competition this year... but if you are going somewhere, send us a postcard and we will have a little prize draw! And don't forget to take some geographical photos...

If you are sitting at home wondering what to do with yourself for six weeks:

- check out Mission: Explore

- do some GeoSquishing

- don't forget about Geograph - as well as going out to take some photos of your local area, you could look for pictures of interesting places near you and go and visit them! I've discovered various interesting new places not far from home via Geograph!

Let us know how you get on - leave a comment and send some photos!

And don't forget to keep checking Geogtastic - I will still be updating the blog over the holidays.

20,000 visits!

The title says it all.... 20,000 visits (actually, 20,005) since the start of Geogtastic in December 2006!

Thank you all and keep reading!

Mission: Explore

Fantastic!! Leave a comment and let us know how you get on...

Competition - Young People in a Changing Climate

How do you fancy being at the World Youth Congress in Quebec, and seeing YOUR artwork displayed?

"Shoot Nations 2008 is addressing the theme of ‘Young People in a Changing Climate’. We want to build a global picture of how climate change is affecting young people worldwide, how they can act now to slow the change and how they can adapt to the inevitable changes in the future."

All you have to do is take three photographs to show your feelings ins response to:
1. How is climate change affecting your life?
2. Act now - be the change!
3. Your world in the future.

If you prefer, you can enter drawings, rather than photographs.

The closing date is 31st July...

For more information, go here: http://www.shootnations.org/competition/info

GOOD LUCK!

Make Trade Fair!

Chatting with Liam this morning reminded me of the fab Fair Trade movie he and Danny made a couple of years back...



Nice work boys!!