A geographer in New York...

Back in Feburary, at half-term, it was far colder than it is now, and I was standing in a [very long] queue with a bunch of sixth form historians to go through super-sensitive metal detectors to get on a ferry to Ellis Island (woohoo - it must be named after you Miss!) and the Statue of Liberty. Partly, I was concerned about whether a certain student would be allowed through security with her very attractive leg splint and walking stick, but mostly I was hoping that the Battery Park Busker would not pick on me next... Luckily, he didn't - that leg splint and walking stick were far more interesting topics for the next song.

Several months later, I had some nice memories of the USA trip, and am hoping to go and visit again soon, but had forgotten all about the Battery Park Busker until I heard he'd been tracked down on YouTube and identified as Freddy Harrington. There are various videos of Freddy and his songs on YouTube, but I was particulary interested to find this one, in which he is interviewed, and he talks about the fact that he is a teacher, and about teaching his daughter about USA geography, and about our increasing connections with the rest of the world... If I go to New York again, and Freddy is there, I'll be sure to have a chat to him about some geography!

Strange Worlds

Strange Worlds is an amazing set of miniature landscape models, made by a New Jersey artist called Matthew Albanese, from all sorts of things ranging from paprika to feathers to fireplace ash!

Check out the Strange Worlds photostream on Flickr... Could you make your own??

Young Geographer of the Year 2010

"Sorting the wood from the trees; the future of forests" is the title of this year's Young Geographer of the Year competition, organised by the RGS-IBG.

It would be brilliant to have some Swanwick entries this year... Find out more on the Geographical website, or come and speak to me next week...

Good luck!!

Historypin

One of my most recent discoveries is Historypin - essentially, people (including you, if you like) can scan old photos and "pin" them to a Google Map, and also add stories to the photos. Explorers of the map can compare the historical photos with what's there now, and the photos can also be viewed in StreetView. It's still in Beta so a bit temperamental at the moment, but potentially a very interesting and useful resource...

Anyone can explore the map - if you want to add photos and/or stories, you'll need to sign in with your Google account.

Click on the screenshot to link to the site, or have a look at this YouTube video to find out more: