Frustration With Geography

[Dave Hounddriver]

Last night I said to a Filipina friend that I was about to watch the TV news as I wanted to see what damage occurred in America with the storm; she asks if any damage in Australia too. I say America is a long way from Australia and she replies that she thought we were neighbors.

That's why we are all Kanos. :)

When I was driving my Greyhound Bus in Alaska one day this little old American woman sat in the front seat and talked to me. She got around to asking my my last name and said: Oh, on my last vacation I was in Perth, Australia and I rented a bicycle to get around. There was a nice young man working there who had the same last name as you. I wonder if you know him. After a couple questions I asked her I said: Yeah, he's my brother. (True story. Its a small world.)

[Dougbert]

Last night I said to a Filipina friend that I was about to watch the TV news as I wanted to see what damage occurred in America with the storm; she asks if any damage in Australia too. I say America is a long way from Australia and she replies that she thought we were neighbors.

That's why we are all Kanos. :)

Haha! My GF asked how the weather was after she some stuff about Hurricane Sandy on the news a couple of days ago. I told her it was nice and sunny here. I am 4800km from the storm here in California! She's the nicest woman I've dated, but she is definitely missing the map gene. I'm sure she thinks I'm missing something else. It's all good.

[Jake]

Call me anal about this but I continue to teach my wife and our teenage kids about basic navigation that

I learned from Boys Scouts a long time ago. Basic things like sun rises from the east and sets over the

western horizon. Facing east, your left side is pointing north. They were also fascinated how huge the

Big Dipper is and how it points to the North Star.

Regarding the subject of geography (local or global), I was very dismayed that many students don't find

much interest in it and rely more and more on electronic devices. I could spend hours on Google Earth

studying all the island groups of the Philippines.....places that I would love to explore. And just like Mike S

I will not hesitate to pull over and ask for directions. Why waste the gas just to save my ego.....?

[Mike S]

OK anal ...... you said call you anal ..... and I always follow orders ..... :hystery:

[Thomas]

I really think there is Map reading gene that was never introduced into the local pool. Give a map to a guard or taxi driver and you will see all sorts of contortions and machinations of understanding masking total and complete befuddlement. The local brain is conditioned to get to places from memory of land marks or events and also to just let the tricycle, or jeepny driver worry about how best to get there.

Well. The skill is partly gene depending, I guess same as handle geometry understanding, perhaps same as mathematics,

(Good chess players are normaly good at mathematics and geometry too.)

But to become good at map readiing, them with the gene need education/inventive imagination too, enough to understand the basics

=That taxi driver have probably the gene (most men have) but don't have the education.

[Will]

The asawa called her mother lastnight and the mother said she had been crying and worried about us here in America due to the storm in the northeast. We are in Texas... here, the weather lately could not have been better. Still, nice to know someone is thinking of you!

Since someone mentioned directions, I will tell you something I encountered years ago.

Here in Texas, I can "feel" which way is north, and can get my bearings from that. Years ago, I was doing some work in Tennessee. I don't know if it was the state or me, but everytime I thought I was going north, I was going south.. and vice versa. I stayed there about 3 or 4 months and never could get the directions down, thank God for road signs. Everyday the sun rose in the west and sat in the east! But, as soon as I got back in Texas, my internal compass reset back to normal. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Oh, almost forgot, another coworker from Texas said they felt the same thing... even though I never brought it up to them.

[Curley]

Here in Texas, I can "feel" which way is north, and can get my bearings from that. Years ago, I was doing some work in Tennessee. I don't know if it was the state or me, but everytime I thought I was going north, I was going south.. and vice versa. I stayed there about 3 or 4 months and never could get the directions down, thank God for road signs. Everyday the sun rose in the west and sat in the east! But, as soon as I got back in Texas, my internal compass reset back to normal. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Oh, almost forgot, another coworker from Texas said they felt the same thing... even though I never brought it up to them.

I used to have that same "feel" I thought it was old age that had reducd it because in Asia I struggle to have any intuition as to where I am apart from the sun

[Dave Hounddriver]

In Philippines I keep getting east and west mixed up. It took a long time to remember that the USA is in the EAST.

[Dougbert]

Call me anal about this but I continue to teach my wife and our teenage kids about basic navigation that

I learned from Boys Scouts a long time ago. Basic things like sun rises from the east and sets over the

western horizon. Facing east, your left side is pointing north. They were also fascinated how huge the

Big Dipper is and how it points to the North Star.

Regarding the subject of geography (local or global), I was very dismayed that many students don't find

much interest in it and rely more and more on electronic devices. I could spend hours on Google Earth

studying all the island groups of the Philippines.....places that I would love to explore. And just like Mike S

I will not hesitate to pull over and ask for directions. Why waste the gas just to save my ego.....?

Jake, I am a total map nerd, too. My Dad got me hooked when I was young. When I was about 6 or so he would make me navigator when we went on a road trip. Usually he already knew where we were going, but I got to hold the map and keep track of where we were. He would ask things like "is the next exit the one we take to get on hwy 52?" and I would have to figure it out. When I was older I would actually be the navigator on family vacation trips. I still love paper maps--especially USGS topo maps.

My ex is directionally challenged. She would sometimes call me from some random location when she was lost and ask what to do to get home. "What freeway are you on?" She usually knew that. "Are you going north or south?" Angry responses begin here "how would I know?!" Well are the mountains on your left or your right (or if it is afternoon which way is the sun). "Just tell me left or right at the next exit!" Or "there's a <random useless landmark like a KFC> here, should I go left or right at the intersection?" Geez! She finally got a Garmin Nuvi and all that stopped!

[Beachboy]

Re: USA being a Neighbor of Australia, California and Texas near New York ...

Easy to laugh .. but we Americans are not any wiser. When National Geographic ran a poll in 2006.. 80% of us couldn't locate Afghanistan of a map of Asia (duh .. we've been fighting a war there for there for 4 years), on maps of the Middle East 60% couldn't locate Iraq or Saudia Arabia, (shockingly) 70% couldn't find Israel or Iran. Even worse 30% couldn't find the state of Louisiana (this was one year after Katrina) and 50% couldn't find New York or Ohio.

So Mr. Jolly, if your Filipina friend thinks New York is next to Sydney, she'd make a great American! :hystery:

Edited November 2, 2012 by Beachboy