Quote for the Day

Jeremy Clarkson on fieldtrips:

"Mostly they'd load us onto the school minibus, which would then be driven by a certifiable lunatic to the Peak District, where we'd be made to walk five miles through a peat bog to look at a millstone grit outcrop..."

Check the GA NING for my fieldtrip guidance....

Another claim to fame...

Received a copy of this resource in the post today, along with the CD pack that comes with it: my contribution was the product of my Easter break. It looks rather good now that it's all complete...

Disclaimer: other specifications and accompanying resource packs are available...

You've seen the film....

...now eat the star...

I remember a story of a cinema where people who had just seen the film "BABE" were met with a sign offering bacon sandwiches at a local cafe with the tagline: "you've seen the film, now eat the star..."

Remember 'Finding Nemo' ?

After seeing the film, many children wanted a clown fish, and the demand threatened the species and the coral environments where it lived. They didn't want to eat Nemo as much as take him home and have their own... (although I do have a cartoon somewhere with Nemo chopped up in sushi rolls)

This story from June 2008 provides a little more background on the clown fish story.

There was also 'Happy Feet', which featured penguins, but there was little chance of parents shelling out for one of those.

Other films that created a big demand for pets: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ? - cue loads of terrapins dropped down the sewers to join the giant crocodiles down there...

The latest anthropomorphic antics of the new Disney film "G-Force" feature guinea pigs, and of course these are far more accessible in terms of price and general availability (there's a pet shop at the end of my road - no really, there is...) and it has quite a few in at the moment.

This trend goes back quite a long way apparently - it's sometimes called the "101 Dalmations" effect...

A quick look at the PETS AT HOME website revealed that it's not just the cost of the animal (the guinea pig), it's all the other stuff that they need....

Local news also featured a report last night on the increasing number of cats that are being abandoned. Why not get a RESCUE GUINEA PIG if you really have to have one...

Inspiration for this post was a brief piece in Guardian G2: "Hollywood guinea pigs are for life, kids.

Oh, and I want a BACON is a VEGETABLE shirt....

Any other film-related trends which had an environmental impact ?

Fieldwork Guidance

Now available via Slideshare EMBED

Fieldwork Entitlement Guidance V2

View more documents from GeoBlogs.

New Met Office maps

Thanks to Ollie Bray, via Twitter of course, for the tip off to the new Met Office maps viewer.

This offers the chance to zoom in to your chosen area of the country and add a range of weather information. You can add places of interest, or click the map to get a forecast for the week ahead.

Just used it to help my wife decide whether a picnic in Sandringham this lunchtime might stay dry... my money is on "maybe"....

Update: picnic stayed dry...

The NEW Ten Pound Poms

Below is a resource that I produced for the old Edexcel 'A' level specification on the subject of the "Ten Pound Poms" scheme, which was introduced in the 1940s to reduce a skills shortage in the country. There were mixed experiences of the scheme, and this was the focus of a BBC 'Timewatch' programme.

Ten Pound Poms

View more presentations from GeoBlogs.

This DAILY MAIL article describes the lengths that people are going to, to secure a limited number of £10 one way air tickets being offered by STA travel: cue the pictures of tents pitched on London pavements....

For more on the original scheme, visit this OPEN UNIVERSITY page.

Coastal Path: gaps

Natural England have published a series of maps which show the gaps in the coverage of the planned coastal path which runs around the entire coastline of the UK.

There are quite a few GAPS local to where I live....

General MAPS PAGE is here.

How about investigating some local gaps to you...

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

This Friday morning, it will be 07/08/09

And just after 10 in the morning it will be 10:11 and 12 seconds...

Sky News is asking people to take a snapshot at that precise moment...

How about taking a GEOGRAPHICAL picture ?

Language of Landscapes

I hold in my hand one of the first printed copies of a rather lovely resource that is going out next year with the Free OS Maps for Schools, funded by, and produced in association with Natural England and the OS.
It's written by me, and is fab.

More to come in September once it starts going out. Keep an eye out for it when you open your boxes of maps.

Also keep an eye out for the first online version of "Mapping News". Although it's unfortunate that this will no longer have the "thud factor" of the magazine itself landing on the desk, it's still a very useful resource, and there should be a lot of useful content.

I will blog about this more when this becomes available, but just finishing off a contribution on outdoor learning...

Windows and Tab

In Vista....

Press them together and hold down the tab and you get a nice visual of all the tabs you have open and can move between them to choose the one you want...

Thanks to John Davitt for the tip-off via his keynote at #blc09

John Davitt

Just been listening to a wonderful John Davitt keynote from the Building Learning Communities conference.

Thanks to Bob Sprankle for the mp3 podcast.

A few great quotes:

“I dream of a world where learning is as important as shopping.”

"Stress kills learning"

"There are many paths to the same destination that the curriculum might be."

"Banda spirit master was the first multi-sensory worksheet..."

Take a little time over the summer to listen to John...

Mobile Learning

iPhone and mobile devices in education

View more presentations from olliebray.

Ollie Bray presentation from recent event in Scotland. Some great ideas here and the usual high quality visuals....

Barry Lopez

"Everything is held together with stories. That is all that is holding us together, stories and compassion." - Barry Lopez

"Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive." -Barry Lopez

Thanet Earth

Have posted about Thanet Earth before, and was reminded about it by a blog post.

Huge greenhouse complex, which has a developing website. It's the UK's largest, most high-tech greenhouse complex...

Interactive diagrams

2 new links today from Russel Tarr to help provide infographics for websites:

CHARTLE is a website which allows the creation of interactive charts....

another website is CHART GIZMO

Both worth a look....

Landscape blogs...

Been working on a few bits and pieces today. One of them was for the latest updates on the Regional Living Geography conferences.

Also looking at some LANDSCAPE blogs. Here are a few that I have followed for a while...

SOME LANDSCAPES and also the useful PRUNED

And of course no round up would be complete without a mention of Geoff''s BLDG BLOG, which

has also spawned a book I have blogged about before...

Twitter Logos...

Going to Tweet about Twitlogo shortly...
Nice...