New Global Terrain Map

As announced in the BBC News this morning, a nearly complete terrain map has just been released and will cover 99% of the surface area of the earth. It is available for public download and use here, though it seems that due to the volume of interest in this project, the number of downloads have been capped for a limited time to prevent the site from crashing. Those of us who are slightly less hardcore will hopefully be able to download and explore the ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model (ASTER GDEM) at some point in the near future!

Flickr Photoset of the Day

The Moyer's home, Kigwembimbe

(roughly translated from Kihehe:

" Where the beer overflows/spills")

Since we (and many of our friends) lived in thatch-roofed homes in Tanzania, I have loved the beauty and practicality of thatch. For those of you who also enjoy it, these Irish thatched homes are lots of fun to peruse.

Canonizing Mwalimu

The Catholic Church has started the canonisation process for Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, the first President of Tanganyika, who united his country with Zanzibar to form Tanzania in 1964.

If the Pope declares Mwalimu a saint, he will be the first purely political figure to attain such status. The Sunday Monitor in Kampala, Uganda has reported on "St. Nyerere's 18 Political Miracles" which qualify him for canonisation.

Whale-Watching & Safari Hunting

The BBC just published an article about how much more money whale watching brings in than whaling (hunting). I find this an interesting contrast to Tanzania where managed professional hunting outearns photographic tourism nearly 50:1. Ethics aside, this would seem to be an argument for whale-watching and hunting as the most economically viable uses of these natural resources.

For the record, I do not support whaling, and while I believe that hunting can be a sustainable and beneficial practice, I understand that it is prone to the same corruption and abuses that plague other industries as well. The Loliondo case makes me particularly sick and angry.

Embedded Programs at PSU

As reported by the Penn State Newswire, our office is experiencing real growth in the realm of faculty-led short-term education abroad programs (which we call "embedded programs"). I have been managing the administration of these programs since November of last year, when the previous manager left.

Last year we had a little over 800 students study on embedded programs--this year we've had nearly 1000. While this increase is due to a number of factors - our office is broadening its reach to enfold programs that were previously not under our purview - it also reflects the increasing number of faculty members who are integrating international experiences into the curriculum of courses taught residentially at Penn State. This means that students who couldn't find the flexibility in their schedule to study abroad for an entire semester are now able to travel, if only for a couple of weeks. And a well-implemented short-term trip can be a valuable experience.

"Bad Safaris"

I happened across these scanned slides on flickr the other day, and thoroughly enjoyed the predicaments that this zoologist has managed to get his Landies in to over many years operating in the bush of Tanzania.

Expedition Africa - Week Three

This week's show covered much familiar territory in our old stomping grounds. They just left the Uluguru Mountains and headed out on to the Mkata Plain (Mikumi National Park)...

...past the remains of buffalo...

...under the watchful eyes of hyenas...

...and ended their journey at a Maasai village.

Again, I have to ignore the over-hyped drama and ethnocentric attitudes (which make me cringe).

Great Grandma Rensel

Michigan Trip

Click on the image above to see weekend photos

We had a wonderful time this past weekend in Michigan. We crammed lots into our 4 day visit. We saw many friends from Tanzania (Caraways! Bentons! Millers! Zubers! LUKA!), rejoiced with Casey and Steven being joined in marriage, visited a friend from Taiwan, and saw Becca and Andrew, whose wedding we attended just two weeks ago.

Usually travelling weekends are draining, but we arrived home from this one somehow recharged.

Wireless Charging

So it seems that Nokia has produced a phone that charges itself wirelessly from excess radio waves that would otherwise be wasted diffused energy. No more chargers to manufacture and carry. And it eliminates otherwise wasted energy, thereby countering global warming!

Thanks Nokia for being part of the solution!

Expedition Africa - Week One

For those of you to who don't know the background, Mark Burnett (of Survivor fame) put 4 experienced (and completely Type A) people together to recreate Stanley's trek to "find" Livingstone in the interior of Africa in 1871. Not surprisingly the show focuses on interpersonal drama (true to Burnett's Survivor-roots).

You have to get past this and also the egotism/ignorance of the expedition members (one expedition member to a bunch of Tanzanian fishermen and porters: "How many of you can swim? No one? Okay, then NO ONE stand up in the canoes."). Oh, and it bothers me when people call out to a Maasai man by saying, "Hey Maasai, come here," rather than using his name (though I admit, I know at least one Maasai who doesn't care, so maybe I should chill out). 

Anyway, overlooking the above, I really enjoyed seeing so many reminders of "home." This includes:

1. roads that I've walked in Zanzibar
2. dhows on the Indian Ocean
3. Bagamoyo
4. the same Chinese-made aluminum tea kettle that I suspect everyone in Tanzania owns
5. Mangrove swamps (and lots of MUD)
6. the Ruvu River
7. Euphorbia candelabra
8. Hornbills calling
9. spitting cobras
10. crocodiles
11. rudimentary Swahili: "Moja, mbili, tatu!" "Tuende!"
12. Acacia thornscrub
13. termite mounds
14. Maasai simis

Man, I miss that place! Anyone want to finance my expedition proposal to follow P.J. Pretorius' 1916-1918 track across Tanganyika?

Weddings

Higgins, NY        5.23.09

We are starting into the wedding season! Last weekend we journeyed back to our old stomping grounds in western New York to celebrate Becca & Andrew's wedding. This weekend, my coworker and friend Julia Kisner became Julia Law, and next weekend we will head to central Michigan to celebrate the start of Casey and Steven's life together. 

Click on the image above for photos from Becca & Andrew's wedding weekend.