Old Places, New Changes

Well,  here I am at the Lake of the Ozarks.  This is where I will be spending the majority of my summer, just off the lake.  I have been helping to train our summer camp staff and helping out with other jobs around the camp these past two weeks.  Tomorrow we are heading to the great outdoors to learn how to teach children about God's creation.  I am looking forward to this, outdoor education has always been an interest of mine.

I have found GPS units at one of the local Wal-Marts, will be looking up the differences in the ones that I have seen and looking at prices so that I can have this new tool to play with this summer and hopefully have something new to teach campers this summer.  Sorry for the run-on...   Anyways, blessings on your day, and more to come later this summer once campers finally get here after Sunday.

-Cotter

Where my feet will take me...

Ok, yes, these are my feet.  You might be asking "why?"  Well, the reason that I chose a picture of my feet is because this summer I plan to walk a lot and travel a lot.  As of right now, I will be going five different states this summer and I plan to visit a few more than just that depending on money.  I will be driving back home home to Texas going through Kansas and Oklahoma.  I will be working at a summer camp in Missouri and going to a wedding in Iowa.  If I have the chance and the money, I would love to take a short road trip out to Tennessee to see some family.

I will be spending a majority of my summer in Missouri working at Heit's Point Lutheran Ministries off of Lake of the Ozarks.  There I will be Program Staff and in charge of helping to train the summer staff, setting up games and anything else that is thrown my way.  I will also have the chance to watch the sun set over the lake, go fishing and boating, and if I am lucky, the chance to explore a cave or two (best thing ever!).

This will be my 5th and possibly my last summer to ever do camp ministry and I am looking forward to it.  I have the chance to spend time playing games with campers and telling them about the love that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has for them.  I could not ask for anything better to do.  There will be follow up blogs this summer about the adventures that will be going on, and the times spent watching a campfire die out on a dark calm night.  More to come this summer.  Till then, "Peace Out," (that is this summers theme).

What is in a name?

When using the "World Names Profiler," I found that me last name of Cotter is most prevalent in Ireland.  I also found that my mothers maiden name, and my grandmothers are both prevalent in Germany.  I enjoyed seeing this because I had always been told of my German background yet, my father never really could tell me where our last name was from.  Being a German-Irish makes me happy for the fact that it tells me a little bit about where I come from.  The down side of this is that people of Germans and Irish are background are more likely to become alcoholics, and with having both... Not good.

Roads that sing in South Korea?

The Singing road in South Korea was implemented to help drives stay alert as they enter dangerous sections of highway.  This link shows you a news story shown here in America about this subject.  The reason that I chose this video is because of the Honda commercials that have been on television about their singing highway.  This video shows that South Korea is using new methods when it comes to personal transportation to help you stay alert at the wheel.

I believe that America can still learn from our neighbors about new ways to keep us safe on the road.  Using this new technology not just on the side of the roads where we currently have it, but also in the road could help to keep sleepy drivers awake and people talking on their phones to stay alert.

I could also see this being a problem.  If something like this were to be implemented here in the States, people would find some way to abuse it.  You would have people who want to find out what this sounds like at faster speeds and do what they can to accomplish that.  I know that idea would cross my mind... Either way, I think that this would be something interesting to see, wither over here, or take a trip to South Korea to see it myself.

Food that makes you go "bwugh."

Some of the strangest food that I have ever seen eaten has been at the share holders meetings that my dad's bank has had.  All the "Big Cheeses" at the bank are from China, and every time that they have their meetings, it is always Chinese food.  Now, don't get me wrong here, I love American Chinese food...mmm, Orange Chicken... But, some of the stuff is just a little too odd for me.

Two of the strangest dishes that were served at one of these dinners was Jellyfish, and Shrimp on Sugarcane.  I personally loved the shrimp on the sugarcane, very sweet, and good.  My mother informed me that I should try the Jellyfish so that I would not disrespect my fathers bosses.  So, after being pushed by my mother and my father just looking at his, I popped a pice of this slimy stuff in, chewed, and swallowed.  Right then I saw one of the men on the board of directors for the bank (one of the Chinese men) start to laugh at me.  I looked at him with a puzzled look, that is when he told me, "I'm from China and I have not even tried that and never plan to."  Then he continued to laugh...

I believe that as our cultures here continue to merge and we become closer and closer that some of these "odd" dishes that are served in our places of origins will continue to become obsolete or kept as "specialty" dishes.  I also for seeing that food will continue to become "Americanized," by this I mean that they will be toned down so that other can enjoy some of these "odd" dishes.  And, as always, McDonalds will continue to take over the foreign market and other cultures will learn to love the heart-attack-in-a-sack Big Mac.

The G-20, and no, it's not a rap group...

Who makes up the G-20?  Well, in alphabetical order, here we go... Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.  Now you might be saying to yourself, "But, Geocotter!  That is only 19, who is the 20th?"  Well my avid reader, I shall tell you.  "The European Union, who is represented by the rotating Council presidency and the European Central Bank, is the 20th member of the G-20" (www.g20.org).

The picture that I have chosen to post on here is one of controversy, this picture shows President Obama bowing to the leader of Saudi Arabia at the G-20.   The Presidents staff has said that he (Mr. President) had to bend over to shake his hand since he (Leader of S.A.) is shorter.  I believe that this picture says something else.  I personally thought that we did not bow to royalty due to the fact that we got rid of that around the time of our independence from Britain... I guess I was wrong.

Planet Earth...

Usually when we see pictures of our home planet Earth, we see North and South America, or Europe, Asia and Africa.  It is a rare chance that you see pictures of of the Pacific Ocean, and that is what we see here.  The pictures of the vast amounts of land provides comfort in knowing that there is some hard land that you can walk or sleep on.  In my opinion, seeing vast amounts of open water with no place to land on causes discomfort, stress and loneliness.  Seeing this makes me wish that there was more out there, somewhere to sit, run, or just to lay down and look at the open sky.  

I'm sure that a lot of this comes from my fear of drowning since I am not a swimmer, but either way, I like land.  I like to be able to walk in God's creation and look at everything that this world has to offer.  A view of the ocean is always nice, but I prefer to have that view while sitting on a sandy beach with an adult beverage in my hand and the sun setting.  I will leave this empty view of the Earth to the heaven and those in space.

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire, one of this years biggest movies portrays the slums in Mumbai in an interesting way.  It showed as though the people in the area are poor and that it is difficult to survive.  There were references to Muslims attacking the Hindus, children living on the street and people doing anything just to be able to live.  Later in the movie it shows that India is a place that is developing and growing into something more, you see images from the company that has been out sourced and the Indian people trying to act like Britons on the phone.  Through out the entire movie you see this continuing struggle between the rich and the poor and the poor trying to reach the level of the rich.  People are going against human morals to do what they can to make money.

In relation to geography this movie makes me think of how vastly different our two cultures are.  In America, we don't have giant portions of cities living without running water and people living in their own filth.  Even after learning about the country for a few weeks last year and then looking at it again this semester, it is amazing to look at this place.  India is said to be a place that when you visit, you either hate, or you love.  I have been told that when you visit that the smell overwhelms you along with the sights of the buildings, the people and the life style.  This movie opens you up to culture shock and into the lives of people form around the world, Slumdog Millionaire picks you up and drops you into the life of other people and surrounds you with their culture.

Blog Post #9...

Spring Break!

Not much really happened over my spring break, I drove down to Dallas and spent time with my family.  I spent some of my time driving around the Dallas Metroplex with my brother-in-law and my sister.  We watched a few movies over at their place and went out to eat a few times.  The only exciting thing that I did over break was buy a Bass Guitar to try and learn on.  I did spend a little bit of time at the Lewisville City Library to try and find information on the city for another project, but some of was a dead end.  The city did not have much information on the history of the town.

Blog Post #8...

Should we provide aid, or focus on developing?

I believe that it should be a balance of both.  The countries should be developed in order to help them to be able to prosper.  If we keep pouring money into a failing system, it will continue to fail.  Money cannot fix everything, contrary to popular belief.  If NGOs continue to provide the aid that they do, and foreign investors step in, maybe then we could see some of these countries rise off of the bottom of the list.  If the money that the people are relying on is pull out and just put into investing, I'm sure that the system will fully crumble.  These people are still depending on this money.  If there were to be a full transition, it would need to be a slow process, but I still believe that there should be a balance of both.

Blog Post #7...

HDI for 1200 Alex...

What variables are used to calculate HDI?

- HDI stands for the human development index, it is a summary composite index that measures a country's average achievements in three basic aspects of human development: health, knowledge and a decent standard of living.  

What is the geographic pattern of HDI in the world?

- MDCs are higher on the list with LDCs towards the bottom.  Countries with a higher HDI are wealthier and more powerful countries in the World.  

Why do you think Sub-Saharan Africa is ranked so low in HDI?

- ...This would be because of lower life expectancy, lower standard of living and because of lack of education.

Blog Post #6...

This picture is taken in Kingswindford, England in 1931.  The title is "Crooked Inn."  I am a fan of photography, especially black and white.  I love the contrast between the man's black suit and the white light pouring in through the open door.  Also the way that the door frames are shifted to the left side and line up, it causes your eye to go directly to the man in the doorway.  When working with photography, it is a rule that your subject should not be directly centered in the middle of the photograph, but in this case it works wonders.  If this photo was off-centered you would not have the full effect of the tilt of the building.  In short, amazing photograph, and amazing quality from film back in 1931!

Blog Post #5...

Cuba...

I personally believe that we should go ahead and lift the travel ban and the trade embargo with Cuba.  We already allow travel and trade with China who is a communist country, so why not with Cuba?  If we are going to allow trade and travel with one, we should also allow it with the other.  Or, have both cut off.  There should not be an exception with the system.  I personally want the ban to be lifted because it has always been a country that I would like to travel to, plus; I would love to try a Cuban cigar someday.  With the War on Terror I believe that we have a bigger problem currently than communism.  Radical Islam is to Communism is to Fascism, times change and so do our enemies, we have lifted a ban on Germany, then on Mother Russia, so we should also take it off of Cuba.

Blog Post #4...

For Blog topic #4 I have found this article, (http://xrl.us/benkkw).  It is about the arrest of 32 year old Carrillo Leyva who was the next in line of power for one of Mexico's largest Drug Cartels.  He was caught while on his morning jog Wednesday in Mexico City.  He is known as one of the biggest drug traffickers to the United States.  Mexico's government had posted a reward of $2.1 million for his capture.

Post #3..

Alcohol Consumption...

"I am medicine and I am poison, I can help you up or make you fall, you had some of the best times you'll never remember with me, Alcohol..."

-Brad Paisley

This map shows Alcohol consumption across the World.  If you notice, The U.S., Europe, and China are the biggest of the areas represented on this cartogram.  I believe that this shows that a large portion of the human race enjoys beer, whisky, and wine along with several others.  Alcoholic drinks have been made since the beginning of human civilization beginning with beer in ancient Egypt.  Alcohol is part of most cultures, and prevalent in some such as the German and Irish...joking. An interesting fact that should be noted is that in Muslim countries, there is not as much prevalent as Christian areas.

Blog Post #2...

The two countries that are listed here in this post are Ireland and Somalia, Ireland of course is the MDC with Somalia being the LDC.  When looking at these charts that are at the top of this post, one can clearly see the differences in the population.  Ireland does have a smaller population than that of Somalia, but their population pyramid is also shaped different.  When it comes to percentages Ireland has an older population, with more elderly than that of Somalia.  This has to do the difference in the economic development of the two.  With Somalia being a developing country, they are going to have a larger percent of young people versus elderly, and it is the opposite with Ireland.  With a developed country you are going to have access to birth control, and a better health system, and a lower TFR.

I know that this one is not part of the writing assignment that we have to do, but I just wanted to put this out here...

Geography plays a large role in our lives whether we are aware of this or not.  Specially when it comes to relationships.  Whether that special person is just down the road, or 400+ miles away, it affects you.  The distance can cause you to grow close or further away, it all depends on how you treat it.  When it comes to those 400+ miles (or any distance that may seem great) you need to stay open with communication, because this can help to close that gap.  It helps it to appear that those miles are not too far, they seem to be more like feet at the time.  

With being a Geography major, you would think that at time, it would be my best friend.  When in fact, it is my worst enemy at times.  But none the less, you will continue to be part of my existence, and my friend, and even my enemy.

The Places That We Will Go...

When looking back at all of the places that I have traveled to, there is one place that I tend to think of time, and time again.  It's a wonderful place known as Lake Tahoe.  It sits right on the border of California and Nevada up in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.  I cannot think of any way to describe the place other than beautiful.  With the evergreens protecting the lake, and the crystal clear water, it makes for a place with beautiful sunsets that look as if they are painted by the hand of God.

I was out in this area about two years ago with my family and a friend.  We spent the entire day traveling around the lake, stopping at different areas to take in the view.  The best stop, voted by my brother-in-law, friend, and myself was the Lake Tahoe Brewery.  For eight dollars each we were able to sample all the different types of beer that they had to offer, ten in all.  I believe that the best way to get to know an area is to sample their local brew (if you are of age of course!).  There are many different kinds of beer such as IPA's, Stout's, Pale Ale's and so on... And you can make all of these with a different amounts of the ingredients that are found in beer such as hops, yeast, and so on.  By far my favorite was their "Bad Ass Ale," please excuse the vulgarness of the name.  

Another reason that I believe why I enjoyed such a place so much besides the breath taking views and the multiple beers was because there were so many wonderful picture opportunities found there.  Photography is a hobby of mine, and with a mix of the scenery and the lighting that day, it just lead to many rolls of film being used to try and capture the beauty of the area.  Over all, the time spent around that lake was priceless, who can pass up time with family and friends, beautiful scenery, and good beer?

Class...

This is my first Blog for my Geog 102 class... Don't really know what all needs to be in here, but this is the first post... more to come later...