National Geographic is very concerned about America’s young people and their lack of global awareness. Based on a study done in late 2006, they realized that the next generation of leaders, workers, and educators coming out of our school system are sorely lacking in basic knowledge of the world around them.

We tested the geography knowledge of 18- to 24-year-olds across the U.S. to see how much they know about our world. How did they do? More know where the TV show CSI is set than can find Iraq on a map. The survey shows that too many young Americans have a limited understanding of the world.

Appalled at the study results, National Geographic launched a project called My Wonderful World. Aimed at kids/teens, parents, and educators, the aims to “give kids the power of global knowledge.” The website has games, a blog, ways to contact lawmakers and advocate for global education, and a global IQ tester.

Test your global IQ at My Wonderful World. (I took the test last night, and missed one question about fortified borders.)

I can’t pass up an opportunity to ask: is this is the worst outfit ever worn by a sports announcer?

We love you! You bring us great pleasure in sharing our teeny weeny photo cards with others. You make use glow with pride when they remark on our cleverness.

Much to our chagrin, other recipients can’t read the itsy-bitsy writing on the backs of our totally terrific MOO mini cards. They hold the card close, then far, then say, “That’s nice.” We know they are bluffing.

Please say that you’ll make a bigger format so we can hand out our photo cards to those folks so that they don’t have to squint anymore!

Please, oh please, let the Secret Stuff be business card-sized MOO goodness!

Sending you best wishes for lots of greener pastures,

—Your happy customers

In 19, 20, 21, you will find an engaging presentation documenting the rise of supercities through recent history. Though urban growth and sprawl is the status quo today in the 21st century, we’ll all be living in even bigger cities in the near future, according to the presenters’ projections. The people behind this study hope to explore the impact of this phenomenon on our lives and our futurand convince the movers and shakers of the world to listen to this important message.

Visit 19, 20, 21 for the entire presentation on history of supercities and the exponential growth of human population. Very highly recommended.

Note: I didn’t realize that Tokyo had passed Mexico City as the largest city in the world. 35 million plus, that’s amazing!

The main reason for less podcast listening is that I can’t just sit and listen to a podcast. If I try to, my mind wanders, or I start doing something else and stop listening. Like Dean Allen mentioned in Podswollop:

Tim Bray twat something the other day which I think goes to a core problem with podcasts: they’re useless unless you’re driving, or cooking, or exercising, or doing anything at all other than thinking.

When I do have time to listen, here is what’s on my subscription list¹ (from iTunes):

• Groove Salad Taste of the Week “A weekly appetizer of new, rare and favorite music from NPR’s Groove Salad, presented by SomaFM’s Rusty Hodge.”
• Apple Quick Tip of the Week Tips and tricks for getting the most out of Mac OS X—geared towards small business owners.
• KXCI’s Mini-Programs I especially love “Growing Native” hosted by Petey Mesquitey, that was one of the highlights of my week when living in Tucson and listening to KXCI live on the air.
• The Maniacal Rage Podcast “We Put the ‘Funny’ in ‘Podcast’.” Truly a knee-slapping adventure each time. I especially work out the laugh muscles at the out-takes at the end of each program.
• Nature Stories Podcast “Weekly tales of people’s connections with the natural world” from The Nature Conservancy.
• Latino USA This is my news podcast—lots of current events coverage and commentary, primarily focused on Latino issues². One of my favorite parts is the music reviews; I’ve found five or six great bands from this show in the last six months.
• The Talk Show Dan Benjamin and John Gruber bring you the latest in Mac, technology, movies, and a variety of other topics.

• The Word Nerds Still one of my all-time favorite shows! Dave, Howard, and Howard’s podcast about language, words, and why we say the things we do.

  For fun, compare this list to my October 2005 list of podcasts. This current list has more variety and less web/technology topics.

  ¹ Though the Stephen Fry podcast is in the iTunes list, I just added it today, so it’s not described here.

  ² Though I may not look like it, I am a Mexican citizen and greatly interested in issues affecting the Latino community. ¡Si se puede!

  ]]> http://fautrever.com/2008/04/podcast-list-april-2008/feed/ 0 http://fautrever.com/2008/04/racked-mini-bike/ http://fautrever.com/2008/04/racked-mini-bike/#comments Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:01:08 +0000 Lance http://lancewillett.com/?p=64 Officially the world’s cutest use of a bike rack as seen in Solvang, California.

  

  Now if the bike rack just wasn’t on a minivan…

  ]]> http://fautrever.com/2008/04/racked-mini-bike/feed/ 0 http://fautrever.com/2008/01/goodbye-facebook/ http://fautrever.com/2008/01/goodbye-facebook/#comments Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:42:38 +0000 Lance http://lancewillett.com/blog/goodbye-facebook/ Not that long ago I cut off my short relationship with MySpace and switched to Facebook. I’m glad I did; my experience was much better.

  I jumped on the Facebook bandwagon without really knowing how I would use it. Everyone was buzzing about it—so I joined for no better reason than to see what the fuss was all about, and to have an excuse to cancel the MySpace account.

  A few weeks into it, I realized what it was good for. I could follow closely as friends and family went about their everyday lives—which was especially important for those without blogs or Twitter accounts (or those who don’t update them… ahem). It was also a great way to get back in touch with old friends from high school and college.

  I used Facebook applications to import all my non-Facebook content: photos from Flickr, updates from Twitter (“What are you doing right now?”), links from del.icio.us (work and personal), blog posts as “Notes”, and events from Upcoming. It really seemed kind of silly at that point—anyone can get that data directly from those other places, so why repeat it?

  A few more weeks into Facebook another pattern emerged: the people whose updates I was most interested in weren’t active enough to show on my radar. In contrast, those friends who weren’t high on my interest list updated incessantly, which got annoying fast—even with the custom News feed settings.

  As for those old friends that had come back into my life… well, I like you guys and want to keep in touch, but maybe I don’t need to know all the daily details? I copied all your contact details and won’t lose them this time (I promise!).

  I decided to cancel my account even before news of the Beacon catastrophe hit the interwebs, though that exposure certainly helped sealed the deal. As Jeremy Keith pointed out in Facebooked up, “the Beacon ickiness has added to my overall discomfort with Facebook.” My thoughts exactly.

  Deleting the account was simple—I just followed the instructions on WikiHow. The key is to register a new Facebook account with the same email address that you used for the first one.

  What did I learn from this experience? Facebook allowed me to connect with old friends, but it didn’t do enough that I couldn’t live without it. If you are on Twitter, Upcoming, Flickr, del.icio.us, or have a blog—I’ll find you and follow you. If you aren’t, drop me a line and I’ll help you get started.

  ]]> http://fautrever.com/2008/01/goodbye-facebook/feed/ 0 http://fautrever.com/2008/01/the-mother-truckers-come-to-tucson/ http://fautrever.com/2008/01/the-mother-truckers-come-to-tucson/#comments Sun, 20 Jan 2008 02:46:36 +0000 Lance http://lancewillett.com/blog/the-mother-truckers-come-to-tucson/ A great band Erin and I discovered in Austin, Texas, “The Mother Truckers”, are coming to Tucson next week for a free show. (Yes, it’s free). The show is a 9pm at the Club Congress. More details on Upcoming and on the Hotel Congress website.

  The Mother Truckers are a high-energy roots-rock band with a country twist. Definitely worth a listen. If you are free next Friday, we hope to see you there.

  ]]> http://fautrever.com/2008/01/the-mother-truckers-come-to-tucson/feed/ 0 http://fautrever.com/2008/01/2007-my-year-in-photos/ http://fautrever.com/2008/01/2007-my-year-in-photos/#comments Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:00:46 +0000 Lance http://lancewillett.com/blog/2007-my-year-in-photos/ Happy 2008!

  I traveled a lot in 2007, so as a tribute to the people and places visited this year, here is a sampling of photographs from the past 12 months (most recent first).

  
  December: At the Tucson Presidio with my parents (Tom and Libby).

  
  September: Pilgrimage to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

  
  August: Sea kayaking in beautiful Acadia National Park, Maine.

  
  August: Riding the Carriage Roads in Acadia.

  
  June: Watching a “crit” race in downtown Providence, Rhode Island.

  
  May: Visiting with family in Rhode Island. (L to r: Lance, Grandma Edna, my mother Libby, my wife Erin.)

  
  May: Visiting Grandpa Norman’s grave in Rhode Island with my sister Adria.

  
  May: My favorite building in Washington, D.C.: the Library of Congress.

  
  April: Riding on the beach at sunset on Jekyll Island, Georgia.

  
  April: Visiting my Grandma Ruth in Gainesville, Georgia.

  
  March: Pilgrimage to Waco, Texas to visit the Dr. Pepper Museum.

  
  January: Carving up the beach on a cold winter day along the Texas Gulf coast, near Port Aransas.

  ]]> http://fautrever.com/2008/01/2007-my-year-in-photos/feed/ 0 http://fautrever.com/2007/12/flickr-places-your-photos-on-the-map/ http://fautrever.com/2007/12/flickr-places-your-photos-on-the-map/#comments Sun, 16 Dec 2007 19:10:12 +0000 Lance http://lancewillett.com/blog/flickr-places-your-photos-on-the-map/ Flickr’s new Places shows off all the geotagging done by Flickr members:

  The Places project is our way of saying thank you to all our members who’ve taken the time to put their gorgeous photos on a map. Browse the whole globe, from your hometown to your favorite place, or places you’ve never even heard of…

  Places of interest to me:

  • Photos taken in Tucson, Arizona
  • Photos taken in Durango, México
  • Photos taken in Aix-en-Provence
  • Photos taken in Buffalo, New York
  • Photos taken in Catalina, Arizona
  ]]> http://fautrever.com/2007/12/flickr-places-your-photos-on-the-map/feed/ 0