At last! Version 13 of my now memorized tour of remote islands and locations in Google's Earth. It contains 9o-some percent of the discriptive information I had intended, with the exception of Isla Pescaso, Boliva...which is a kind-of island within a sea-like salt flat, the largest in the world. Also believed to be a, mostly dried up, prehistoric lake that resides at 11,000 ft. above the median sea level.
Alright so places visited in this tour:
-SFSU
-Galapagos Islands
-Isla Pescaso, Bolivia
-Antarctica
-South Pole, Antarctica
-Tristan de Cunha
-Bouvet Island
-Migingo Island
-Motuo, China
-Sulaymaniyah, Iraq
-Ahmed Awa, Iraq
-Dikson, Russia
-Alert, Canada
-ATOW1996, closest land to the North Pole
-Bering Straat
-Red Rock Island
All of these places, with the exception of Boulet Island, ATOW 1996 and the Berring Straat (which really symobolizes more of a concept to me...migration) are inhabbited by people...well maybe the Berring Straat too...at one time- hairy, ape-like men and women groaning and screeching across frozen land with animal skin, bronze and thick souls? Yeah...A few things that got me thinking while making this tour, namely Google Earth's ability to put these remote places, not only into our view in a visual context, but also within a geographical context. This context readily makes use of macro and micro perspectives of the world and put me into a frame of mind to do some research on certain places based on their unique character from a macro perspective. For example, from a perspective somewhere in the stratosphere, the salt flats at Isla Pescaso appear as a large white spot. Similarly Lake Victoria appears to be a large black spot on the earth. As I zoomed in I discovered islands within this large lake and began searching databases for information on these islands which related to the theme of remoteness, or seclusion. What I found was a story of a border dispute that is happening in the current time, one that disputes a "border" that lies somewhere along the ripples of water created by the boatloads of fisherman who are making their living. I guess this idea of remoteness can carry over into borders, in the sense of where is it forbidden to go and for what purposes is it forbidden. Remote in this sense could be the distance two leaders can create from reaching an understanding for their countries. The posturing of their leaders to control the lucrative fishing industries that drive a portion, or in Uganda's case a large portion, of their countries economies seems to be driving these governments to further disagreement. (more info here:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/world/africa/17victoria.html). In the case of Iraq though it becomes posturing by our own government and leaders. What is seemingly a hiking adventure, becomes a complicated political matter by the fact that a country we have no "official"relations with, decided to enforce the crossing of the "border line". Most people who travel, do so under the radar of countries political agendas. I suppose in this case it's not the border that is promoting the distance between people's governments, rather, drawing attention to their differences in a matter that seemingly has nothing to do with their political differences or otherwise. When it comes down to it, isn't that why we create borders though, to logically state, with GPS acuracy, exactly where my property begins and your property ends. A sticky area for realty. One where it helps to have at least an idea of a border to discuss and then the reality that no country really wants to acknowledge a ridged boarder when it doesn't suite there interests....ahhh the hairier times...a time when we could mark out our home with foot steps and listen to the symphony of nature and predators over freeways and sirens....[?!?]
In making this tour I was also interested in checking out some virtual sights such as the Northern and Southern Poles, by coordinates of where the lines of latitude meet. I was surprised by what I found at the southern most point...as well as the story behind the northern most point of land. It seems this is the advantage to traveling virtually, a glimpse at a simulation of what the world holds. It's definitely the coolest globe I've ever used, despite the difficulty in recording this tour.
Thanks for checking it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment