Module 2a Assignment— Explore a couple of things listed below: 1) Welcome Home to the new Google Earth (Links to an external site.) 2) Here's to You: 15 Years of Google Earth Stories (Links to an external site.) 3) Explore a Voyager Story: Turning the Tide for Whale Sharks (Links to an external site.) 4) Explore a user created story: Free Shipping. Discussion Prompt: What are some interesting things you noticed about Google Earth? What do you like about Google Earth? Did anything draw your attention from the two articles? ********************************************************* Doing this Assignment "Module 2a" in HTML 1) Welcome Home to the new Google Earth I was introduced to "Google Earth" by one of its creators at the Stanford Accelerating Change Conference in November 5-7, 2004. The audience was wowed by the image of spherical Earth, as he zoomed in to North America, U.S., California, Palo Alto, Stanford University, Tressider Student Union where our meeting was held. He showed the parking lot outside, and even his backyard, that no one has stolen his barbecue grill. While impressed at Google Earth, I've rarely used it in my work. I was impressed by their 56-seconds video showing earthly terrains, canyons, snow-capped mountains, Empire State Building in New York City. 2) Here's to You: 15 Years of Google Earth Stories There are 15 interesting Google Earth stories showcased. I enjoyed Story 1: Responding to natural disasters (Hurricane Katrina imagery in Google Earth helped support rescue efforts & relief operations); Story 2: Taking virtual field trips (Will use for "European Poetry Journey: Points of Inspiration Places where poets had their moments of illumination"; Story 7: Protecting elephants from poachers (Good that Google Earth is preventing poachers from killing elephants for their ivory.); Story 14: First ever picture of a black hole [Recall reading about this in Nature (April 11, 2019); Not aware Google Earth played a crucial role]. 3) Explore a Voyager Story: Turning the Tide for Whale Sharks The elusive whale shark Rhincodon typus is the largest fish in the world. The largest confirmed individual had a length of 62 ft. Whale sharks have very large mouths and are filter feeders. They feed almost exclusively on plankton and small fishes, & pose no threat to humans. It was discovered quite late in 1828. This Voyager Story tells about how the Indian state of Gujarat is protecting Whale Sharks after 1800 were killed (1989-1998) and 591 killed (1999-2001). Whale sharks have been tagged to study their migratory movements. 4) Explore a user created story: Free Shipping When I saw "Free Shipping", thought it as about groceries chains competing with their free shipping offers, or Amazon Prime's special deals. Turned out it's about Henry Box Brown (1816-1889). He constructed a wooden crate 3 ft long, 2 ft 6 in. deep with two air holes. He obtained a legal freight contract from Adams Express, & help from Philadelphia abolitionists. Package was a heavy wooden box holding Brown's 200 pounds. Loaded himself in Richmond on March 22, 1849, arriving in Philadelphia on March 30, in his 250 miles escape to freedom. | Top | Module 1 | Orientation | Haikus 2021 | Poems 2021 | Nature Walks | Interesting News | Books | A-Z Portals | Home | © Peter Y. Chou, Wisdom Portal P.O. Box 390707, Mountain View, CA 94039 email: (3-13-2021)