Must-Do and Dream List 2012

National Geographic's Travel page has published the 2012 Dream List and Must Do List.  They pick 20 athletes or explorers to tell NatGeo what their dream trip is, and what their must-do trip is.  While none of the trips are plausible for the average NatGeo reader, they recommend we start with the Must-do list.  The layout of the list is a little confusing, and will take you forever to get through if you have a slow internet connection so I'm outlining the list: 

Enric Sala, Marine Ecologist and Diver 

Dream: Dive the Poles

Must:  Dive Cocos Islands

Alex Honnold, Climber

Dream: Climbing Odyssey in Southeast Asia, Australia

Must: Climb Geyikbayiri, Turkey

Jill Kintner, Mountain Biker

Dream: Mountain bike New Zealand

Must: Mountain bike Morzine, france

Chris Davenport, Big-Mountain Skier

Dream: Ski South Georgia Mountain

Must: Ski Mount Ranier

Ueli Steck, Speed Alpinist

Dream: Climb in the Himalaya

Must:  Climb the Swiss Alps

Ben Stookesberry, Whitewater Kayaker

Dream: Kayak the Entire Yarlung Tsangpo, Tibet

Must: Raft the Siang River, India 

Will Gadd, Ice Climber

Dream: Ice Climb Baffin Island and Greenland 

Must: Ice Climb Rjukan, Norway 

Kenny Broad, Cave Diver

Dream: Dive and Surf from Florida to the Bahamas

Must:Dive Caves in the Yucatan 

Steph Davis, Climber

Dream: BASE Jump Off Shipton Spire, Pakistan
Must: Climb the Diamond, Longs Peak, Colorado

Jennifer Pharr Davis, Speed Hiker

Dream: Hike the Continental Divide Trail
Must: Hike the GR 20, Corsica, France

Candice Appleby, Stand-Up Paddleboarder

Dream: Stand-Up Paddleboard Peru
Must: Stand-Up Paddleboard Oahu, Hawaii

Gretchen Bleiler, Snowboarder

Dream: Snowboard the Himalayas
Must: Heli-Ski the Selkirks

Will Steger, Polar Explorer

Dream: Traverse the High Arctic, Canada

Must: Dogsled Minnesota

Kristin Armstrong, Road Cyclist

Dream: Bike the Highest Roads in Western Europe

Must: Bike through Tuscany, Italy

Lynsey Dyer, Big-Mountain Skier

Dream: Ski Road Trip to the Powder High Way, US, Canada

Must: Ski Jackson Hole, Wyoming 

Layne Beachley, Surfer

Dream: Surfing Circumnavigation of the Earth

Must: Surf Mentawai Islands

Andrew Skurka, Long-Distance Hiker

Dream: Arctic Traverse
Must-Do: Pacific Northwest Trail

Sarah McNair-Landry, Kite Skier

Dream: Traverse Kamchatka, Russia »
Must-Do: Polar Survival Course, Canada »

Freya Hoffmeister, Sea Kayaker

Dream: Kayak South America »
Must-Do: Kayak Vancouver Island » 

Ed Viesturs, Mountaineer

Dream: Ski to the South Pole »
Must-Do: Climb Mount Rainier »

Now, the Musts are supposed to be slightly easier, and considering the Dream List, they seem like a piece of cake, but man, oh man.  Are those some tall orders!

 

 

National Geographic for iPad

I just bought a year's subscription to National Geographic for iPad for  $19.99.  When I first downloaded it, it didn't work.  I had to uninstall in and then download it again.  It was kind of annoying, but once it started working it was great.  Every once in a while it does freeze though, which is extremely annoying The download came with a free daily update about Conrad Anker, Cory Richard, and Mark Jenkins' excursion to Everest.

A great thing about the app is that it makes it really easy to move around the magazine.  In other magazine apps, there's no easy way to go from page 15-140.  You have to flip through all those pages, and for me, that's annoying.  With National Geographic, there's a scroll bar so that you can jump around, and there's also a table of contents with photos and story summaries.  Then you just tap a photo and you're at the story! 

Another great feature is nationalgeographic.com which links to their twitter feed and has updates all the time.

I read a story in it about a bird called a manakin that makes a humming sound with its wings that sounds like a violin.  There was also a video to go with it and it is ridiculously cute.  To woo his mate, the male manakin moon walks on branches while making a ticking noise.

And one more cute thing:

EPILOGUE:

After writing this post, I went to NationalGeographic.com and saw this.  If you can't see it, I'll tell you what it says! it says that you can now get the printed edition, the ipad edition, and the online archives for only $19.99.  This deal was not up yesterday, and I payed $19.99 for just the iPad app. 

Open Mic Night for Honduras

Everyone loves an open mic night, especially when it’s for a good cause, and last weekend’s Open Mic Night for Honduras went to a great cause. 

The event was hosted by BU Global Medical Brigade, and the suggested $3 donation will go towards purchasing medications to stock the clinics that the group set up in Honduras.   This is their eighth fundraising event of the semester, enabling them to surpass their $4000 semester goal. 

Open Mic Night for Honduras was preceded by an a capella concert with performances by BU, BC, and local high school groups, a zumba class, a yoga class, an auction for Red Sox and Bruins memorabilia and MCAT review courses, Dance for Honduras (a hip-hop workshop led by some club members), a 3-on-3 basketball tournament called Hoops for Honduras, and an Agganis Arena clean-up.  In addition, they have several ongoing fundraisers like selling bracelets and pins. 

“It was wonderful having the turnout we did last night at our open mic night, as it enabled us not only to raise money for the May brigade, but to share the mission of Global Medical Brigades, empowering others, with our BU community,” said Katelin Blackburn, who is on the e-board. 

Brainstormed by the Global Medical Brigade’s fundraising committee, open mic night was originally envisioned to be a Night of Comedy for Honduras, and the club sent emails to improv troupe Liquid Fun and BU’s Funniest Kid, Cody Brotter.  But as word spread from the members to their friends, interest was gained from all sorts of performers, including spoken word poems, rappers, and BU Off Broadway.

Biannually, a group of 40 undergraduate Brigaders travel to Honduras with medical professionals to promote sustainable health care.  They spend a week in January and May traveling to rural areas around Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, setting up temporary clinics where people can receive free medical treatment.   BU Global Medical Brigade began going to Honduras in 2008 and since then has treated over 10,000 patients in rural villages.  They work with one of the country’s most highly regarded nonprofits, Sociedad Amigos de los Niños led by Sister Maria Rosa Leggol, a recent nominee of the Nobel Peace Prize. 

For each trip, they recruit students, nurses, residents, pharmacists, dentists and doctors to volunteer.  The trip costs $750 for the week plus airfare which typically ranges from $600 to $900.

“There’s still so much that needs to be done before sustainable health care is a reality for Honduras without the help of organizations like Global Medical Brigades,” said Blackburn. “Honduras is the second poorest nation in Central America, with only seven hospital beds for every 10,000 individuals, and access to health care a luxury that the majority of the rural populations never get a chance to access.”

Blackburn, a pre-med sophomore at BU, went on her first trip to Honduras last year and described it as life changing. 

“It was such an amazing opportunity,” she said.  “The patients we saw, their gratefulness has really been a driving force for me becoming a doctor.  The people are just inspiring.”

BU Medical Brigade is just one chapter of Global Medical Brigade, the world’s largest student-led global health and sustainable development organizations.  The Medical Brigade is the oldest discipline under the Global Brigade umbrella organization, with other issues including water, public health, environment and business.

Follow this event on twitter: @Kristakano #omnhonduras

  My response post-show:

Nine Planets

This week, Nat Geo featured an article about a solar system that may have more planets than the sun, making it the most populous solar system yet found.  It’s 127 light-years from Earth, and likely doesn’t have any planets that could support life. 

The sun-like star in the southern constellation Hydrus first made headlines in 2010 when they confirmed five planets and two more planetary candidates.  Now there are two more planet candidates, bringing the grand total to nine.  Remember when our solar system had nine? RIP Pluto. 

I was hoping to compare this story with other news outlets, but I actually couldn’t find any American news sources that reported on the new finds.  I found a short 100-word article on an Italian website and a slightly longer one on a French website.  Actually as I was writing this, I also found a story on Discovery News that appeared a week ago and is great. 

Early indications imply that the two new planets are slightly larger than Earth with rocky surfaces, but it’s too far for us to actually see.  So instead astronomers detected them by measuring their gravitational tug on the host star. 

The planets that they’ve already determined are 12-25 times the size of Earth, which means that they are probably more like Uranus or Neptune, making them incapable of supporting life. 

One of the newly confirmed planets is 65 times the size of Earth and the other is 1.3 times the mass of Earth and circles very close to the star. 

The new unconfirmed planets have extremely tight orbits (10 and 69 days) so they’re unlikely to host life. 

Students find alternative transportation in response to T fare hikes

The Green B Line runs through Boston University, and as a result, is one of the main forms of transportation for BU students. But now with 23 percent fare hikes approved by the MBTA on Wednesday, Boston University students will pay more to ride the T or will have to find alternative forms of transportation when they return in the Fall. These changes will go into effect on July 1, 2012, so those staying in or around the city for the summer will feel the squeeze even sooner.

After months of heated public debates, Tuesday's Occupy the T protest took to the steps of the Statehouse, representing the sentiments of many Boston residents upset with the price increase. BU students may be just as angry when the prices of BU's Fall 2012 T pass are released on May 1. 

The Blandford Street T stop

All of these changes mean that the price of BU’s discounted Semester T pass, priced at $210.04 for Spring 2012,  will likely rise, according to Timothy Dunn, Office Manager of Parking and Transportation Services at BU.  

“They’ve never increased the price in the six years I’ve been here, but with this fare increase we’d probably see a price increase,” he said.  

There will be an overall fare hike of 30 cents per ride on the T and 25 cents on the bus, bringing prices up to $2.00 and $1.50 respectively. Luckily, none of the approved service cuts will directly affect the BU campus, but students venturing off campus will notice the elimination of weekend service on some E line stops, and cuts or route changes to bus lines in other parts of the city. 

Local students and faculty who commute to campus, or students who will commute to a summer internship in the city are facing an increase of $1.25 per commuter rail ride, making the total $10.50 each way. However, even with this increase, Boston commuter rail is still cheaper than New York City, the NJ Transit, LA, San Francisco, and Washington DC.  

The BU Shuttle route.

How will students respond to these changes? Many students will likely continue to ride the T, but perhaps some will look for alternative modes of transportation. In addition to walking, using the free BU Shuttle service, and riding their own bikes, more students might consider taking advantage of the new public Hubway bike stations on campus and around the city.

A Hubway bike station at Marsh Plaza

Since the launch of Hubway bikes in July 2011, four stations have appeared along BU’s campus:  one in front of the St. Paul Street T stop, one in front of Marsh Plaza, one at Kenmore Square and another on Beacon St. near Danielsen.  In total, there are 600 bikes at 60 stations around Boston. 

There are four Hubway Bike stations along BU's campus and several more in the surrounding area.

Hubway bikes are free for the first 30 minutes, which may appeal to people with a short commute.  It costs $2.00 after the first 30 minutes, and $6.00 after an hour. An annual membership costs $85, considerably less than the cost of riding the T for a year.  Hubway riders also have the option of simply paying for an entire day of riding, or for three days.

Riding bikes is already a popular mode of transportation at BU, with a registered 1400 bikes and 231 bike racks around campus, providing 3140 spaces for bike parking, according to Dunn.

With increased tuition and housing fees next year, the T prices are yet another unexpected cost of studying at BU.

Students walking on Commonwealth Avenue

Video Diary 1

Iceberg! Right ahead!

Lately it feels like everything I blog about relates to James Cameron, but it’s for good reason.  Sure he went to the deepest point in the ocean, but he also directed 1997’s Titanic starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, which was the highest-grossing film in history for 12 years, until Avatar, also written and directed by Cameron, surpassed it in 2010. And as the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic is only ten days away, and because Titanic the movie was rereleased in IMAX 3D, and 2D last night, news outlets everywhere, including National Geographic, are posting stories to commemorate the sinking. 

National Geographic’s main story today is “Titanic would encounter more icebergs today?” discussing how if the Titanic sailed today, it would actually encounter more icebergs than it did when it departed in 1912.  It’s a feature-y story that takes a new look at the sinking by focusing on how the northern Atlantic has changed today, and asking if the changes could be caused by global warming.  Definitely not a story you’d find anywhere but National Geographic. 

According to the article, melting glaciers and ice sheets shed 100-200 gigatons , a kilometer cubed, of ice each year, and all those ice cubes likely add up to more icebergs, but those can’t necessarily be correlated with global warming.  There are however a few examples of warmer temperatures making for icebergs, like Antarctica’s Larsen B ice shelf which lost huge masses to the ocean.

But, the article also tells us that an increase in icebergs today wouldn’t endanger the modern vessels since ships today use radar that can spot floating ice masses miles away, unlike in Titanic’s day when it was just two guys sitting in the crow’s nest in the middle of the night.  Remember the scene in the movie when Jack and Rose have just run out of the boiler room, and the two guys in the crow’s nest are watching them, say something along the lines of “bleedin love!” and then spot the iceberg?  If not, here’s a refresher:

My favorite part of this story though is the ending because it leaves us with a call to action. Jeremy Bassis, a glaciologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is quoted heavily in the story, so it’s right that the story ends with his quote:

“ ‘People changed their behavior in response to the Titanic catastrophe,’ he said—for example by providing more lifeboats on cruise ships.  Adopting new habits, he said, is ‘one of the things we need to start doing more of in the climate change realm.’”

On Thursday March 22, I went to BU Central’s BU For Show, an open mic night hosted on the third Thursday of each month.  That night, 12 acts signed up to perform, but a BU Central general manager Reese Lichtenstein, told me that the most acts they’ve ever had is 28.  She said that when there are 28 sign ups, they stay until everyone has a chance to perform.  They’ll cut the performers time slots from six minutes to four, but even so, they’ll still end up staying until 1 am to hear the final performance.  Though there are a few regulars, most of the performers are new every week, which made me realize how many talented BU students there are. 

 

But it also seemed strange to me.  At least in my high school, people tended to know what other students were capable of.  Many of us had known each other since elementary school, so we knew what talents people had because we saw them develop those talents.  In college, people have usually already developed their talents, and unless they perform with a BU organization (and as a result have a wardrobe filled with hoodies, t-shirts and sweats), you wouldn’t even know.  I have a friend Pratik who I’ve known for two years, and just found out he ended up at BU because he received a full ride for playing the violin.  I didn’t even know he could play the violin!

My point is, that I don’t think people are proud enough of their amazing talents, and I’m really happy that BU For Show and other Open Mic Nights are available around campus.  The night I went, I was shocked by how talented everyone was, and even more impressed by the fact that they were able to get up on a stage and do their act to a full audience.   Not all were great performances, but I loved that the performer’s confidence seemed to grow from the experience rather than diminish.   I think a lot of that had to do with the audience, too.  I was honestly expecting a heckler or two in the audience, but every person in that audience was supportive of the person who was on stage, which is just incredible. 

The first two performers were Kevin Liang and Gabe Chin, both rappers, both Asian.  Yes, the audience seemed a little skeptical at first, but as soon as they started the audience just went nuts. These guys were both incredibly talented and the amount of applause they received was well deserved.  Four comedians performed including Sameer Farooq, James Sutton, Synyoung Li and Jon Gaudet.  I didn’t think all were hilarious, but each one had their moments.  I think stand up is incredibly challenging: how do you make a room of strangers laugh?  So I still respect all four for having the courage to get up on stage and perform. Two bands performed and one featured a cajon, which is a percussion instrument you sit on.  I'd only seen it once before, and was excited to see it again.  

Everyone was so talented, but there were three gems of the night for me.  The first was Rose O’Connell-Marion, who played guitar and sang, though because of her tiny voice I couldn’t hear her say the name of the song she was performing.  The reason I loved her performance was that she’s a coworkers girlfriend who I have seen plenty of times this year, and I had no idea she could sing or play guitar.  It’s always exciting for me to get to see someone in a new light.  Second, was Rich Rakowski who played the accordion and told me that he’s only been playing for six years because he’s Polish, but his older brothers could play so he never had to know how to, but after his brothers left for college his family needed someone else to entertain them at parties so Rich had to learn.  He played a tango and Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up. "And last, but certainly not least (no, seriously, this girl was my favorite of the night), was Ilana Berman, who rapped about WWI.   Over 6 ft., she’s slightly awkward, but when she started rapping she began to exude something that could only be described as swagger. 

Overall, I think people’s talents should be acknowledged and displayed, and I think BU For Show is an amazing outlet for that.  

Want to attend a BU Central performance? Check out their calendar!  It's usually free and includes free food!  http://bucentral.wordpress.com/calendar/

I know I already wrote about this, but I just want to revisit James Cameron's journey to the deepest part of the ocean, because on Monday March 26, he actually did it!  And he broke a world record for the deepest solo dive.  Pretty amazing.

Here's the video from the NatGeo website:  http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/environment-news/cameron-deepest-dive-record-vin/

He went to The Challenger Deep, which is a small part of the Mariana Trench that's 50 times bigger than the Grand Canyon.  Even as someone who has never been to the Grand Canyon, I know that's gigantic.

Another interesting thing from that video, Cameron says that the entire sub he was in shrinks 3 inches under water because of all the pressure, and that he could actually see the walls pushing in towards him.  I can't imagine having a wall move towards me for 20 minutes, let alone the couple hours Cameron was in that submarine.

Today, the Christian Science Monitor called him a "Modern Day Jules Vernes," in a story discussing Cameron's remarkable journey and also the possibility of making this journey available as one day adventures for scientists or even commercial passengers with exceptionally deep pockets.  One ticket would cost as much as $250,000, which is more than my college tuition.  The company trying to make this happen is Triton Submarines in Vero Beach, Florida, and they're working on a reality show focused on their progress.

The article also quotes the company's VP Marc Deppe, who says "We want kids carrying submarine lunchboxes to school, wearing submarine shirts.  When you're a kid and you see something cool, that's what sells the dream." Not sure how I feel about that quote.  Of course I'm all for kids dreaming, who isn't?  But exactly which dream is he trying to sell?  I'm sure the company's all about exploration, but they're main goal has to be profit, and it just seems a little wrong to be selling kids the dream of getting in a submarine, when they're planning to charge $250,000 per trip.

James Cameron's Deep Sea Challenge

I'm a big James Cameron fan for one reason, and one reason only: Titanic.  But after reading a profile on him in the New Yorker called "A Man of Extremes," I've had mixed emotions on him.  True, he's a genius of visual effects, but he's also one of the most arrogant men I've ever read about.

Today, National Geographic reminded me why I love him so much.  Sure he's arrogant, but lets face it.  He has a right to be.

Cameron, an Explorer in Residence since 2011, is teaming up with National Geographic for a deep sea dive that hasn't been attempted in 52 years.  His project is called the Deep Sea Challenge (LINK!), and for it, Cameron is going to be diving in a submarine that he and his team built to the deepest point in the ocean, the Marina Trench 7 miles below.  Just to give some perspective, if you put Mount Everest at the bottom of the Marina Trench, even the tip wouldn't be visible above water. 

It's a 1-man sub that's outfitted with 3D cameras, because of course, he's making a movie on it which will air on the National Geographic Channel.  I can't wait! Although I am slightly disappointed I'll have to watch it on my 18 inch tv instead of the big screen.

In addition to filming, Cameron also says he's doing it in the name of science, since the species that live that deep in the ocean aren't well understood (how could they be?  the last time a human visited them was in 1960), and he hopes to shed some light (literally) on the subject.

He's supposed to make the dive in a couple weeks.  No where on the website does it say specifically when he'll be leaving. 

But lets talk about the website, because it's absolutely incredible.  The coolest part in my opinion is the moving background.  On the sides of the screen are measurements of how deep into the ocean Cameron will be diving, and as you scroll, you go deeper and deeper.  But in the background is a photo of the submarine that travels down with you.  So cool, I just scrolled up and down for a while.  What's also cool is that as you travel down, the animal life changes as well, from typical fish, to jelly fish, to the weird glowing fish.  I'm not sure scientifically how accurate that is, but I think its safe to assume that since its National Geographic, it's pretty accurate.  Just look how great the design is:

Here's another link to a video of Cameron talking about the dive: James Cameron to Dive to Ocean's Deepest Point. 

This is definitely a story I'm going to be following.  I hope all goes well and I can't wait to see the finished product! 

Freshmen perform at Warren Towers Open Mic Night

A Day in the Life of an RA, Simon Maharai on call

This week I decided to wander away from the National Geographic home page and into the travel section of the webpage. 

In the travel section there's a page called "Top 10" which provides a variety of top 10 lists including "Top 10 Food Road Trips" (featuring the Vermont Cheese Trail, Pumpkin Patch Harvest Days in Pennsylvania and the best peaches in Georgia), Top 10 things to do in Japan, and top 10 elevator rides.

The great thing about these top 10 lists is that they integrate so many parts of the National Geographic Company.  While you can definitely see the entire list and get information and a link for each place, the site also lets you know that its an excerpt from a National Geographic book.  In addition, each list has a main photo attached to it which is almost always attributed to a National Geographic reader as a "Your Shot" photo.  Like this one in the Top 10 Elevator Rides page.  

The Top 10 list that most caught my eye though, was Top 10 Places for Chocolate.  Happily, I've actually been to one of the places on the list!  Max Brenner's in NYC is #3 on the list.  I went to the one on Boylston St. in Boston, but I've heard from people who've been to both that they are practically identical.  I had a three-part dessert: hot chocolate, chocolate cake, chocolate fondue.  That was all in one dessert.  And it was glorious.  There's a place on the list called Chocolate and Churros in Madrid Spain that sounds incredible, but I think the next place I'll hit up on the list is another NYC location called Magnolia Bakery, which has actually been featured on Sex and the City and anywhere that's okayed by Carrie Bradshaw, is okay by me. 

Happy (belated) Valentines!  To celebrate, lets take a look at National Geographic's Valentine's Day coverage.  I'll be eating chocolate (from my mom) while doing this. 

NG's main story this year was called "Valentine's Day: Why Do We Celebrate It? (Hint: Naked Romans)," certainly an eye-catching headline.  In true NG form, it goes a lot into the history, or in this case lore, of the holiday. 

My favorite quote from the story:

"The lovers' holiday traces its roots to raucous annual Roman festivals where men stripped naked, grabbed goat- or dog-skin whips, and spanked young maidens in hopes of increasing their fertility, said classics professor Noel Lenski of the University of Colorado at Boulder." 

Ahh romance. 

Then in the third century AD, according to the article,Roman Emperor Claudius II decides to forbid young men to marry in an effort to strengthen his army.  According to legend, Valentine went against the emperor and secretly performed marriages.  And then of course was killed for it.  Hence, St. Valentine's Day.

The story then moves to present day discussing the economics of the holiday, (people are spending more money this year than they did last year which could be a sign that the economy is improving or may signify that people are overcompensating) and the mob mentality that makes people feel like they have to buy lots of chocolates and roses and greeting cards and fancy dinners.

But then the real gem of this article is about half way down the story with a link to a photo gallery of animal pairs being cute.  

All are adorable, but the winner has to be the dog licking the baby goat:

Credit: nationalgeographic.com, photo by Eric Winters, My Shot

In today's Daily News on the NatGeo website, the most popular story is " 'Supergiant,' Shrimp-Like Beasts Found in Deep Sea.  It's a crazy story about these foot-long, milky white, shrimp-like creatures that a group of people found off the coast of New Zealand.  Their main story was 5 paragraphs and was accompanied by a photo.  The story was linked to a photo gallery and each photo's caption gave new information.  The NatGeo story was pretty sparse compared to how they typically report, and it made me wonder if their reporter didn't have the access they normally do, or if it was a rush job.  I started looking at how other news organizations were handling the story and here's what I found...

CNN:  I liked CNN's coverage of the amphipods better than the NatGeo version.  CNN's coverage came with a video interviewing the principal scientist, Ashley Rowden and Anne-Nina Lorz, and amphipod specialist.  Here's a link to the story:  http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/03/supergiant-shrimplike-creatures-found-off-new-zealand/


That's it.  Really no other coverage of these crazy giant albino-looking shrimp things!  I couldn't believe it.  But it also made me appreciate the National Geographic coverage even more. 

National Geographic did what it always does really well:  allow the reader to explore different parts of their website while reading the story.  The story links to the New Zealand page of travel.nationalgeographic.com, the faculty blog page of Alan Jamieson who was a co-leader on the expedition, ocean.nationalgeographic.com and many more sites. 

National Geographic's Thursday coverage of Groundhog Day was surprisingly extensive.  While it covered all of the news aspects of Groundhog Day 2012, it also went heavily into the history of Groundhog Day and the origins of the tradition, something that the readers of National Geographic definitely appreciate.

A photo with a link to the story was the first photo on the main carousel of NatGeo's home page.  Perhaps as a result, it was the most viewed story on February 2. 

Nationalgeographic.com homepage

Clicking on the picture leads to the main story

Groundhog Day 2012: Punxsutawney Phil's Forecast Is In

"Immortal" rodent says six more weeks of winter, according to handlers.

The body of the story is loaded with outside links to groundhog.org (the official Groundhog Day website), punxsutawneyspirit.com (the hometown newspaper), and ncdc.noaa.org (National Climate Data Center).  However, most of the links are to other parts of the National Geographic website.  Also notice that the links don't have a hover feature that would allow you to see where the link is going before you click on it.  In other words, if you want to see where the link goes, you have to click it.  That probably pumps up the number of hits each section of Nationalgeographic.com gets daily (as NatGeo readers tend to be curious and want to know everything), and its just from this one story.  The links open in the same window, so every time you click a link, you have the hit "back" to get back to the original story, which is kind of annoying.  At the same time, I kept clicking the links, so I guess it wasn't that much of a deterrent.  Inside links include the page for the groundhog on animals.nationalgeographic.com, a map of Punxsutawney, PA on maps.nationalgeographic.com, links to previously written stories, to videos, and to photo galleries. There is also a link to set a National Geographic photo of a groundhog as your wallpaper.




The link to the photogallery redirects you to news.nationalgeographic.com.  The photo carousel has 8 photos (none of which are actual National Geographic photos), and underneath each photo is an excerpt from the main story, plus some additional info that you didn't get from the main story.  One of the photos is actually attributed to Your Shot, which is a section of the website where readers can upload their own photos, which could potentially be published in National Geographic Magazine.

Overall, a great article with excellent integration of other parts of nationalgeographic.com.

I'll be tracking nationalgeographic.com, which is one of my favorite websites.  I like it because it's such a vibrant and interactive website.  There's a page called "Your Shot" where readers can send in their own photos and see them on the website.  The winners of the photo contest also get their photos turned into online jigsaw puzzles that other readers can complete.

National Geographic Magazine is, of course, known for its photos and the website continues that tradition with photo carousel for many of the major stories.  Stories about animals or archaeological artifacts, however, usually feature photos with a single object against a blank white or black background.  So the pictures themselves don't really tell a story, instead they accompany a (usually) very well-written story to give the reader an idea of what the author is talking about, but to still use their imagination a little to put the animal or artifact where ever they want in their minds.