Forget Grading Stats Homework, The Tingler is on TCM

My all time favorite Halloween is on in 20 minutes on Turner Classic Movies. Here is the preview:

Directed by William Castle, watch it and be prepared for the color sequence.

There is an early use of LSD in the movie so it would be rated PG I suspect.

Travel to and From stage of Recreation Experience

I like to plan trips. The challenge of trying to find the best deal in time and money is something I like to do.

Now, to get the the island of Martinique for The Changing World of Coastal, Island and Tropical Tourism conference is a bit of a challenge.

Since I prefer to fly out of Hartford (BDL) there are few if any direct flights to the Caribbean or Central America, places I like to winter. But I can get to Miami (MIA) of San Juan (SJU) and from these airports I can get anywhere I want.

Can I use frequent flyer miles? I try to when I can, but sometimes you need to balance the flight time with the cost savings. Last time I looked I could use miles to get to Martinique but since it is high season, the return flight took two days. Spending the night in San Juan is not bad (I've done it before due to mechanical problems) but after the trip, I want to get home to Biscuit.

There are essentially three choices to get to Martinique. 1. Use American Airlines. 2. Use a combo of airlines to get to the islands. 3. Fly from Paris (ORD).

Forget the last choice; the last time their was no fun. For these second, I have found that many foreign based airlines are quite good but in this case the costs are quite high. So it is likely we will fly American, not use miles and relax.

Ah the travel to and from Stage of the Recreation Experience!

Halloween and horror movies

Every fall, I show one of my 16mm prints of a horror or sci fi film for Halloween. This year we are also collecting food for the local food pantry.

This title is a classic one with brain creatures (see the last 10 minutes).

I am sure that your local library or school will be sponsoring some safe Halloween event for young and old alike. Maybe even the Fiend without a Face!

Fright Tourism and Salem Mass

Salem, Massachusetts. Home of the infamous witch trials. Is it something the City wants, or is it something the City Leaders would like to put behind them. In either case, the commercial exploitation of fright tourism, under the umbrella of Dark Tourism seems to be something that will live on (like a zombie eh?).

The Tourism Futures website has posted our Fright Tourism paper for all you Ghouls out there at:

http://www.tourism-futures.org/content/view/1394/273/ or you can find the original at:

http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/newtown_square/publications/technical_reports/pdfs/2005/326papers/bristow326.pdf

enjoy this Halloween Season!

Mama Juana

Now, I believe the recreational use of drink or whatever is fine. But when I first heard about Mama Juana, my ears popped up. I said what?!

Well, it is basically herbs and bark soaked in Rum, so I guess any drink concoction with booze and vegetable matter could be a recreational drink. Does this picture look appealing? I don't know. For all I know they could be soaking poison ivy in the Rum.

Cultural Geography and Recreation

I am always looking for short little videos to show my students and when I can use my own clips, I will do so. But when I did a google search for Recreation Geography and Video clips, I found this one: http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/9207-how-to-study-cultures-recreational-groups-video.htm

And here is one I do for Archeology Tourism:

Dark Tourism in Mexico

Got an email from Prof. Phillip Stone, Dark Tourism Researcher and the following link:

http://www.relax.com.sg/relax/news/444550.html

Seems folks want to visit slums in Tepita, "notorious for drug deals, underage prostitution and pirated goods," or pretend to be a refuge travelling at night to cross borders.

Forget Cerveza Fria, go without.

Anticipation Stage of the Recreation Experience

Three months to go until we head south to Martinique for the conference, sponsored, in part by the Commission on the Geography of Tourism, Leisure and Global Change of the International Geographical Union.

So like any good geographer, I am studying maps, using Google Earth, and reading books on this island. Ahhhh, an arm chair geographer sitting in front of a computer!

Maps besides small scale ones, are hard to come by. I found some available on Amazon and am searching for GIS layers so I can at least create some maps.

I have also used google.fr to help find information, since google.com doesn't provide as much French language information.

another nice weekend in New England

Could it be cyclogenesis? According to the AMS dictionary (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=cyclogenesis1) is is "to the development of cyclonic circulation" Makes sense eh?

There is a whole mess of good sites out there on the subject. See for example:

http://msx4.pha.jhu.edu/ssip/asat_int/cyclogen.html and

http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/weather_systems/cyclogenesis.html

My point of this is that I predict that next weekend (16-17 Oct 2010) it will be a clear weekend, or at least no rain! Why? Well cyclogenesis typically creates a cyclonic disturbance and it takes 4-7 days. That means we get into a cycle of having rain (or snow) every weekend or during the middle of the week or what ever. We get into a "cycle" of having the same kind of weather on the same days of the week. That is, until the cycle is broken. Stay tuned.

Fall Foliage Colours

It is that time of the year when we get the leaf peepers visiting our local forests. Our long weekend is planned out with a trip to the Paradise City Arts and Craft Show (http://www.paradisecityarts.com/) today and tomorrow we are heading to Worthington to visit a Sugar Shack for breakfast and maple syrup (http://highhopesmaple.com/).

yeah, I know it is not maple sugaring season, but what better reason to take a road trip and see the beautiful colors in our Berkshires.

If you are in the States see the Forest Service website for fall foliage (http://www.fs.fed.us/news/fallcolors/)

Warning Americans who travel to Europe

What about warning guests to the US of A? I mean, get ready for a warm and fuzzy (fussy?) welcome to the States.

see http://www.travel.state.gov for the latest fun!

Wet where you are?

For the States, we can monitor rainfall on a dozen websites. But what about stream flows.

See http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt for gauging stations around the country to see the local impact of this heavy precipitation.

Might be good for some water recreation this weekend?