VidMama

Maps Continue to Evolve

Physical objects are generally believed to be static. In the case of maps, this is both true and false. While a printed map can’t be changed once it comes off the press and ends up on someone’s hands, the truth is that the concept of place that a map represents is subject to constant change.

Think about the globes that most people had in their elementary school classrooms. A fair number of the countries depicted on a globe from twenty or thirty years ago have now changed. The fall of the USSR and the Berlin Wall saw to that, as did decades of civil wars and revolutions in Africa and southeast Asia. Countries rise and fall and are renamed on a regular basis. This requires maps to be revised and replaced with new versions.

Aside from political machinations and changing governments, the actual geography of the world is subject to alterations. Shifting tectonic plates result in the creation of mountains and volcanoes. Both nature and man are able to manufacture new islands. Land is also changed by movement of rivers, erosion, and the rising and falling of the oceans. And don’t forget that earthquakes can cause land to move, just as Japan did as a result of the 2011 quake.

In these cases, as well as those in which new roads, bodies of water, or even towns and cities are built, a digital map has an advantage over physical maps, because it can be constantly updated to reflect changes of all kinds.

Tags: digital map

Psychology at Work in the Legal System

Psychology is the study of the human psyche. Understanding how the human mind works, what motivates it and being able to predict, to a degree, the likely actions of an individual based on their behavioral patterns, personality , and other considerations is the stuff of applied psychology. These specialists deal with human behavior in practice, not theory. Many of them have found a home in the legal system, helping assist the judicial process at every stage.

Law enforcement agencies, courts, prisons, and related organizations have all found uses for forensic psychologists. Individuals who successfully complete a forensic psychology graduate program will find their advanced skills in demand in a wide variety of positions and can choose to work in whatever part of the system appeals most to their personality and career goals.

Some common jobs for psychologists in the legal system:

• criminal profiler
• expert witness
• court psychologist conducting evaluations of victims, criminals, and other parties involved in court cases
• staff psychologist in charge of evaluating employees and offering counseling services
• prison psychologist
• working with parolees and those on probation
• counseling victims individually or in support groups
• administering programs to address the needs of communities with high crime rate and/or helping at risk populations.

Tags: personality

LA Theme Parks

It’s impossible to know how many families travel to Los Angeles every year just to visit the area’s many theme and water parks. No doubt the number would be very high, if it could be calculated. With four major theme parks and four large water parks all within easy distance of the Los Angeles Airport, it’s clear that many of the families making use of the shuttle to LAX services are headed to one or more of the parks.

Knott’s Berry Farm holds the distinction of being the oldest theme park in the United States. It was also the first theme park to open in America. It features modern rides as well as a recreation of a ghost town circa 1880.

The big kahuna of theme parks is, of course, Disneyland. Founded in 1955, it was the first Disney park. In 2001 the California Adventure Park opened, providing a much needed expansion of the park and featuring a back lot tour.

Universal Studios is the other park with a Hollywood connection. The Studio Tour is part movie history, part ride and the premiere attraction at Universal. There are also movie-based rides, shops, and entertainment.

Located in the San Fernando Valley is Six Flags Magic Mountain. It has some of the most popular and famous rides in the country. The park encompasses the Warner Brothers Theme Park, with rides based on Warner Brothers Films.

The four water parks in the area are Knott’s Soak City and Hurricane Harbor Water Park (part of Six Flags), Wild River Waterpark, and Raging Waters which is the largest water park in California.

Tags: california adventure park