Opening Ceremony of London Olympic 2012 and Short History

The 1908 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the IV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in 1908 in London, England, United Kingdom. These games were originally scheduled to be held in Rome. At the time they were the fifth modern Olympic Games. However, the Athens Games of 1906 have since been downgraded by the International Olympic Committee and the 1908 Games are seen as the start of the Fourth Olympiad, in keeping with the now-accepted four-year cycle. The IOC president for these Games was Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

 After a 12-year hiatus because of World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics since the 1936 Games in Berlin. The 1940 Games had been scheduled for Tokyo, and then Helsinki; the 1944 Games had been provisionally planned for London. This was the second occasion that London had hosted the O

lympic Games; the city had previously been the venue in 1908. The Olympics returned to London in 2012.

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad, also known informally as London 2012, began in London, United Kingdom, on 27 July and will continue until 12 August 2012. The first event, the group stages in women's football, began two days earlier on 25 July. Around 10,500 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are expected to participate.

Mohammad Ali 

A video clip of the ceremony with MUSE music as official song of London Olympic here in my facebook

Founder of modern Geography in Iran died

Mohammad Hassan Ganji

Mohammad Hassan Ganji Ph.D (11 June 1912 – 19 July 2012)^[2] was an Iranian meteorologist and academic. He was born in Birjand.^[3][4] He is credited as being the father of modern geography in Iran.^[5]

Ganji established the Iran Meteorological Organization in 1955 and served as the head of Iran's Department General of Meteorology from 1956 to 1968.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) awarded Dr. Ganji as the outstanding scientist of the world in 2001 to recognize his life-long efforts and achievements in his field of expertise. 

Ganji has published several books, including the Atlas of Iranian Climates as wells as over 130 articles in Persian and English. 

                                                             

WHERE'S THE HOTTEST PLACE ON EARTH?

When it comes to temperature specially surface temperature no place on earth can bit Lut desert in Iran.


Watch the video about lut

Lut desert a magnificent landscape 

 Lut  desert ( lut Kavir) is a geologically a depression. On the other word it is a low land. lowest elevation using Google Earth indicates 109 meter above sea level. But I heard from my geography teachers at Tehran university that in some  ravines they plotted a trench which only has 75 meter above sea level. So by combination of very low land plus precipitation below 100 mm , its distant from sea and very bare soil (mostly sand and clay with no vegetation at all for kilometers) , we come to conclusion that we just discovered the hottest place on earth. 

 The image was created from data collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite, which flies overhead at about 1:30 p.m. local time, close to the hottest part of the day. MODIS records land surface temperatures, which reflect how hot the ground is to the touch.

The single highest land skin temperature recorded in any year of the study was found in the Lut Desert in 2005 and measured a stunning 159.3 F (70.7 C). Lut had the highest surface temperature in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009 as well.

Global warming is true

 This is a really hot news:

The temperature hit 36.2 C at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Tuesday afternoon, breaking the previous record for July 17 of 35.2 C set last year.

Read more: http://www.cp24.com/news/temperature-soars-to-record-high-in-toronto-1.881694#ixzz20w0zuj74

This remind me global warming. The average temperature of the world increasing.

 NOAA prepared a map for month of June ,2012 which is very helpful. Red means above average. Almost all land surfaces shows above average temperature.Specially northern hemisphere with more land masses comparing to southern hemisphere shows higher values. It is noteworthy that Siberia , Greenland and north of Canada receiving higher temperature than before. In these areas glaciers and polar icebergs are reducing their sizes each year.

Above average temperatures throughout the world in June, 2012.  Courtesy  of   NOAA

      

Hot days in Toronto

Temperature hits 36.3 Celsius which with humidity you feel it like 41C. Such a high temperature is very rare in Toronto.

 Toronto has only been that hot once, when it reached 38.3 C on August 25, 1948 according to measurements at Pearson airport.

Factor in the humidex and Thursday was felt like somewhere in the mid to high 40s.

If it doesn’t quite beat 38.3 Friday July 6,2012  could still be the hottest July day on record, beating out the 37.6 C high on July 7, 1988. Temperature records at Pearson have been kept since 1937.

A temperature record was also broken on Wednesday when the city reached a high of 36.3 C, shattering the old record of 36.1 C set on that day in 1955.

The extreme heat is caused by a high-pressure system sitting over the city that’s warding off weather and keeping the jet stream well to the north.

A historical stunt over Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls a natural phenomena which attract ten of thousands people every day. Niagara is city of lovers and destination of many others. Niagara falls not only attract many kids ( as a city Councillor said 100 years ago in order to cut the budget for a new road to Falls) but also stunt people too.


Nik Wallenda pumped his fist and let out a deep sigh of relief as he successfully completed his historic high wire walk across the brink of Niagara Falls on Friday night June 15 2012.He landed to Canadian territory around 11pm and immediately asked by a Canadian border officer for showing a passport.He said his reason to travel to Canada is to inspire the people across the world.

A Short History of tightrope walkers over the falls 

JEAN FRANCOIS GRAVELET (THE GREAT BLONDIN)

Professionally known as “The Great Blondin”, Gravelet was the first of many tightrope walkers to appear at Niagara Falls. He was a professional artist and showman trained in the great tradition of the European circus. At age 31 he came to America and made the announcement that he would cross the gorge of the Niagara River on a tightrope.

On June 30, 1859 the rope was in position and at five o’clock in the afternoon, Blondin started the trip that was to make history.

MARIA SPELTERINA

A 23-year-old Italian woman, Maria Spelterina was the only woman to cross the Niagara gorge on a tightrope.  In 1867, she walked backwards, put a paper bag over her head, and wore peach baskets on her feet to inject some drama into her crossings.

CLIFFORD CALVERLEY

On October 12, 1892, a Toronto steeplejack, Clifford Calverley, crossed several times on a 1.9 cm (3/4") steel cable. On one of his crossings he established a record when he made the trip in 6 minutes, 32 ½ seconds.

JAMES HARDY

James Hardy at 21 years of age was the youngest person to cross the gorge on a wire and made several crossings in July 1896. His performances were the last tightrope walking displays permitted in Niagara Falls.

Man Survived falling over Falls

Man Survived falling over falls

NEWS: "A man survived a 50- metre plunge over Niagara Falls on Monday.,becoming only the third person known to have gone over without a safety device and live". May 21 2012

He is a lucky man.Apparently he did it intentionally and nothing life threatening  happened to him.But many people are not that lucky.

The fall (horseshoe fall or Canada side fall) is 53 metres (174 ft) high, has an average crest elevation of 152 metres (499 ft) and faces northwards. The depth of the river at the base of the falls, estimated at 56 metres (184 ft), is actually higher than the fall itself.There are only 15 people who tried to go over the falls in some version of a barrel. Eight tight rope walkers made their way across the falls. Two people swam over the falls. Two daredevils flew a plane under the bridge and another jumped off a diving board.

I took the following pictures last year ( Summer 2011).The pictures shows front and behind the Horseshoe Falls which almost show the location of the man who jumped over the falls.

Here are some more information from the tunnels wall behind the falls:

To have some idea of the falls power and amount of water which passing over the falls each second check this video and following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQIxUIcH2O0

Sunnyside Park

       A day at Sunnyside Park Toronto July 2011

Sunnyside Amusement Park was a popular amusement park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that ran from 1922 to 1955, demolished in 1955 to facilitate the building of the Metro Toronto Gardiner Expressway project. It was located on the Lake Ontario waterfront at the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue, west of downtown Toronto.

The name 'Sunnyside' was the name of a local farm owned by John George Howard, which was situated just to the north, on the location of the current St. Joseph's Medical Centre. Sunnyside Avenue runs north-south from that location north to Howard Park Avenue today. John Howard is also famous as the original landowner of the nearby High Park.

 Now this place is a quite beautiful place along the lake Ontario, across from High Park for a sunny afternoon walk.

After Thunderstorm

After a winter thunderstorm which was look like a summer thunderstorm a set of huge white clouds covered  the area.

Thorncliffe Park Drive Toronto 

 A huge cloud following a thundershower, above Toronto, Thorncliffe Park Drive 

                                

Geography of Silence

Geography talks about locations and their relationship. Cities are always centre of attention of Geographers . A big city has lots of activities with people going from places to places. In this regard, industrial, social activities, multicultural people and finally roads and communications come to everybody's attention. That,s why we call big cities metropolitan. However, at least at two moments cities are less active and are subdued to mother nature and people realize their surrounding areas has changed, early in the morning and sunset.Silence in the morning heralds lots of noises which comes after this. Sunset in return follows by cool down in the activities and getting ready for more relaxation. I used geography of silence which is more true with smaller cities and surrounding areas but when it comes to bigger cities geography of night is more appropriate, which points to city activities at night and distribution of activities. Following pictures shows Toronto at those moments.

                               An early morning in Toronto

Toronto Sunset and Night 

                                 
                                                       A quite Don Valley Parkway

                      

Harbourfront 180 Degree

 panoramic picture of Lake Ontario

                        A panoramic picture of Lake Ontario Harbourfront centre , Toronto 2011 
                                                                    Nikon coolpix L120