Yukon Kuskokwim Nushagak science

Several years ago I ran across http://www.indo.com/distance/ which computes the distance quickly between any two points on earth. I looked for a long time to find something similar to get the great circle distances. I stumbled across great circle maps when a lecturer at the Univ of Auckland. It was amazing to me (and especially to my college students) just how far away “home” (the UK) was and how close “exotic” places were (Indonesia, Asia, Antarctica). It also turned out that the other side of the world from Wellington NZ was Madrid Spain.

Anyway–I finally located this site. It doesn’t work by listing everything within a certain radius, but at least one can draw a radius and see what is nearby.

400 and 1000 miles from Bethel. Where else in the US can one be a 1000 miles from the nearest state capitol?

http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/index.html

GPS Visualizer is a free, easy-to-use online utility that creates maps and profiles from GPS data (tracks and waypoints), street addresses, or simple coordinates. Use it to see where you’ve been, plan where you’re going, or visualize geographic data (business locations, events, customers, real estate, etc.).

Distance between Bethel, Alaska, United States and Juneau, Alaska, United States, as the crow flies:

977 miles (1572 km) (849 nautical miles)

Initial heading from Bethel to Juneau: east (87.5 degrees)
Initial heading from Juneau to Bethel: west-northwest (291.4 degrees)
http://www.indo.com/distance/

The State of Influenza
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/312/5772/379

The rapid spread of H5N1 avian influenza has raised global concern about the prospect of a human influenza pandemic, and preparing for such a crisis poses a great challenge to both scientists and policy makers. In a special section of the 21 Apr 2006 issue, Science examined the current picture of influenza, including News reports on antivirals and vaccines, Review and Perspective articles on flu transmission and prevention, and an Editorial underscoring the need for faster and more robust tests to diagnose infection. Three new research papers looked at how seasonal flu epidemics spread and how aspects of H5N1 virus biology may contribute to infection and transmissibility. A special online portal ( http://www.sciencemag.org/marketing/influenza/ ) offered access to previous Science articles that provide additional perspective on the flu crisis, as well as three articles from the Science Classic archive dating from 1918 and 1919 that provide contemporary thoughts on the great 1918 flu pandemic. Finally, a special podcast devoted to influenza featured interviews with Science News writers and scientists on topics related to the special section ( http://www.sciencemag.org/about/podcast.dtl ).

I believe that most articles will be publicly (non-member) accessible.

I put this list together for the USDA Natural Resources & Conservation Service in 2002. It is a listing of references I recommend to communities and other professionals concerned with public involvement. This isn’t a comprehensive (nor especially up to date) listing of references but includes books and websites I have found to be especially useful for myself and others. Books are listed first, then websites. The Internet sites also have training available. The FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) course is very good.

Public involvement, as a public governance process, has evolved within the highway and risk (environmental health) contexts especially as a requirement of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). However, much of the fundamental research developed within applied anthropology, usually within a health, appropriate technology, or nutrition context. “Expert systems” and now “accessibility” re: WWW sites, are other areas to look to for additional information.

I’ve put asterisks next to names in the risk communication field who will have other articles and books. The titles in BOLD are especially useful to communities. Too often when an institution or agency speaks about “stakeholders” they mean they hold the stake while the community is the recipient.
Read the rest of this entry »