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Archive for the ‘Education’ Category

If you want to learn to make maps, then you should study cartography. Many universities still offer cartography courses within their geography department. You can expect to study politics, geology, biology, statistics and politics along with geography and cartography courses. You will learn how to interpret satellite data and use math and computers to create maps like a New York Wall Map .

If college is still a ways off for you, you can put yourself on the right track by learning to read as many different types of maps as you can. The more you study even the simple maps in an atlas , the more you will understand the logic and organization that cartographers wield. You should study any type of map you can get your hands on, to see the different ways that they use symbols, scale, and colors to depict the various features being charted on each map.

In addition to solo study, you may want to join a local map collecting group or take some geography courses in high school or through a community college. Track down books on cartography and begin to study famous cartographers the way that students in art school study the master artists of the past and present. Be sure to take all the math classes you can and to familiarize yourself with computers, biology and geology.

Looking at the requirements for getting a license to be a mortgage broker or loan originator will reveal that specific training courses are required. While the education will not be nearly as extensive as that required of an accountant or a medical professional, individuals considering a career in the mortgage industry need to realize that they will need to make learning a priority.

There are actually two different types of Loan officer training courses . The first is designed to be completed by those who are obtaining their first license. This applies not just to brand new loan officers, but also to experienced brokers who are seeking a license from a different state. They may be branching out to handle mortgages in a nearby state or they may be relocating to another part of the country. Because a good portion of the training coursework is related to state mortgage laws, they will need to take the full training along with the newbies.

The second type of training program is usually referred to as continuing education. Just as medical professionals are expected to amass a certain number of continuing education credits throughout their career, mortgage officers need to take refresher courses whenever their license is up for renewal. These courses are much shorter and focus on recent changes in mortgage regulations and law. They are essential for making sure that brokers remain up-to-date on the legal aspects and ethical standards of their jobs.

This year has been a noisy one for those following the field of college internships, especially those that are unpaid educational programs. Various exposes were published in major newspapers and student advocates and even some political think tanks have called for more stringent evaluation and policing of employers who offer unpaid internships. In April the Department of Labor issued a new fact sheet regarding internship programs, attempting to clarify the requirements for unpaid programs. For every Southwestern Company that pays students for internship work, there are others who don’t.

Fact Sheet #71 addresses internships at for-profit companies as they relate to the Fair Labor Standards Act . The key points are that the internship must benefit the intern and not provide immediate advantage to the employer. Interns must not displace paid employees and the training provided in the workplace should be similar to what the student would receive in an educational environment. Both parties must be aware that this in an unpaid position and that there is no guarantee of employment once the program is complete.

There are obviously many ways in which employers can subvert these standards. There are certainly plenty of stories out there of students replacing paid employees as the economy continues to struggle. In addition, there are concerns about the fairness of such training when only the wealthiest students can afford to work for free summer after summer. Most college students turn to places like the southwestern company where they can earn money towards the next year’s tuition while gaining skills and actual work experience.

A hundred and sixty-one years ago, in 1849, gold fever struck the west coast of the United States, creating the famed California Gold Rush, and a man named George Washington Patterson was no different than the many people who arrived in the areas near San Francisco Bay in order to make a fortune in the goldfields. Like many others, though, he didn’t make his fortune mining, although he did make his livihood from what he was able to take from the Earth: He was a farmer in the extremely rich fields that were found then in Southern Alameda County. There, in the city now known as Fremont, he built a 19th century estate, made up of extensive Victorian Gardens and a mansion, collectively known as Ardenwood Farm .

Today, the farm is known as Ardenwood Historic Farm, and it’s a part of the park system in the East Bay. What is an historic farm? It’s a place where children and adults can come to learn about how people used to farm in the United States, providing examples of techniques used in the 1870s up until contemporary times. This farm is where you’ll learn about the transition from farming powered by horses to the power of fuel-driven engines.

Presently, Ardenwood is a farm still in operation, which means that each visit and each season guests will discover something new. From late May through October, you’ll find an organic vegetable stand inside the gates to the farm, which is open from ten in the morning to four in the afternoon, Tuesdays to Sundays, all year long. It’s even open on Labor Day and Memorial Day. During the winter, you’ll find the presentation of a Christmas program.

And, if you’re thinking of matrimony, it’s possible to be married on the farm’s grounds, and there’s plenty of rooms for guests in Fremont for the wedding and reception afterwards.

Maps are unique things. They bring the world into perspective and help us realize the connections that we all have to each other. It is also through maps that we learn. Hundreds of years of research have led us to the point where we now have a variety of different ways to look at the world; globes, political maps, and geographic maps.
Globes are very useful for seeing the world as a whole. We can see just how close Alaska is to Russia and how big the Pacific and Atlantic oceans are. As big as the world may seem sometimes, globes help us understand that we are not so far apart and are more closely connected than we think. Political maps are also a very useful tool, particularly when you need to find a state or a country. They are often very colorful with clear lines marking each countries territory. Political maps come in very handy when in school you have to learn the 50 states or all of the countries in Africa. You can even find printable world maps online to make your task even easier. The most useful maps for a more in depth study of a particular region are typically geographic maps. They often include landmarks such as rivers, lakes, and mountain ranges to give you a better understanding of the terrain. Some very detailed geographic maps are colored to fit the region as well as texture to describe mountains or flatlands.
Whatever the need or desire there is a map that will provide the information you are looking for. We have come a long way since Columbus left Spain and began his journey across the seas. No longer are we restricted to one incomplete map. Instead we have maps describing every part of this globe that we could ever wish to explore and it is available with just the push of a button.