Around the World…in a Rain Poncho?
Jarai Carter, Ph.D.
Senior Manager, Data Science at John Deere ?? Personalized Experience in Digital Software & Solutions | Women in Tech 2025 Speaker | Analytics, Visualization, Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Dear Readers,
I was Earth once. No, really, I was planet Earth for a solar system-themed project in elementary school. Everyone came dressed as different parts of the solar system. I particularly remember someone using hula-hoops for the rings of Saturn! To prove it to you, here is a picture of me being Earth in the present day.
This costume was made from a plastic, blue rain poncho where I cut out pictures of all the continents and hand-wrote the names of the oceans, minus two names made with cardboard letters. This was held together by a lot of packing tape. I am quite surprised the poncho survived and everything is still attached. Thanks Mom, for keeping this great relic. Also if anyone wants to buy a blue rain poncho and re-create this, here is an Amazon link to what looks like a fairly sturdy poncho. No, I do not receive any commission should you choose to buy a poncho.
I always found maps and globes to be neat, especially when you compare old ones to new ones. I have a vintage globe that I bought from a consignment shop and you know it is vintage because of names on this globe that you will not find on new globes, such as the Mongolian People’s Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). This globe is extra cool because it has the latitude line numbering down the stand and it has a cap on top showcasing hours of the day, so you can see the time differences around the world.
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Funny enough, I recently built a globe out of LEGO. It is a somewhat repetitive build since it is a giant sphere, but it is accurate to modern day and really spins! If you need to build one yourself, here is the link to the LEGO shop online. Check out a picture of it below!
I will not bore you by rattling off a whole bunch of facts about the Earth, but instead let you use the hand-picked links below to discover your own info to keep the fun going “Around the World…”
·??????? A Fun Music Video
·??????? Earth Datasets
·??????? Earth's Instagram
·??????? Google Earth
Sincerely, Dr. Carter