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Welcome once again to the Friday’s Food for Thought post. We hope everyone had a productive week and are looking forward to a restful weekend. This week, on September 22nd at 5:18 PM EDT to be precise, it officially became fall. Yes, summer is a fading memory, and the theme for this post is all about autumn. For many, it is a time to circle the wagons, focus on work/school and shake off the side-effects of the backyard BBQ season. For us, it means one very important thing: GEOINT 2009 Symposium. In many ways, the GEOINT symposium serves as a time for the entire community to circle the wagons, learn and share information and gear up for a successful 2010. Scroll down to read more.

Why We Like The Fall: GEOINT Symposium
While many people may associate the fall season with “melancholy” (more on that later), we are absolutely pumped up right now. GEOINT 2009 is less than a month away. The editorial staff of got geoint? has booked its travel and we are good to go. GEOINT 2009 will give us an opportunity to cover all of the breaking news from the event – in real time. In addition, we get to breath the same rarefied air as the TOP leaders in defense and intelligence. So, we urge all of our readers to stay tunes to got geoint? during the GEOINT symposium.

All About Autumn
Autumn is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter, usually in late March (southern hemisphere) or late September (northern hemisphere) when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier. So, how could we do a FFT post on autumn without grabbing the official definition of it from Wikipedia?

Autumn and Its Association with Melancholy
Many a poet has associated autumn with melancholy. Makes sense, the thrill of summer is gone, and the chill of winter is on the horizon. Rainer Maria Rilke, a German poet, has expressed such sentiments in one of his most famous poems, Herbsttag (Autumn Day). Here it is. Hope you enjoy:

Who now has no house, will not build one (anymore).
Who now is alone, will remain so for long,
will wake, and read, and write long letters
and back and forth on the boulevards
will restlessly wander, while the leaves blow.

2005 Visualization Challenge: Image of Fall in Estonia
In 2005, geologists James Aber and Susan W. Aber of Emporia State University in Kansas recognized the potential beauty of the landscape when he was collaborating with Estonian colleagues to study the glacial geomorphology and geotectonics of the region. Much like our friends at MIT, the scientists used a conventional digital camera in an unconventional setting: They attached it to a kite and operated it from the ground like a radio-controlled model airplane, an early type of remote sensing that has been around since the 19th century. The result: an astounding image of autumn color of a bog in Estonia. Click here to view it.

Autumn Leaves
“Autumn Leaves” is a much-recorded popular song, covered by many jazz artists since it was first written in 1945. There were about 50 version for us to choose form on YouTube, but when we found a version by Cannonball Adderley featuring the late-great Miles Davis, we had to share it. Enjoy.

Tags: Autumn, Friday's Food for Thought, GEOINT 2009, Uited States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, USGIF