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| Antelope Canyon as seen on FullScreen360 |
One way to get ‘out’ of the house without leaving the
house is to take a virtual tour.
In this time of social distancing and social isolation
All kinds of organizations are compiling lists of free and virtual tours.
A starter list:
·
LifeHacker compiled a list - You Can Virtually Tour These 500+ Museums and Galleries From Your Couch - which is as wonderful
as it sounds.
·
Virtual dives from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration takes you into a series of the Unites States’
National Marine Sanctuaries described as “an immersive 360 view of your
national marine sanctuaries.”
·
The website Fullscreen360 offers 360-degree panoramas of iconic destinations around the world and even a
few on other planets. It allows you to virtually travel to some of the most
beautiful sites in the world and arrow keys to pan around the view and the plus
and minus keys to zoom in and out. The site also offers descriptive text for
each location.
·
Watch some live nature on a livestream cam.
There are literally hundreds of these. A few that are popular:
o Explore.org
has a great YouTube channel with a lot of live web cams. Here you’ll find everything from eagles to hummingbirds from coral reefs to
kitten rescue facilities.
o The
San Diego Zoo where you check in
pandas, koalas (warning, they sleep A LOT), penguins, polar bears, baboons and
more.
o There
are Bald Eagle nest cams galore – many are found at the American Bald Eagle Foundation – but a good one
right now is one at Dollywood in Tennessee where you can check in on Grant & Glenda.
·
Or just escape into a made-up environment by
exploring the ambient sound and video world. A good example of this genre is the
Miracle Forest and its YouTube channel built by a visual effects artist who goes only by Melinda. These types of videos are
called ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response. These calming clips aim to give listeners "brain tingles" through various visual and
auditory techniques such as whispering, scratching and tapping.
This is just a very short list. I’m sure some diligent
Googling on your part will uncover a lot more options. If you find really
interesting ones I’d love to hear about them.
- Mike Johansson
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