Friday, October 30, 2009

Olympic Torch -- Family Circus Style

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games website has created an interactive map of the path the torch will take on its trek across Canada:



Now, of course I understand why an Olympic Committee would choose a path that squiggles to and fro across the country. They want to hit all the provinces and major population centers, to build community and excitement about the games. However, upon seeing this map, the first thought that came to my mind was one of Billy's meandering path maps from the Family Circus comic strip:





While digging up the two map/strips above, I found another Family Circus map...



My apologies...

Olympic map via that fine Canadian map blogger, The Map Room

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Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Onion: World Map Rearranged To Accommodate Poor Geography Skills Of Americans

From The Onion:

World Map Rearranged To Accommodate Poor Geography Skills Of Americans — Nations Ordered Alphabetically



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Monday, October 26, 2009

Franken Adds Alaska and Hawaii

For those of you who were suitably impressed by Al Franken's Stupid Human Trick... Good news! It gets even better!

Begich begs, so Franken adds Alaska, Hawaii to his freehand map of the USA



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Friday, October 23, 2009

The Map Realm: The Fictional Road Maps of Adrian Leskiw

Adrian Leskiw is a self-described "avid map collector and roadgeek". He loves road maps so much, he can't get enough of them, so he creates his own road maps of imaginary places:



The island nation of Breda is:
...located somewhere in the south Pacific and was most likely a British colony at one time and consequently roundabouts and European interchange designs are prevalent. The nation's roads are divided into five classes and each one is identified by it's own unique color-coded signage. Motorways are blue, primary highways are green, secondary highways are red, regional roads are yellow, and local roads are white. Motorways are identified by the label Mx beside the international symbol for limited-access highways, primary and secondary highways are identified by a black on yellow Australian-style shield affixed on the appropriate background color, and regional and local roads are referred to by name or primary destinations...
...etc.



I love these maps. I'll be planning my next holiday in Breda...

Via The Geo Lounge

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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The World According to Ronald Reagan

A little Cold War humor:



Via Kelso’s Corner

#485

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Monday, October 19, 2009

Mo Rocca

Mo Rocca (Maurice Rocca), is a writer, comedian and political satirist. He is perhaps best known as a regular panelist on the NPR news quiz radio show, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me. He is also on Twitter:



I wish I had a name that could be easily punned into the name of a country.

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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Google Street View Guys

I've always wondered what it would be like to be a Google Street View camera car driver...



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Cartograms as Tumoresque Insects

FastCompany.com's Infographic of the Day highlights Ballooning Population Maps:



Cartograms are often used to illustrate population density vs the area of a geographical entity. The BBC asks:
Conventional maps show the shape of a country according to its land mass. But what if you drew a map according to where people lived?
Visit People Powered Maps to see nations inflate around their population centers.

Thanks to geoparigm who asks, "Does anyone else think Cartograms look like tumoresque insects?"

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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Handy Maps

Two map illustrations sent to me by Hunter:

A Long Way to Shiloh is a crime thriller novel written by Lionel Davidson (1966). Among its many editions, this Penguin paperback gets my attention.

Below is an illustration from PickTheBrain, 15 Web Tools to Enhance Language Learning.



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Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Happy Blogiversary!

Happy Second Birthday to TheElectoralMap.com! My favorite political geography blog.

Reading about Patrick's anniversary reminds me that I completely forgot to note my own second anniversary last month: September 4. (Perhaps because September 4 is also the anniversary of a failed marriage, it remains obscured in my mind.)

Last year, I noted my first blogiversary here. Perhaps I'll do something special for post #500 which should be coming up soon...

This is post #480

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Leviathan

Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld, is a young adult steampunk novel set in an alternate-history Europe. The Great War is coming, but instead of the Allies vs Central Powers, it is the Clankers vs Darwinists. The Clankers have developed great steam powered machines, and the Darwinists have bred giant beasts as their weapons.



The map illustration is intentionally reminiscent of the "allegorical maps" of the period.

Via boing boing

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Sunday, October 11, 2009

Cardboard World

Driving around town this weekend, I had to pull over and take a picture of this company's sign:



Cardboardy Earth goodness.

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Tuesday, October 6, 2009

ACORN Conspiracy

In Salon.com today, the comic strip This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow, has a little fun mocking Fox News personality, Glenn Beck. In the process, he created a new logo for A.C.O.R.N., the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.





I love the tentacles squeezing the globe of the Earth.





Dr. Evil would give ONE MILLION DOLLARS for a logo so cool.


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Monday, October 5, 2009

Cracking Cheese, Gromit!

It's British Food Fortnight! And when it comes to British food, who doesn't love a good cheese? Cheddar, Cheshire, Cotswold, Stilton, and of course, Wensleydale.

Mark Easton, at the BBC, offers his Map of the Week: Cheese



This map was taken from the World Cheese Book, by Juliet Harbutt.

Cheese is good!

HT to Gail Townsley

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Friday, October 2, 2009

Parag Khanna maps the future of countries

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to "Ideas Worth Spreading". On their site you can find videos of speakers on technology, entertainment, design, business, science and global issues. In this episode, Parag Khanna discusses geopolitics:
Many people think the lines on the map no longer matter, but Parag Khanna says they do. Using maps of the past and present, he explains the root causes of border conflicts worldwide and proposes simple yet cunning solutions for each.


Interesting overview of border troubles around the world. Some of his ideas about redrawing the Middle East have been discussed here.

He also discussed a trend in population movement in the Far East of which I was not aware. As Russians depopulate Siberia, Chinese are moving in to take advantage of the abundant resources.



In addition, some discussion of China as the center of a new Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Not built through conquest, as attempted by the Japanese, but through trade and interdependence.

Thanks to Atlas(t) for the heads up!

#475

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