Confucius Say, Handle With Care

Current magazine spotted on the shelf today:

Upfront is a magazine for classroom use to encourage students to become aware of current issues. If we do not handle with care, I'm not sure I want to know our fortune...

 

California Drifting

Saw this March 2011 cover of Reason magazine. At first, I thought it was about earthquakes... you know... "The Big One"... time to buy oceanfront property in Nevada...

But no, its about politics and economics, blah blah blah... too bad.

From Sea to Painful Sea

Last week, the President of the United States offered his State of the Union address to the joint session of Congress. While he tried to sound upbeat, the prognosis appears to be more hard times ahead for a while... The folks at The Economist did not give his speech a very high grade...

What Time Is It In Antarctica?

This has been a week for Antarctic serendipity...

First, I have been listening to the BBC Radio 4 podcast of the In Our Time discussion of the history of Antarctica:

Antarctica was first named in the second century AD by the geographer Marinus of Tyre, who was one of many early geographers to speculate about the existence of a huge southern landmass to balance the known lands of northern Europe. But it wasn't until the nineteenth century that modern man laid eyes on the continent.

Coincidentally, Michael5000 revisted his Forgotten Land of the Republic of Northern Antarctica.

[Previously highlighted on Cartophilia, with map by yours truly.]

Then, frequent Cartophilia contributor Rudolf Graspointner posted this map on the Cartophilia Facebook page:



From the National Geographic Magazine blog:

Of the unusual phenomena that occur at the polar extremes of the Earth, time is a particularly peculiar one. Yes, the sky at the South Pole splits the year between whole days of light and dark. But how do humans who venture there—to a place where the world’s 24 time zones converge—and to the rest of Antarctica set their clocks?

Which of course begs the question... Which time zone does Santa Claus use at his North Pole Christmas town?

Failed States: The Metrics of Decay

The July/August 2010 issue of Foreign Policy is "The Bad Guy" issue... Apparently the "Axis of Evil" has been replaced with "The Committee to Destroy the World." Some of the worst dictators, leading the worst nations of the world.

Included in this issue is the 2010 Failed States Index:

This year's index draws on 90,000 publicly available sources to analyze 177 countries and rate them on 12 metrics of state decay -- from refugee flows to economic implosion, human rights violations to security threats. Taken together, a country's performance on this battery of indicators tells us how stable -- or unstable -- it is.

Holding steady at number one for the third year in a row, the winner and still champion of the failed states, Somalia!

Via Coming Anarchy

Decorating with Maps: It's a Good Thing

The July 2010 issue of Martha Stewart's Living includes an article on map textile decorating projects, titled "States of Play. Lots of ideas on how to use those vintage dishcloths, tablecloths, handkerchiefs and scarves, printed with maps. (see Photo gallery)

The suggestions include framed dish towels:



or transform a tablecloth into a roller shade by fusing the fabric to linen:



Maps. It's a good thing.


HT to Mrs. Cartophiliac

China and the U.S.: "Frenemies"

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."*

These words could be used to describe the uncomfortable interdependent relationship between the United States and China.

The cover story for the March 22, 2010, issue of Time was "10 Ideas for the Next 10 Years". One of these ideas is that the "frenemy-ship" between the U.S. and China will shape the next decade. "China and the U.S.: The Indispensable Axis":

Rather than being cold war adversaries, however, the U.S. and China will form an indispensable axis for global governance. That doesn't mean the two will be best friends — don't expect a new special relationship similar to the U.S.-British alliance of the 20th century. There is no precedent for this unique evolving relationship, one in which the two sides will both compete and cooperate, perhaps simultaneously, as they shape and support a global system they can benefit from.

Kudos to John Hersey for for his illustration of the U.S. and China, holding hands, while never taking their eye off each other. Meanwhile the interconnected web of trade partners orbits around them.

HT to Hunter

*This has often been attributed to Sun Tzu and sometimes to Niccolò Machiavelli or Petrarch, but there are no published sources yet found which predate its use by "Michael Corleone" in The Godfather Part II (1974), written by Mario Puzo & Francis Ford Coppola: My father taught me many things here — he taught me in this room. He taught me — keep your friends close but your enemies closer. -- Wikiquote

Wall Street Has No Sense of Humor

As reported on the comics news site, The Beat:

As he mentioned on his C2E2 panel, Chris Ware recently finished a cover for Fortune magazine, only to see it killed, perhaps because of all the jokes in the tiny spaces of the cover. This is really what the internet was invented for, don’t you agree? (Click for larger, rejected version.)

The stuffed shirts on Wall Street have no sense of humor.

HT to Alphistia

Mappy Books and Magazines

Just a collection of some recent mappy looking book and magazine covers:

Atlas of Unknowns by Tania James "A poignant, funny, blazingly original debut novel about sisterhood, the tantalizing dream of America, and the secret histories and hilarious eccentricities of families everywhere."

Governing Broke and Broken By Rob Gurwitt "Legislatures won't just be grappling with a shortage of money this year. They'll also be wrestling with government systems that simply don't work."

The Power of Place by Harm De Blij "What Carl Sagan did for the cosmos, Harm de Blij is doing for geography." --Bill Moyers

Time The Five Keys to Health Reform's Success or Failure By Karen Tumulty and Kate Pickert with Alice Park "Will it work? And how will it work? A guide to what the new law will mean for costs, Medicare, doctors, the states — and you"

Some Recent Magazines and a Book

For your amusement, a smattering of recent magazine and book covers using maps as an element of their design.

From The Nation: President Obama must decide on future American involvement in Afghanistan.



Stores Magazine suggests that Vietnam, Indonesia and Mexico (VIM?) are the countries to watch for new muscle in emerging markets.



Time believes that California, in spite of being "an apocalyptic mess of raging wildfires, soaring unemployment, mass foreclosures and political paralysis," is still the future of American innovation and growth.





Finally, in his book, Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche, Ethan Waters maps out the way the United States shapes the expression of mental illness around the globe.

The Nine Nations of China

Inspired by Joel Garreau's The Nine Nations of North America, Patrick Chovanec at The Atlantic has created an article and interactive map, describing the different socio-economic-cultural regions of China:

As China’s economy becomes more integrated, these regional differences are taking on greater importance than ever before. Each of the Nine Nations faces a unique set of challenges and opportunities in carving out its own competitive niche. Anyone who wants to do business in China, make policy towards China, or simply comprehend the dramatic changes happening there should understand the Nine Nations and the role each of them is playing in shaping China’s future.

Previously on Cartophilia:

• Alternate Nations of North America
• Ten Nations of the United States

Via The Map Scroll

Don't Worry, Be Cool

Today I noticed the cover of the 11 July issue of The Spectator magazine. The illustration shows the planet Earth enjoying the sunshine without a care in the world (sort of like my vacation last week) I couldn't find a complete image of the cover online, but here are two bits...

In the cover story, "Meet the man who has exposed the great climate change con trick"

James Delingpole talks to Professor Ian Plimer, the Australian geologist, whose new book shows that ‘anthropogenic global warming’ is a dangerous, ruinously expensive fiction, a ‘first-world luxury’ with no basis in scientific fact. Shame on the publishers who rejected the book

I'm not going to argue about global warming here (take it to some other blog). I'll just post this link and image from The Guardian's rebuttal: "Spectator recycles climate rubbish published by sceptic"

How to Fix the World

The July/August 2009 issue of The Atlantic magazine is "The Ideas Issue": How to Fix the World

Ideas include: Privatize the seas, welcome guest workers, scrap the vice presidency, teach teens to drink and buy a better quality super glue.

Inflated China

Saul Steinberg’s famous 1976 New Yorker cover, The World As Seen From New York’s 9th Avenue, has inspired yet another "inflated view":



"How China sees the world" from the March 21, 2009, issue of The Economist.

For more detail, see Strange Maps

Science and the Global Squeeze

In the current global recession, scientists must learn how to tighten their belts...

Nature, February 19, 2009, "Recession Watch: How to survive the recession".

"The global economic downturn brings both predicament and promise. How will science fare and what role should scientists play on the long road back to recovery and growth? Ten of the world's leading thinkers and practitioners provide analysis, experience and advice."

George W. Bush's America

The January February Issue of The Atlantic Magazine uses a map of the United States to provide quantifiable changes between 2000 and 2008.

Then and Now: the Bush Years. Click on map for larger image:



Via The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

Inflating The Week

One of my favorite magazines is The Week. I enjoy it, not only because it is an informative digest of national and international news and opinions, but also because I can count on them to include maps on their covers on a regular basis!

Here we see the October 24, 2008, issue.

Other recent examples of maps on The Week can be seen here and here.

Magazine Roundup

Time for another sampling of maps on magazine covers:

	The Week September 19, 2008 Sarah Palin is having an impact on the election and nation... or is she tearing it apart?
New Scientist September 6, 2008 Talk about your global warming...
	Tikkun July August 2008 What? Do you think new worlds grow on trees?
New Yorker October 6, 2008 Revisiting the classic "View of the World from Ninth Avenue" cover, a "View of Russia from Gov. Palin's Office." For a larger version of this map, see: Strange Maps.

New New and News Maps on Magazines

Magazine cover designers never disappoint me. I can always count on a map or two every month. This month I present magazines with the word "New" or "News" in their title. How about that?

The New Republic August 13, 2008 Cover story: Trading Places by Alan Ehrenhalt The demographic inversion of the American city. The tiny image here does not do the cover justice, but it depicts the new "heart" of cities that are revitalizing, in the style of a transit map.

Two maps from the New Scientist magazine in one month! First, August 6, 2008, another transit map is used to illustrate the story by Mark Buchanan on Why complex systems do better without us

The August 20, 2008, issue fills a water balloon globe to illustrate: Looming water crisis simply a management problem, by Jonathan Chenoweth For another cover on this theme, see Squeezing out the last drops, my magazine post from earlier this month.

Finally, the September 2008 issue of ARTnews uses a map tatoo of China to introduce us to China's Art Market Boom by Barbara Pollack

Squeezing out the last drops

Three recent magazine covers using maps in their design: Scientific American, August 2008, has a cover story on the freshwater crisis. Squeezing out the last drops.

The news-digest magazine, The Week, covers Barack Obama's "celebrity" trek.

Agency Sales magazine has it's head in the clouds on the global marketplace.

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