More Carto Hot Hate

The only weather map you’ll need this summer:

HT to Kate

The Connected States of America

From paintandink:


MIT's Senseable City Lab did a study on the connections demonstrated by cell phone calls in America, and although, at a glance, it looks like the study has some flaws (they only used data from their sponsor AT&T, for example, which would leave out communities without good AT&T coverage), the maps they created are pretty cool:


Also, even though it's kind of cheesy, I like the title "The Connected States of America."


Via FastCo Design (Fast Company's design blog).

Jello America

Making map art out of Jello:

Via Boing Boing.

NFL Maybe Map

The NFL has a new series of interactive schedule maps. Click on your team and it creates a map showing the distances traveled for away games, and the teams that will travel to the home city.

This is, of course, assuming they actually have a 2011 season...

Gerrymandering: The Movie

Gerrymandering: The Movie

"Right now, across the country, our two major political parties are gearing up for a once-a-decade war whose winner will control Congress for the next ten years, and possibly more. There will be battles in every state, and each will be kept carefully hidden from the prying eyes of average voters who only become more disenchanted with their government with each meaningless election.

Democrats and Republicans collude to keep these skirmishes private so that they can maintain total control over the ultimate political weapon: the ability to directly determine the outcome of elections. Why bother stuffing ballots when they can just draw districts? For the first time, Gerrymandering exposes the most effective form of manipulating elections short of outright fraud. After the 2010 Census is finished, will you know where your district went?"

The United States is one big joke?

No, but there are some funny people here. The Huffington Post has created this The United States Of Comedy: 50 Comedians From 50 States

HT to Ms. Cartophiliac

It's Raining Noodles!

From The Onion: Perfect Soup Weather Coming:

According to meteorologists, the heavy soup front will hit hardest around lunch and dinnertime.

HT to Hunter

#730

Be My Cartographic Valentine 2011

Via Radical Cartography

From the Craftster Forum

HT to Kate S

Name That Electoral Map

If you are an electoral map geek, like me, then you'll love the latest Sporcle Quiz: Can you name the U.S. presidents by the maps of their electoral college victories?



I got 100%...

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...

Shame On U(SA)

Every state is "worst" at something, statistically. Fattest, drunkest, dumbest... Jeff Wysaski at the Pleated Jeans Blog, offers this map of The United States of Shame:



Worst level of high school graduation: Texas. Worst level of porn usage: Utah... heh heh heh...

Ohio: Nerdiest. Why? Highest level of library usage... I'll take it.

Please not: if you take exception to your state's "worst", remember, I don't make the maps, I just repost them.

UPDATE 2/3: In response, The United States of Awesome!

2010 UCF Divisional Playoffs

Ha! And you were worried I wasn't going to post my United Countries of Football map for the Divisional Playoffs. Worry no more

Another bad weekend for the home teams. Only the Stealers were victorious on their home turf.

I think this coming Conference Championships will spell the end of the road warriors. I predict Bears and Steelers in the Super Bowl.


#720

Surveyor Marks

The cover of The Stranger, Seattle's alternative weekly newspaper, for the story Crosshairs and Consequences:

Food By State

Guaranteed to please some and annoy others... Food By State:


see more My Food Looks Funny

The entire State of Ohio has been saddled with Cincinnati Chili... And Minnesota has generic "fried food on a stick"... and those Utahans do love their green Jello, don't they?

2010 UCF Wildcard Weekend

Last week I introduced the end-of-2010 NFL season United Countries of Football map.

A bad weekend for the home teams. Only the Seahawks (with their losing record) were victorious on their home turf.

Conveniently, I had the Packers and Eagles using the same shade of green, so the map changes were that much easier.

With none of my favorite or most hated teams left in the playoffs, I have little interest other than to just watch and enjoy.

2010 United Countries of Football

The NFL 2010 regular season has come to an end. For the fourth year, I am playing around with the imaginary United Countries of Football.



What if the fans of each team formed their own country, and by the end of the season, Divisional Champions have "conquered" their foes? Why the cartogram? See the original post for more details.

Once again, I will be rooting for the Colts, however, it is hard to imagine that the Patriots will not be in the Super Bowl this year. In the NFC, I think it is still wide open. Any one of those teams (except for the Seahawks) could find themselves playing against New England in Dallas next month.

Your predictions?

Post-Mid-Term-Election Footprint Map

Editorial cartoon comment on the 2010 mid-term elections by Steve Sack:



Via Slate

Anyone seen any other clever 2010 map related editorial cartoons?

Movie Nation

Online Carto-Cine-phile, subtonix, has created a map of the United States with each state renamed for a film that mentions it in the title, or uses that state for its locale.



Some of these make sense. Robocop takes place in a future Detroit. Raising Arizona... But Gummo for Ohio? Never heard of it.

Also possible errors... Fargo is in North Dakota. However, I haven't seen that film. Does some of the action take place across the border in Minnesota?

Can you suggest a better film for your state?

Via The Huffington Post

Which Way Does Your Door Swing?

From Thatsaabguy:

I'm going to start this blog off by saying that the viewpoints expressed herein are strictly mine, and in no way reflect the views of management - unless, of course, Cartophiliac agrees with me. I would also like to request that your comments and replies to this post remain civil at all times.

THAT outta get your attention.

Here it goes: the last few weeks/months/years have seen a massive upheaval of human rights discussions in our country, no longer centered on race but on sexual orientation. Many states now allow gay and lesbian couples to marry - a practice that I completely support and for the life of me cannot understand why anyone in their right mind would not. (If you're suggesting that gay marriage somehow destroys straight marriage, then why not try to abolish divorce??) And what's with the sudden rash of gay-bashing and bullying in our high schools?

The online dating site OK Cupid recently conducted a survey of over 4 million members, and came up with some hard, fast numbers "so that people might make better choices about what they say, think, and do." These numbers go a LONG way towards debunking the fear-mongering screaming about homosexuality - gay people are not interested in straights, are not promiscuous, are slightly more intelligent overall, and much more.

Where's this relate to maps, you say? How about right here:

I'm just going to let those colors speak for themselves. No, wait - here's a 2008 electoral map, that might well clear some of this up:



Full disclosure: I am not gay, nor do I have any hidden political agenda outside simple Common Sense. I live in the Seattle area, and the culture shock after moving here from southwest Ohio was immense. Nowhere have I ever lived (outside Norway) have folks been so accepting and supportive of "alternate lifestyles". Our cousins north of the border are even more so, and this map may well explain why.

I'll just let those colors speak for themselves. You, however, really should read the full survey results, posted right here. They are fascinating in every possible way, and should provide ready fuel to anyone forced to combat a bigot in a duel of wits, facts and numbers (not that these things ever helped win said arguments, of course...)

Come on, people - can't we all just get along??

The United States of Drunk Driving

From Thatsaabguy:

One of my favorite non-map-related daily websites is Jalopnik, a haven for automotive crazies like myself. A recent story from Insure.com listed the cities witht he highest percentages of drunk drivers in their juristictions. The numbers may surprise you:

Find the original article here.