Check this cool website out. This guy’s site is called “Living the Map.” He’s on task to take a job in each of the 50 states of our great nation. And he’s learning very interesting things about the various people’s who live around the country. He’s going to get [...]
Usually I look in vain for good maps of the election cycle, but with the proliferation of on-line mapping these days, you knew we’d run into some. There’s a litany of KML regarding the election this year, but what I wanted was some nice maps showing distributions that you don’t [...]
Lately I’ve been seeing many articles and blog posts talking about more and more technology being used to track and pinpoint you and aspects of your life. I work in an industry that when the technology is being applied to businesses and government, the thought pattern is that the more [...]
I had heard that Paul Newman had died this last weekend, and was reflecting on his vast career as an actor. Many of you know how active he was as a philanthropist and an entrepreneur (Newman’s Own brand of whatever). However this one surprised me because his generosity enabled [...]
Beware the road network on Google Maps! So says Jonathan Crowe, who lives in Canada and has noticed that since Google has switched it’s contract for road network data from Navteq to Tele-Atlas, the road network has gotten a little more inaccurate.
But there’s a problem: Chad complains [...]
The Map Room has some links to sites that are following the hurricanes using mapping technology. On the tail end of Gustav is the tropical storm Hanna, which could be a hurricane by as early as tomorrow.
Of interest is whether or not the RNC convention will be adversely [...]
Many people are aware that the border between the U.S. and Canada is the longest unprotected border between two nations in the world. In politics and foreign policy, trade and the like, Canada and the U.S. are viewed as friends and partners (for the most part, there are squabbles as [...]
If you haven’t been watching the Olympics or the news you might not be aware that the spirit of international cooperation and brotherly love hasn’t caught on in some parts of the world. Specifically the area of Southern Ossetia in the country of Georgia.
Georgia has had trouble from [...]
Are gasoline prices too high? Certainly oil and gas have risen in price quite a bit over the past few years, and politicians waste no time pointing fingers for personal advantage. However there isn’t much our government can do without making life worse for us, and even less the President [...]
American election for President of this great country, episode number 44, seems to be underway, and I find myself actually thinking of, yes, voting for someone.
Anyone who has read this blog in the past will no doubt assume that I’m voting Republican based on my viewpoints. And you’re [...]
How about this, folks.
Portugal may have to recognise the inevitable by bowing to the economic and cultural predominance of Brazil, its former colony. The once proud imperial power is considering reforming its language to accommodate recent linguistic developments in the South American economic powerhouse, with which it [...]
What can I say about coercive interrogation techniques that hasn’t already been said a million times. I could tell you that I’m not sure about military detainee torture and it’s value in war-time. I’m sure there are studies out there, and some will say that it’s necessary to save lives, [...]
There’s been a rash of Xenophobia in South Africa.
The spate of violent attacks targeting foreigners in South Africa has caused an estimated 13,000 people to flee from their homes to police stations and other havens, local Red Cross officials said.
At least 22 people have been killed [...]
Here’s an interesting statement about economics.
There is nothing complicated about finance. It is based on old people lending to young people. Young people invest in homes and businesses; aging people save to acquire assets on which to retire. The new generation supports the old one, and retirement [...]
Hi. Me again.
If you’ve read stuff I’ve put here before, you know that I have some affinity toward geography. And as such, the study of explorers is particularly interesting, although I admit I haven’t sailed that westerly much in my academic or private life.
Sometime in the past I [...]
The Portland Dept of Transportation is having an entire month of events in May for bike commuters or potential bike commuters. Suck it up and get on that pedal machine. Portland is commonly known as one of, if not the, most bike-friendly cities in the nation. I’ve been riding [...]
As if yesterday’s photo gallery of cities at night weren’t enough, check out the largest gallery of Hubble telescope photos I’ve seen in a while. Galaxies Gone Wild!
[...]Another perspective on John McCain.
Some say John McCain's character was formed in a North Vietnamese prison. I say those people should take a gander at what John chose to do--voluntarily. Being a carrier pilot requires aptitude, intelligence, skill, knowledge, discernment, and courage of a kind rarely found' [...]
I’ve often thought about this as the source of real problems in our political/social system in this country. There’s a general sense that we need to solve the problem of special interests using money to improperly influence the government, or at least the legislative process. At the same time, there’s [...]
Here’s an interesting piece on the stability of Switzerland. I’ll quote the same section that Instapundit did.
They have one of the world’s most stable economies, a skilled workforce, internationally recognized export companies, a sound currency, and renowned banking and financial services. All this is combined with [...]
I know I’m supposed to get livid over things like this, but I find myself strangely philosophical about it. I’ve heard of kids shows in Palestine approaching on the bizarre when it comes to indoctrinating kids to hate other people. If you don’t think there’s something screwed up about that [...]
I’ve been interested lately in the way that government agencies attempt to grab power for themselves above and beyond what their actual mandate accounts for. For instance an agency who attempts to get power from Congress over an arena that traditionally belongs to another agency.
This just whisked across the [...]
For the past few months I’ve been absent from this blog much of the time. I’ve been busy, or in many cases I’ve been doing lots of reading and unsure what I wanted to write on. Lately, I started briefly with the intention of scrutinizing the platforms of the candidates [...]
Mitt Romney, in the area of government administration and finance, sounds like a typical conservative in many ways. I found little in the way of truly new ideas, although in his case it sounds like he actually accomplished some of this on a state level. Romney puts a lot of [...]
What can we say about Mit Romney that hasn’t been said a thousand times in the press. He’s a Mormon, which is a first for a serious Presidential candidate (at least in my memory, which isn’t that good). He’s a Republican governor of a very liberal leaning state. This, the [...]
For the next few posts I’ll be looking over a few of the top candidates for the office of President from both parties. I have a few areas that I’d like to focus on, and I’m mostly going to contain myself from going off about how dirty they’re playing in [...]
It’s been a while, but the wait should not be taken as a sign that I have fallen off the earth. Nor should the reader assume that I have given up on politics, world events, science and religion just because I have not put fingers to the keys for a [...]
This seems extraordinary. 10 years ago a bunch of bureaucrats, led by Al Gore, met in the Japanese city of Kyoto and dreamed up a “solution” to the apparent problem of global warming by drafting up a bunch of rules around limiting emissions.
These limits were inherently unfair to [...]
Pretty keen blog devoted to the geography of elections, particularly this election. Some neat maps and links to other sites regarding maps and tools that others have done regarding the political and cultural landscape. Worth a look-see.
Also, if you’re inclined, check this one out too. Common Census [...]
A short history of the Vampire, as a figure of legend and religious mysticism, from one of my favorite geographers.
The modern vampire is a product of myths evolved through both space and time. There is no one single origin for bloodsucking beasts but one can see [...]
Read this interesting post on Political Correctness in the Roman Empire. Then come back.
…
OK, welcome back. The Roman historian Tacitus might have been waxing idealistic, and might have just been disgruntled with the breakdown of Roman society, when he reported that Germanic tribes where hippie communes, but [...]
If you’ve ever played a “Sim” game, you know how fun it is to try and manage and control the holistic worlds that are created within. Keep an entire city running. There’s even one of the entire earth, sort of. And as computer power continues to increase, the limits of [...]
Fun fact for the day. I came across a very bizarre unit of measurement today while considering land surveys in Texas. It seems that while surveyors in most parts of the country rely on feet or chains (go figure), in Texas, and indeed in some other southern states, you might [...]
Admittedly, my posts about hiking in Oregon and Washington have fallen short this year. We did get out a bit this last couple of weeks, so I’ll tell you about a wilderness that’s worth taking a leisurely stroll in. The Indian Heaven Wilderness, in the [...]
For those with Portland pride, the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) in New York put the Pearl District in NW Portland in it’s top 60 great public spaces in the world!
Portland is probably going to hang this from their highest banner for some time to come, but they [...]
Just as the U.S. is trying to open relations with Vietnam, it’s good to remember that this isn’t an open and free, capitalistic and democratic society. Far from it, and ever since we abandoned them after the Vietnam war, things haven’t been well for the average citizen of Southeast [...]
Geographic post of the day.
This is kind of a geopolitical bit of news, but it has some geographic implications that will get geographers worked up, and possibly force poor students to re-memorize the capitals of Latin American countries.
Bolivian Marxist President Evo Morales has decided that he needs to [...]
On my continuing theme of disgust at the current political climate in America, which I blame all politicians and other people who refuse to see anything but partisan victory and power of conquest, I noted this great article by Roger Simon, via Instapundit, about the rhetorical battle between the [...]
I’m always ready to be surprised by a Democrat legislating in the nation’s capital. It’s even more neato when that Senator is from my own home state of Oregon, who’s blue-state credentials usually allow Democratic legislators to tow party line without having to answer to their constituents.
For the [...]
Homer Simpson joins the Cerne Abbas giant on the landscape of the English countryside, angering pagans who find some ritual significance in the figure carved into the side of a hill. Pagans think it’s of ancient origin, like Stonehenge, but most historians now concede that it was probably done [...]
This is kind of scary: Weather control for political purposes.
Thirty-two thousand people are employed by the People's Republic of China in their weather control program. The operation costs up to ninety-million dollars and members are equipped with everything ranging from rocket launchers to modified anti-aircraft [...]
Via Catholicgauze, here’s a neat time lapse application that shows a depiction of mankind’s dispersal across the globe from about 150k years ago, from a central origin point in Africa. As with most things archeological, you need to take this as a theory, not fact, but it’s interesting [...]
If you are anything more than an occasional browser of this blog, or someone who has come here more than a couple of times, you have probably noticed the bleak amount of posting I’ve been doing lately. Fear not. I am still here. Part of it was that I have [...]
[...] Well, I’ve certainly been one to criticize the UN Human Rights commission in the past, and their current manifestation of that group, the Human Rights Council. It’s a shame really that something with the potential to do so much good ends up being as useless, and worse than useless: actually [...]
I had thought to blog on this when I read it, but Catholicguaze got to it first. In the GIS world, I get a newsletter (it’s pretty lengthy, more like a newspaper or a journal) from ESRI concerning their product ArcGIS, which is what I use at work. Most of [...]
Check out this great redistricting game online. Normally I won’t talk up online games, but this is a map game. Ah, the power of the cartographer!
The object is to redraw the voting districts for imaginary places based on certain criteria and public reaction so that you can get [...]
A small atlas of the Universe, which is boiled down to 9 pictures at scales ranging from 12.5 light years to 14 billion light years. And you ask yourself, “They can see that far into space?” It does seem like a long way.
The thing that caught my eye [...]
How to insult someone like Shakespeare.
[...]OK, so I saw this interesting paper on Democratic Constitutionalism and Backlash, where two gentlemen writing for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review talk about popular constitutional engagement. This article was very long, and full of big words, so I didn’t take the time to read the entire [...]
The Insta poses an interesting question. In this age of information, is the fine journalistic art of editing an interview to the point where it’s unrecognizable to the person who was interviewed over?
I’ll reprint the same quote he did here.
It is a transaction that clearly [...]
Morality in politics has a special place in the hearts of the conservative. The number one issue among religious conservatives is abortion, and will continue to be for some time. It’s not a pretty subject, but anger and emotions run hot when discussing it, and politicians tend to try and [...]
I’m not a supporter of John Edwards, being that he’s a Democrat doesn’t help, but I’m always willing to listen when people have a good idea. Even if it doesn’t pan out to be a good idea when all thought out and debated, this tax preparation idea has merit.
[...]Follow up from the Russian thing. It appears that we might not be just sitting back either.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is in Warsaw for talks with leaders on U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic.
OK, the [...]
Just in case you were wondering, we’re the enemy again.
The International Herald Tribune reported on Friday that Russian News Service, a radio broadcasting conglomerate recently taken over by state gas monopoly Gazprom, had brought in a new team of a managers and staff had been [...]
The shooting that took place at Virginia Tech earlier this week has certainly worked all of us up into a frenzy. I’ve been watching with sorrow in my heart for those who’s life will be affected by this and for those who lost their lives. But more-so I will [...]
You might be aware that today’s technology allows 911 emergency services to locate you based on information that your phone is sending back. Traditional land lines have been able to do this for a while, based on the telephone record of where that phone number resides, and cellular technology is [...]
Interesting article from Reuters about Zimbabwe starting to take down all the NGOs there. NGOs include all those organizations who selfishly provide aid and food to people who are starving due to Robert Mugabe’s campaign against everyone in his country.
Mugabe, sole ruler since independence in 1980, has [...]
Google Earth has added a Global Awareness layer to its maps program that lets you learn about [...]
Google Earth has added a Global Awareness layer to its maps program that lets you learn about [...]
A short guide to the modern history of geographic thought, by Catholicgauze. If any of you are interested, this sums up the last 150 years of geography as a discipline and academic field, which is not quite where it is today. I recall some of this, but most of [...]
A short guide to the modern history of geographic thought, by Catholicgauze. If any of you are interested, this sums up the last 150 years of geography as a discipline and academic field, which is not quite where it is today. I recall some of this, but most of [...]
Why is the U.S. so hated around the world?
In part it is due to the Soviet's propaganda machine which instead of directly trying to influence events created a self-sustaining Marxist subculture which seeks to destroy the establishment (United States and allied institutions) in the West. This [...]
Why is the U.S. so hated around the world?
In part it is due to the Soviet's propaganda machine which instead of directly trying to influence events created a self-sustaining Marxist subculture which seeks to destroy the establishment (United States and allied institutions) in the West. This [...]
I find it interesting that the United Nations can come up with the logic in trying an entire nation for genocide. At issue is the Bosnian genocide during the Serbian/Bosnian crisis in the early 90s.
The international court in the Hague, Netherlands, exonerated the Serbs for the crimes [...]
I find it interesting that the United Nations can come up with the logic in trying an entire nation for genocide. At issue is the Bosnian genocide during the Serbian/Bosnian crisis in the early 90s.
The international court in the Hague, Netherlands, exonerated the Serbs for the crimes [...]
In many countries of the world, well in most countries apparently, there is a substantial penalty for renouncing your faith if you’re a Muslim. The death threats are certainly not an incentive to renounce Islam as your religion.
Fascinating that there are probably millions of Muslims walking around [...]
