Monday, March 31, 2014

Reg Manning (guest post)

Hello! Guest contributor Amanda Murphyao here. I'm putting up historical cartoons involving the world or globe from the United States Library of Congress for the next few Mondays.

Here are two cartoons by Reg Manning:


Manning -  Did you hear a scream - 31 October 1952

Manning - Or so it seems - 26 Jan 1952

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Missing Quebec?

Amanda Murphyao here with some gaps where Quebec used to be:

This one's by Theo Moudakis of the Toronto Star (March 2014).


And this one's by Terry Mosher (Aislin) in the Montreal Gazette (1995).

Friday, March 28, 2014

Schrodinger's town

From a Facebook share by friend Jay: An NPR story about a fake place name
Agloe, circled here, was once a fictional town in upstate New York.
This is the story of a totally made-up place that suddenly became real — and then, strangely, undid itself and became a fantasy again.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Whatever happened to postcards?

Postcards.  When was the last time you received a postcard? Here's a vintage map postcard of Wisconsin:

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Delicious depictions

Food stylist Caitlin Levin and photographer Henry Hargreaves have collaborated on a series of food-based country maps composed of signature national ingredients. The typography is by Sarit Melmed.
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Food Maps from Kiwi and Eagle on Vimeo.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Jim Ivey (guest post)

Hello! Guest contributor Amanda Murphyao here. I'm putting up historical cartoons involving the world or globe from the United States Library of Congress for the next few Mondays.

Here are two cartoons from Jim Ivey:



Ivey - Keeps the ball rolling - c 1971

Ivey - plaything - c 1971

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Friday, March 21, 2014

Bilingual geography gaff

OK, so here's a geography puzzle for you.  See if you can catch the map error on this Spanish news cast:

.

Did you see it?  If not here's a hint:
Spanish -> English
Rusia -> Russia
Polonia -> Poland
Alemania -> Germany
Hungria -> Hungary
Rumania -> Romania
Bielorrusia  -> Belarus
Ucrania -> Ukraine

Got it yet?  Here's a correct English version of a map of Central Europe.  Seriously, it took me a while to see it.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Been there? Seen that.

We've posted maps showing where TV shows take place, and even a map of places in California that Hollywood used as stand-ins for the rest of the planet.  Here's a map showing which plot line is most common for different regions of the country, by Rob Fee
A US Map Of Romantic Comedy Settings Or Storylines Based On Location

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Lost ... dog?

This is taking the age-old spousal argument about directions to the next level:
Dogs And Men Are The Same, Right Ladies?

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Reggie Watts teaches History

Here we have the History episode of Reggie Watts' web series where he plays all the teachers in a school. It's mapulicious... which is an actual word that Mr. Watts would certainly teach about.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Lute Pease (guest post)


Hello! Guest contributor Amanda Murphyao here. I'm putting up historical cartoons involving the world or globe from the United States Library of Congress for the next few Mondays.

Here are three cartoons by Lute Pease:

Pease - Bubble gum - 1950-3


Pease - Hey, go back - 1925


Sunday, March 16, 2014

Wimpy

My son has made a suggestion for the blog while reading one of my old collections of Foxtrot, by Bill Amend:
FoxTrot

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Criminally stupid

Much ink has been spilled about the inexcusably high rates of incarceration in the US.  Here's a map suggested by our friend Rob illustrating the inanity:
prison map

Friday, March 14, 2014

More Google Earth oddities

Here's some samples from a long list of odd things people have found in Google Earth:
30 Awesome Finds on Google Earth
Aslan?

30 Awesome Finds on Google Earth
Lovely landscaping
30 Awesome Finds on Google Earth
Playing in the Egyptian desert sands
30 Awesome Finds on Google Earth
A bloat of hippos

30 Awesome Finds on Google Earth
Potash ponds in Utah

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Crisis geography graphics

In a debut-for-this-blog Matt Bors gives us a commentary on the geography education of the US public.  I think The Daily Show makes fun of this a lot.
The News Today

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Google carpet

Remember how you can buy a quilt based on any Google Map location?  Here are some carpets by artist Roosmarijn Pallandt based on Google Earth images that are made using techniques from the regions depicted. (Not to be confused with this terminal in Sacramento)

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Maps among best ever science illustrations

This unusual map of 1685 illustrates ocean currents as understood at the time based on the observations of explorers and mariners. It's from an article about the greatest-ever science illustrations, which includes, of course, the ground-breaking map "On the Mode of Communication of Cholera" by John Snow in 1855 which revolutionized epidemiology (see below).  The list includes other items we've posted, including this mesmerizing ocean currents video.



Monday, March 10, 2014

In the beginning... (guest post)

Hello! Guest contributor Amanda Murphyao here. I'm putting up historical cartoons involving the world or globe from the United States Library of Congress for the next few Mondays.


Marcus - Just the beginning - c 1955

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Smartshoe

Here's an interesting concept:... not to be confused with the shoe with the GPS tracker in it for keeping tabs on Alzheimer patients.
Smart Shoes for the Blind

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

We've had a number of posts with animated maps showing territorial changes over time. My favorite is this bubble map of declining empires. Well, here's another one from our friend Rob that shows the evolution of the USA.  I'm hoping Puerto Rico's request for statehood will be granted soon so that this will keep going.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Travel with Indiana Jones Part II

So I'm still looking for travelling-around-the-globe clips from the Indiana Jones movies, those interludes between scenes where the planes, boats, submarines, etc. are shown translucently over the map showing their routes.  I did a post once before showcasing an homage to those clips, along with a factoid about the incorrect geography in at least one of those travel scenes.  The best I've got so far is this clip from a Best of RiffTrax's Raiders of the Lost Ark video, from the same people who did Mystery Science Theater 3000, where they (justifiably) make fun of that scene:   


I bring this up because there is currently a Kickstarter campaign to fund the filming of the last scene needed to complete an epic shot-for-shot fanflick remake of the Raiders movie. Of course they included the travel-around-the-globe scenes and they even spoofed them in their Kickstarter video (at about the 1:30 mark):


One last thing: how could I have forgotten to post that Map Room scene from the Raiders movie?  Here it is (sorry for the obtrusive ads):

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Muppet maps

In the marketing blitz that is the run-up to the next Muppets movie there's an ad that shows how kermit's calmness and Lipton Tea helps him navigate the Animalistic chaos that is New York City. Here's the 10-second bit where he helps some tourists arguing over a map:



And here's the full ad:

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

About time

Randall Munroe's xkcd continues to provide us with mappy delights.  This one was from last week and is an automatically updated image of time zones around the world.  The "title-text" at the actual webcomic says:
This image stays roughly in sync with the day (assuming the Earth continues spinning) Shortcut: xkcd.com/now.
Click on the image to enlargify

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Confusion near Crimea

In all the Crimean hubub MSNBC is having a little trouble with their European map. Czechoslovakia broke up over 20 years ago.
View image on Twitter

We've already posted the t-shirt that proclaims "Ukraine is weak!".  That bit was used in a Seinfeld bit, although I don't know whether the TV bit or t-shirt came first:

Monday, March 3, 2014

All the king's horses and all the king's men... (guest post)

Hello! Guest contributor Amanda Murphyao here. I'm putting up historical cartoons involving the world or globe from the United States Library of Congress for the next few Mondays.


Marcus - The repair man - c1945

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Saturday, March 1, 2014

More Fantasy Maps

Last month we started the month with a New Yorker article on maps in fantasy literature.  This article at The Awl by  is arguably even better... or at least the maps from the article are better known:

From Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth
A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh
The map of the Hundred Acre Wood
From William Goldman's The Princess Bride
From L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz
Thror’s Map drawn by J.R.R. Tolkien himself from The Hobbit

From Ellen Raskin's The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel)