Month: November 2007
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Traffic Camera Mayhem
The urban landscape increasingly features traffic cameras. One could argue whether they exist to control driving behavior or to fill city coffers. Either way, they are not going away. So it’s not entirely surprising that the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that a local resident went off the deep end and shot a camera three times…
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Thoughts on Los Angeles and Reno
In an earlier post, 12MC noted that we can sometime confuse east and west in our geographic perceptions. A similar condition exists with Los Angeles, California and Reno, Nevada. Los Angeles conjures up certain images. Think of beaches, surfing and movie stars living on hillsides with expansive views of the Pacific Ocean. Most of us…
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Remote Southwestern Virginia
Recently I posted an entry about a section of Virginia that is further west than any point in West Virginia. It’s an odd fact made quite interesting primarily because the founders of a state carved from an older one consciously chose to highlight the word “west” in describing their creation. At the same time it…
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United States Ferries
Twelve Mile Circle admits an unusual fascination with ferries. Perhaps it comes from crossing a body of water at a personal level. Maybe it comes from taking the slow route and enjoying the ride as much as the destination. Regardless, few things please me as much as standing on the deck of a ferryboat as…
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Washington DC Area’s Last Phone Booth
NOTE: Twelve Mile Circle originally posted this article in November 2007. Verizon has since removed this phone booth. Sometimes changing technology can impact the landscape around it. Twelve Mile Circle notes the looming passage of an era: The Washington Post reported today on the Washington DC area’s last public phone booth. Apparently none of us…
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Thanksgiving Towns
Those of you in the United States will be celebrating Thanksgiving on November 22nd, so in recognition of that happy occasion, Twelve Mile Circle offers you a guide for your holiday feast. No Thanksgiving is complete without Turkey, so we offer several choices on the menu: Turkey in Texas, North Carolina, Arkansas and West Virginia;…
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Google Maps – “My Maps” Capability
I’ve embedded a number of Google Maps on pages throughout my website using the API for a variety of different personal interests, including my Brewery Visit map and my Family Descendants in Dodge & Jefferson Counties map. They weren’t particularly difficult to put together. However, they did require at least a rudimentary understanding of HTML, XML…
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Virginia, West of West Virginia
West Virginia split from Virginia in 1863 during the height of the Civil War. It elected to remain with the Union while the rest of the Commonwealth remained firmly entrenched within the Confederacy. Tensions based on divergent economies, cultures and geography simmered between the western and eastern portions of Virginia for decades leading up to…
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Fewest County Borders – Part III: Red Lake Co., MN
We’ve established that a county in the United States can have zero borders if it is an island and one border if it is a peninsula. However, there are no fully landlocked counties with just a single border. But what about landlocked counties that have two borders? Surprisingly there seems to be only one lone…
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Fewest County Borders – Part II: Peninsulas (Door Co., WI)
Only islands have the potential for zero county borders. However, what if we extend the search from zero borders to one border? The United States contains no fully-landlocked counties with a single border. Independent Cities Don’t Count Several independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia do meet this definition though. Examples include Fairfax City surrounded…