Month: January 2010
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Nation, State or County?
The sovereignty of Native American nations in the United States presents a complicated set of issues, wrapped in various viewpoints and interwoven with the past, present and future. However, this entry doesn’t discuss the historical or political situation, it points to current geography. Please excuse me as I sidestep the sensitivities while focusing on boundaries…
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Driving on the Opposite Side
I noticed an anomaly recently as I pondered a map of Interstate 5 covering California. Generally speaking, the custom in the United States is to drive on the right side of the road.(1) Just north of Santa Clarita near Castaic Lake, however, I-5 splits and switches that order. Vehicles driving steadily along on the right…
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Maintenance Update
Recently I mentioned that Google Maps changed the script for embedding Street View images within blogs. Unfortunately it rendered the previous format as useless blank spots on the page. However I’ve uncovered an unexpected silver lining as I’ve reviewed and edited each file. I can now find Street View images that did not exist when…
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The Visual Genius of Dave Oswald
Dave Oswald isn’t a household name but he should be for aficionados of larger-than-life roadside sculptures. Mr. Oswald is the owner and proprietor of DWO Fiberglass of Sparta, Wisconsin (formerly of F.A.S.T Korp of the same town). He has been constructing these masterpieces along highways and byways since 1962, bringing joy to viewers across the…
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Gee Thanks, Street View
Recently Google Maps changed the script that bloggers can use to embed Street View images within their web pages. Unfortunately the new script is not backwards compatible. I learned this today when I went back to one of my previous articles and saw that the Street View images no longer existed. Instead there was nothing…
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Chugwater
There’s no telling what might register on my mind when I examine a map closely. Anything out-of-the-ordinary will jump to the forefront. It may be an odd shape like the perfect circle of Corona, a stranded bit of land like Carter Lake or a strange town name like Yeehaw Junction. It doesn’t matter. If it…
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Northernmost England. Maybe.
Berwick-upon-Tweed is the northernmost town in England. However, due to geography and history it also holds a lot in common with Scotland. First, notice it’s peculiar location along the River Tweed: specifically the northern side of the River Tweed. How did a little piece of England find its way to the opposite side of a…
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What? Tonga Too?
It was only four days ago that I bragged and crowed that I’d recorded a website visitor from the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. Now, apparently Christmas came a little late on Twelve Mile Circle. Someone just landed here from Tonga! It wasn’t a grab-and-dash either. Our mystery visitor stuck around for three page…
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Cross-Province Municipalities
Usually towns that rest upon a border are distinct entities. They may have the appearance of a single contiguous municipality but often that’s deceiving. Two separate local governments actually administer the two separate portions. Kansas City along the Missouri/Kansas border comes to mind: one metropolitan area; same name; different municipal governments. However there are two…
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And Now Vanuatu
I love it when a new visitor arrives on Twelve Mile Circle from a previously unrepresented geographic location. Now I can focus on another spot on the globe while simultaneously carving a new notch on my visitor map. So today the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu checked in! Some of you are probably thinking,…