Twelve Mile Circle
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What counts as a visit?
Every once in awhile this geo-oddity hobby of our gets some positive attention. The County Counting blog — one I follow regularly and include on my blogrole in the left column of this website — has a copy of a Boston Globe article that appeared recently. The article is called: “For those who keep a…
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The Stranded Airport
Twelve Mile Circle has a fascination with little chunks of land stranded on the “wrong” sides of rivers that occur when waterways change course. Usually this happens when severe flooding digs a new channel through a gradually sloping area of relatively soft soil. I noticed just such a spot in St. Joseph, Missouri awhile ago…
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An Extreme Definition of “Southern”
An acquaintance of mine and I once got into a friendly discussion about what should count as a “southern” state within the United States. I thought, well, the list should start at least with the eleven that formed the Confederate States of America at the onset of the Civil War. From there we could talk…
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Shortest River… or Not
What is a river, exactly? In all seriousness, what differentiates a river from a creek, a brook, a run or some of the other watercourses mapped on Toponymia? Clearly it comes down to size and volume. But where does one draw the line between what should be called a “river” and what should not? So…
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Reverberations of a Doomed Expedition
What possibly could the tattooed mayor of a small rustbelt town, a subway station in an urbanized corridor and the towering historical legacy of George Washington all have in common? If you guessed a failed 1755 British military expedition then you would be correct. I imagine many of you probably guessed wrong. Twelve Mile Circle…
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This Counts as a Geo-Oddity, Right?
That’s how I’ve been rationalizing it, anyway. Santa brought the kids a wii for Christmas this year. Normally I’m not a videogamer, far from it as a matter of fact. However, we got one little game that is quite addictive for a geo-geek like myself. They call it “Island Flyover” and it comes bundled with…
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Enclaves within Dhekelia
Cyprus. One island split so many different ways. There’s the de facto partitioning between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. And there’s the United Nations buffer zone created along the ceasefire line. Finally, there’s the British Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. This isn’t about any of those divisions. Rather the three, well actually four, tiny…
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White Christmas
It’s Christmas and I’m not likely to greet many visitors on Twelve Mile Circle today. Nonetheless I thought I’d post something quirky but topical. Consider this a little gift for those of you who did decided to spend some quality time on the web today. Well, between attending church, opening presents, and pursuing holiday cheer,…
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Fortress Fixation
I used my unexpected day off from work yesterday — courtesy of the weekend snowstorm — to focus on a webpage I’ve wanted to construct for awhile. It serves as a portal to various pages that outline historic military fortresses that I’ve encountered and recorded during my travels. Yes, along with lighthouses, waterfalls, breweries, ferries,…
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