Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Category: Announcements

  • Want to be a Lighthouse Keeper?

    Lighthouse Keeper is one of those occupations similar to lamp lighter, elevator operator, stenographer and ice delivery person that probably doesn’t offer many career opportunities in the modern world. It takes a special personality to endure days and weeks of loneliness and isolation. So imagine life in a lighthouse perched on rocky crags far removed…

  • Pinwheel

    [EDITOR’S NOTE: Pinwheel later became Findery, and then faded into social media obscurity]. Longtime 12MC Reader “Mark” invited me to participate in a private beta version of Pinwheel.com about a week ago. I’ve spent a little time each evening tinkering with it. That’s not enough time to take advantage of Pinwheel’s true potential, of course.…

  • Victory: County Lines on Google Maps

    The day has finally arrived. Google just added United States county lines (and more!) to its maps. I’ve been hoping for this development for the last two years. I first pushed readers to express their interest way back in February 2010. I’d mention it periodically (OK, whined), usually within the context of “wouldn’t it be…

  • You’re Invited – 12MC Happy Hour

    Finally, at long last, I get to announce definitive plans for a Twelve Mile Circle Happy Hour on the American Meridian Line, in the Washington, DC area. This has been a long time coming. We couldn’t meet just anywhere. It had to involve a genuine geo-oddity of sufficient stature befitting this group. Venue became critically…

  • 12MC and Social Networking

    Twelve Mile Circle has been cruising right along rather nicely for the last four-plus years. Even so, I haven’t expanded beyond a blog format with a simple RSS feed. Frankly, I’ve never seen much need for it. However, I do receive occasional friend requests from the loyal readership for various social networks. They’ll sit in…

  • Full Grassley

    So I realize it’s only Day 1 of my off-season hiatus. Nonetheless, I’ll poke my head up briefly before hibernating again. I want to make sure 12MC readers saw a recent comment posted by John Deeth of Iowa. Comments often fall through the cracks because they don’t appear in newsreaders. And doubly so at this…

  • Off Season

    I read an interesting article the other day about Chincoteague, a tiny town on Virginia’s eastern shore (map). It’s a place probably best known for its annual wild pony roundup. The ponies live on Assateague Island just a short distance away. So each year a local volunteer fire department and it’s “saltwater cowboys” swim the…

  • Google Maps County Lines Imminent?

    At long last, I think we are getting very close to seeing county lines on Google Maps. I noticed them earlier today but they’ve since disappeared. I also observed numerous town boundaries, and in a couple of instances, even neighborhood boundaries. I believe the folks at Google are experimenting with various displays: some of what…

  • Loyal Reader Joe

    Those of you expecting a geography topic may be a bit disappointed with this article. Feel free to jump down directly to the “totally unrelated” section or return in a couple of days when I get back to the usual content. Today I diverge completely to another one of my favorite topics, my ongoing battle…

  • Earthquake in DC!

    Holy crap! We just had an earthquake. I’m on the top floor — 11th floor — of an office building in Crystal City, just across the river from Washington, DC. The building actually ROCKED for awhile. Lots of people have evacuated the office buildings. I can see them out on the streets. Me? I’m still…