Category: Government
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No more rest?
I wanted this to be a lighthearted post. As I poked around the online maps as I frequently do, I found a rest area along Interstate 80 in western Utah. There I found one of the most remote, desolate places I’ve ever seen. Just take a look around (map). Barely a speck of shade exists…
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90210: Myth and Reality
Postal Codes in the United State known as “ZIP Codes” take on a whole variety of fascinating geographical dimensions totally unexplored thus far on Twelve Mile Circle. I can think of no better way to start than with what is arguably the most famous ZIP Code on the planet, one known widely throughout pop culture…
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American Meridian
The international community recognizes a prime meridian that runs through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich in southeast London, England. It serves as a reference point for universal time and distance. However, that has not always been the case. Latitude is easy. The equator divides the planet into northern and southern hemispheres quite logically. Longitude is…
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Palau Checks In
Twelve Mile Circle isn’t one of those sites that uses a lot of exclamation points. However, today I am bestowing that rare honor. I got my first website hit from Palau! And it wasn’t one of those phony accidental hits either. Actually, this visitor from Palau remained on the site for a solid couple of…
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Gerrymandering
There are topics so intuitively obvious to those of us who appreciate maps that I figure I must have discussed them previously. Gerrymandering is one of those. However, as I go through the site’s Complete Index, it’s doesn’t appear. I won’t be making any value statements in this article. Rather I’ll focus on the weirdly…
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Hier Wird Deutsch Gesprochen
In Belgium, ongoing tensions between Flemish-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia receives a lot of attention. However, there’s actually a third distinct Belgian linguistic community, the German-speaking people of the East Cantons. This community represents approximately 70,000 people, or a little less than one percent of the nation’s population. It retains a level of political independence…
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Today, a Town Dies
Tuesday, September 1, 2009. Picher, Oklahoma died. Rest in peace. We’ve all heard of ghost towns, those places of lost hope and faded glory, of abandonment, dejection and crumbling ruins. It’s not merely a relic of a distant past. Modern day ghost towns also join the spectral realm while their inhabitants scatter for safer harbors.…
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…and Swains Island
I came across a document for a government program recently that restricted its eligibility to “All United States citizens and nationals (residents of American Samoa and Swains Island).” In the United States all citizens are nationals. However, not all nationals are citizens so the distinction needs to be clarified parenthetically. Truly it’s not an issue…
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A Capital Fourth
A Rare Opportunity Something awesome dropped into my lap a few days before the July 4 Independence Day celebrations. My family and I received an invitation to view the fireworks on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The vantage was a rooftop balcony only two blocks away from the action. A lifetime can pass without…
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Cajun Cars
The United States does not have an official language. English predominates of course, but other languages prevailed in certain places as they have for centuries. The Cajun dialect of French as spoken in parts of Louisiana is a prime example. CODOFIL Cajun culture intertwines with Louisiana’s identity, personality and heritage. In recognition the state legislature…