Category: International
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Footloose
I thought I’d sliced-and-diced my county counting exploits in every way imaginable by the time I posted Counting Down, my account of barely crossed and airport only captures. Loyal reader and fellow county counter Andy begged to differ. He discovered one more dimension when he noted, “Probably 99% of what you or I color in…
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More Endorheic in Europe
I have a mild obsession with endorheic basins. Those are magical places where water flows into them and never flows out except through evaporation. They’ve appeared several times on the pages of Twelve Mile Circle over the years. I’ve even discussed an example in Europe before, Lake Neusiedl on the border between Austria and Hungary.…
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Counting Down
Most comments on Twelve Mile Circle are made to articles written recently, primarily to those posted within the past few days. That doesn’t prevent readers from commenting on older articles though. I leave the comment window open indefinitely. People wander their way to the site however they manage to do it, and I assume most…
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Directional Upstart Eclipses Namesake
Loyal reader Cary suggested an article idea that built upon a previous topic, Upstart Eclipses Namesake. In that previous posting I offered “new” places that grew more prominent than their original namesakes. Examples I proposed included New Zealand (vs. Zealand), New South Wales (vs. South Wales) and others. There were several comments and a lively…
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Braintree
I’ve always thought that places called Braintree sounded odd. I knew it couldn’t have derived from a tree with brains dangling from its branches. Nonetheless, that’s exactly what came to mind. If that’s the case then the Osage Orange or Hedge Apple (Maclura pomifera) might come closest to that twisted image. My overactive imagination still…
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Columbus Name Symmetry, Part 2
It doesn’t take much to please Twelve Mile Circle and I’d been particularly fascinated by the first name / surname symmetry of Cristóbal, Colón, Panamá. Never one to stop beating that dead horse I considered that Christopher Columbus had lots of other places named for him that remained unexplored. Certainly there must be plenty of…
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Columbus Name Symmetry, Part 1
Quite some time ago, way back in April 2012, Twelve Mile Circle posted an article called First Name, Surname Symmetry. It involved places where different levels of government nestled to form the full names of important people. Examples included the city Hernando, in De Soto County, Mississippi; the town of George in the state of…
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Highway to Park
A park near my home sits above an interstate highway leading into Washington, DC. Here, builders tucked the roadway into a little valley leading downhill towards the Potomac River and put a concrete lid above it. Drivers on Interstate 66 enter a tunnel briefly before returning to daylight and crossing the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge into…
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More Ancient Rivers
The readers of Twelve Mile Circle seemed to anticipate where this conversation might head when I wrote about the advanced age of the French Broad River recently. I’d actually intended to write a single article about really old rivers. Then I had to split it when it got too wordy. Naturally I’d seen that same…
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Virginia Silver and Gold
Living in the Commonwealth for so many years, I guess it presupposes I’ll notice Virginia mentioned in out-of-context situations. Such was the case with Virginia City, Montana which I saw while researching presidential counties. It served as the seat of local government in Madison County, which derived its name from James Madison, the fourth U.S.…