Category: Island
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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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Fort Blunder
Mistakes happen. Generally though, a nation doesn’t accidentally build a fort on the wrong side of an international border. A neighboring country, even if friendly, might not appreciate that. Throw in a history of mutual mistrust and territorial incursions and things could get much worse. The United States made just such an incursion onto British…
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Wandering through Real Estate
[EDITOR’S NOTE: 12MC ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED THIS ARTICLE IN 2009. THIS FEATURE NO LONGER EXISTS IN GOOGLE MAPS] There’s been a capability in Google Maps that allows users to check real estate prices for quite awhile now. However a couple of weeks ago they added this feature to the “more” button on the top right of…
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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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Isles of Shoals
Maine and New Hampshire share a land border that continues outward into the Atlantic Ocean. There it goes straight through the middle of the mysterious Isles of Shoals. There the states share an additional land border along a causeway only a few yards wide. This map shows the Isles of Shoals, a series of rocky…
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A Week in Maine, Part III
I’m quickly approaching the end of my way-to-brief holiday to Maine’s midcoast region. There’s time for one more set of vignettes and then I’ll get back to all the geo-oddities I’ve held in reserve awaiting my return. We spent another day relaxing on the water followed by a day meandering our way further up the…
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A Week in Maine, Part II
We set up shop in the town of Rockland, in the heart of Maine’s midcoast region (map). This is a great staging point for daylong excursions up and down the waterfront, and out among the scattered islands accessible only by ferry. Days are pleasant, nights are cool, and light ocean breezes refresh the soul. I’ve…
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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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Smallest of Hawaii
I’ve been getting a fair amount of hits with search terms like “smallest island in Hawaii” and “smallest population in Hawaii.” This probably means a new geo-trivia contest recently started or a homework assignment for a standardized curriculum just came due. The answer is more interesting than I imagined, and once again it comes down…