I’m facing a situation where I’ve collected a bunch of random thoughts. None of them deserve an entire article individually but maybe they equal one collectively. Feel free to consider this a Tapas Day and select only those tasty little morsels that appeal to you.
Maps from the 1870 Census
I have an interest in genealogy that’s at least as intense as my interest in strange geography. Occasionally the two topics collide. A genealogy blog that I follow pointed me towards yet another blog called Radical Cartography that provided some incredible maps and charts from the 1870 Census. There’s even one with some rather politically-incorrect terminology by today’s standards, a Chart of Idiots.
I Can’t Get Enough of the New Google Street View Release for the UK
Call me obsessed.
The Google LatLong blog provided this great image they recorded in the town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Wales.
A Comment that’s Far Beyond the Call of Duty
Did you get a chance to see the comment that “Kandice” placed on my recent musing, Seventeen Steps from Middle? She posted the comment after most of you read the original article, so go back and check it out if you missed it. She flipped the borderlocking graphic inside-out, creating a rippling-water effect, to demonstrate that there are darn few places where one can start from a maximally borderlocked county and reach either an international border or an outlet to the sea. It’s simply outstanding. The image is here, http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/1794/countiesfromcountylocke.png, but you’ll want to review her comment for an explanation and some context.
It Must be Spring
My website generates an interesting traffic pattern. I don’t know if it’s typical for the Intertubes as a whole, but it’s consistent for my little corner of the world. I get a traffic peak each Monday and it tails-off as the week progresses. Saturday usually attracts the fewest users but it then climbs a little higher on Sunday before peaking once again on Monday, repeating the cycle anew.
Most of my traffic lands on my permanent travel pages. The blog provides a nice cushion but it’s dwarfed by the larger numbers of one-time visitors searching for specific travel information (especially about ferries for some unknown reason). All I can figure is that people start their searches at the beginning of each week in anticipation of trips they plan to take the following weekend. My daily visitor volume over time looks like a sea with week-long wavelengths, week after month after year.
People travel more frequently in warm weather, so like a tidal surge, my traffic increases in the Northern Hemispheric summer and decreases in winter. I’ve noticed the traffic trending upward for the last few weeks. Some people watch for the swallows of Capistrano. Not me. I watch my user stats for those first signs of Spring. It has arrived.
That’s Bitter
A search engine matched the following query to my website: “shot of bitters door county.” I hadn’t thought about that in a long time. Curious? See my Washington Island page.
Out of Touch
Admittedly I’m quite often “out of touch” just by the nature of my odd-geo personality, but I’m going to be somewhat physically out of touch in a few days. I’ll be taking the family on a little road trip to visit the relatives while the kids’ enjoy their Spring Break from school. I’m not sure how often I’ll post during that time. It will depend upon my motivation and my opportunities. If you notice a drop-off in articles then that’s the reason. Things will return to normal in a couple of weeks.
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