Twelve Mile Circle

  • 2008 Recap

    The recently concluded year marks the first complete calendar cycle for Twelve Mile Circle. By now I’ve sweated and obsessed over the web logs in typical fashion to see what conclusions I can draw. Most visibly, only the splash page even cracks the Top 25 on my website. This year one of my other obsessions…

  • Fewest Borders, West to East

    Today’s post serves no useful, practical purpose. Check back in a couple of days if you want something more intellectually challenging. Feel free to hang out if you’re still nursing the after-effects of your New Years Eve revelries. I’m fine either way. Regular readers know that I sometimes find topics by combing through search terms…

  • Os Confederados

    Immigration fueled the growth of the United States. It long served as an attractive destination for those seeking refuge or opportunity. Within that rich historical context it’s difficult to conceive of emigration, of people desiring to leave or even desperate to do so. However, that’s exactly what happened with the Confederados. A Society Turned Upside…

  • The Most Remote Town in Mainland Britain

    If you’re like me, maybe you’ve had a little too much of the Holidays, a little too much quality time with the in-laws. Perhaps now you’re ready for some solitude. It would need to be a quiet, out of the way place where nobody would think to look, but not so remote as to be…

  • The Coldest I’ve Ever Been in my Life

    This has been an amazing weather year for me. I’ve survived blistering heat in the Arizona desert, disastrous floods in the Upper Midwest, and now bone chilling cold. I could never have imagined 2008 would bring both the highest and lowest temperature extremes in my life thus far: 111°f/44°c last summer and -10°f/-23°c this winter.…

  • Vanishing South Georgia

    Recently I found myself pondering maps of the Savannah River south of Augusta. I wandered virtually among the oxbow lakes perched amid the Georgia – South Carolina border. Don’t bother asking why. By now you surely know that’s this is what passes for “fun” here on Twelve Mile Circle. Then a strange object arose as…

  • Wyndham Winter Warmer

    It’s been chilly lately at Twelve Mile Circle as winter approaches. Perhaps some warm thoughts will help me get through these cold evenings. I need to take my mind to the hottest spot on the planet. I might consider the place with the highest absolute recorded temperature. That would be Al ‘Aziziyah, Libya on September…

  • Lucky 7 & the Ghost Kid

    It all started with an innocent set of queries captured by my web stats. They seemed to follow a common theme somewhat like “strange boundary five points ma. conn.”[1] The only border anomaly between Massachusetts and Connecticut that I knew anything about was the Southwick Jog, which I featured back in October. Seven is More…

  • Smallest Largest Provincial Island in Canada

    You read that right. Perhaps I can rephrase it better: Each Canadian Province or Territory has a largest island. When considering that list, which one is the smallest? Today’s totally trivial topic comes courtesy of the confluence of many competing thoughts that pinged around my mind lately: I’m “-est” fixated (you know, things ending in…

  • Sandoval Exclave

    A small wedge of Sandoval County, New Mexico hovers off its eastern edge. It is a fully disembodied and totally separated from the remainder of the county. Thus, it’s a great example of an orphaned exclave. Google Earth captures this exclave rather nicely. Roughly it’s triangular, with a right angle on the northeast corner. Santa…


Latest Comments

  1. Hi Mr. Howder — Just going from memory, I recall that your “rule” for counting a nation/state/county is “if I’m…

  2. Does anyone have actual music to the song – Tanaha ,Timpson. Bobo and Blair ?? It was recorded by Tex…