News

I've been accepted into UW's GIS certificate program. That's right...back to school, where I will:

hopefully avoid Ogre
probably not go streaking
dance along with Otis Day and the Knights

I will be meeting with the GIS program director this week to determine specifics of my return to college, but...back in school!

Seasonality Map

I came across a really useful, informative, and easy to use map today. The map tells what foods are in season, letting the user choose what state and month to display. This is something that I've been wanting to find for a while now - I've been going to the farmer's market for a couple of years, but I still don't have a solid grasp of all the produce that's in season in Wisconsin. The map isn't an exhaustive authority on all foods, but it seems to be a great start. After reading The Omnivore's Dilemma a few apartments ago* I got fairly interested in seasonal eating and slow food. Combine that with maps? I'm sold!

Map found at Epicurious.

*Maybe this is just me, but since I've been living in apartments I think I've started keeping time by them as well. I've got multiple calendars in my head now, and it's getting confusing. Calendar year, school year, field seasons, apartment years, baseball season...I need to consolidate my brain.

Links from the Week

With the release of his latest book, Slate.com created a Dan Brown plot-generating tool... and it’s awesome. If you’re a fan of Dan Brown, Tom Hanks, or insanely bad mullets, visit here and play around with it!

Beyond the Boxscore, a terrific baseball blog, recently addressed efficiency in graphic design. Within that article, they used a map created by French cartographers depicting Napoleon's invasion of/retreat from Russia. It's brilliant and dense and beautiful.

Good is a treasure trove of really interesting graphic visualizations, and this week they linked to an amazing interactive tool showing the changing demographics of the American labor force since 1850.

Celebrate!

After a morning full of mapmaking and then a lunchtime full of program-crashing (followed by a brief moment of forehead/desk interaction) I think I've solved the technical issues at hand. This, my readers, is cause for celebration!

Thomas B. Marlow undoubtedly will publish a set of rules pertaining to wedding/reception conduct - sneak peek: This song is acceptable ONLY when Muppets are involved.

Theban Mapping Project

A Warning: What is about to follow will probably make you groan.


So, Mother's Day is this Sunday. In honor of all of our moms out there, I decided to write a brief post highlighting one of the coolest maps I've seen. Why post this now? Because the map is of the Valley of the Kings...FULL OF MUMMIES!!!!

Well, it used to be. They're probably gone now. If you're still reading, you obviously aren't scared of terrible jokes. Honestly, if you read this blog at all, you probably don't mind them too much. Anyway - the site is just a beautiful, fascinating, and informative map of the Theban Valley. Pharoahs buried here include a bunch of Rameses (1-7, 9-11), a couple Setys, Hatsheput, and Tutankhamen. Seriously, it's an awesome site. Who didn't want to find an awesome Egyptian tomb when they were a kid? Take a look around here. It's worth it.