mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06Following the historical journey of discovery and understanding, through maps, charts and every significant data visualization we can find.
Oh wow. An interactive map of Middle Earth.
Impressive.
Also very cool. An interactive map for the Silk Road.
(there goes today's productivity)
Can't explain why.
Finding geography homework from the mid-19th century is such a treasure. Just love it. Some young student sketching out their world, recognizing where they were and probably noticing how much of the continent, or the world was unknown.
Just fell out of the back of a school atlas we got in.
Ernest Dudley Chase had raging success in the second half of life as he retired, started pursuing his dream of making maps, and was well received.
His sense of design set him apart, and here, just a few of his compass roses, taken from some of his famous pictorial maps.
A favorite woodblock engraving from Sebastian Münster, c. 1558, showing some of the best of what was understood for Asia. (And including a wonderful Mermaid with a double tail)
It's hard to explain what a shock this was. It felt like a stalemate that was going to end with a battle, many mushroom clouds, & cities evaporated. Or it was going to be seal team six taking out most of the Politburo. But that wasn't it. It just kind of collapsed, sure, with lots of pressures applied, but we weren't sure what we were watching. Even the intelligence agencies were perplexed. But the Soviet empire collapsed.
From 1992 a look at the fragmented pieces
#maps #history #map #Russia
This is medicinal cartography. Brilliant. We endorse this. Great use of internet resources.
Take a bit to check it out.
A speaker said to focus on "the Just Past", as in the moments where humanity was trying to do something good, correct & restorative.
I paused.
Often cartographic study is pivoting on battles, explorations or the conquests of empires. But certainly there were moments worth remembering with focus.
Here's my candidate. Gandhi's Salt March on its 70th anniversary. A nonviolent action that even motivated U.S. Civil Rights efforts decades afterward.
Post War, and the exotic allure of Hawaii and Polynesian culture had to be so tempting. Easier air travel, having disposable income, simpler times.
Prior to the surge of tourism and the unimaginable growth on Oahu and Maui during the 20th century that would change so much, this was a promotional pictorial map for the islands.
A wonderful mix of evolving precision, and some mythical holdovers.
So much of the East Indies now becomes identifiable, but it looks like a land bridge connects Australia to Papua New Guinea. Note as well the lake which is the source to all the great rivers of Southeast Asia
Confession.
Was out skateboarding with the fam, & did the deed. Eight screws and a big plate, and I'm back together.
But. I have two hilarious sons that I love to pieces. And they brought back the humor. Called after the doc visit...
"Should I call and tell you're sponsors you are out for the season?"
- "Who's gonna tell Tony Hawk?"
"Who were your sponsors, geritol, metamucil, and life alert?"
- "Did you know that there's no AARP category at the X-games?"
https://progressandpoverty.substack.com/p/just-put-it-on-a-map
Interesting visualization.
Was always interested in talking with older people about their memories of the era of the Great Depression. Asking about F.D.R. was a mix of mostly reverend talk of how "that WPA job saved the family", and a minority of people who with irritation would say "War spending saved this country!"
This map from Republican publisher Henry Luce, clearly leaned towards the later with FDR as a loose cannon, keen to handing out cash.
But for working folks...
"Search a map using natural language and LLMs"
https://llmparty.pixeletes.com/experiments/wanderworld
Fun! Asked "what's a great place for dorks to hang out". M.I.T. libraries, British Museum, Cern, and San Diego Comicon.
I have hung out at some of those places and would love to go to Cern. Ouch.
Rules, Learning, Algorithms, Thinking about living in community.
If you could use a big picture discussion to make you think, this is a suggestion.
Really love Prof. Daston's work, it's accessible, but opens up world's of ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RLmzQT13_4
