Monthly Archives: April 2022
Pedestrians
I occasionally read Seth Godin’s blog. In a recent post he made the statement, “In our culture we give way too many resources to cars and their efficiency, and not enough to pedestrians and the opportunities they deserve.” He used it in a list of other traffic related metaphors to make a point about how…
This does not exist
I recently stumbled across a website called This City Does Not Exist. Every refresh loads an AI-generated aerial image of a city that, indeed, does not exist. As a lover of maps, I enjoy playing with this website, creating stories and histories in my head for these invented landscapes. Through researching the technology that enabled…
Power of Landscape
In response to a question about how landscape is something that forms each of us, Irish poet, theologian, and philosopher John O’Donohue provided this answer on Krista Tippet’s podcast “On Being” that I think wonderfully summarizes the need for wilderness in our collective lives. Krista Tippet: “I know that “landscape” is a really pivotal word…
Time enough
Time is a fickle thing. In the western tradition we tend to describe it as something we continuously move through with a constant speed and direction, but I’ve come across some other interesting descriptions lately that I think are worth considering. In PrairyErth: A Deep Map author William Least Heat-Moon notes that in western philosophy…
Uncanny Valleys
There’s a concept in robotics called the uncanny valley. Basically, as robots become more and more human-like, people want to be around them less and less, the robots become uncanny. This is why robots intended to socialize with humans often have cute cartoon faces instead of lifelike animatronic ones. The cartoon faces are different enough…
Polar aspirations
It has always bugged me that Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton are two of the best known Antarctic explorers. Scott, after all, died during an attempt to become the first to reach the south pole due to a number of reasons including poor planning, lack of preparation, and sheer British bravado. Shackleton is only known…
Traverses
I like to think that I put more than average brain cycles towards thinking about routes and traverse paths. My job requires it after all and I’m predisposed due to hobbies like hiking and backpacking which require good route knowledge. I’m always on the lookout for new styles and types of maps that represent route…