A map published by Bernard Porter in 1939 depicting physics as a landmass through which several rivers corresponding to the main branches (light, sound, heat, etc.) run and converge into one.
via Kottke
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Tag: maps
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Gall-Peters Projection
The Obama administration is holding a virtual public forum for the second year in a row next week, and the principal cast of The West Wing came together again to voice their support for the idea in a video from the White House.
The idea pays “fromage” to President Andrew Jackson, who turned the White House into an open house on Feb. 22, 1837, offering the American public the opportunity to visit 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and discuss the issues of the day with the president and his staff. Jackson had a 1,400-pound block of cheddar cheese hauled in for the event, and visitors could take a piece of it home with them.
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Diorama maps
Sohei Nishino creates ‘Diorama Maps’: photomontages of cities ranging from skyline photos down to individual people. Each contains thousands of photos taken over months in each city and the small section from Istanbul below really shows the shot diversity:
I’m pretty sure that’s the Rüstem Paşa Mosque and the New Mosque then you’ve got people down by the river, wide shots of traffic, a cat…
If you’re in London at Michael Hoppen Contemporary you can see Berlin, New Delhi, Amsterdam, Jerusalem, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Bern.
(via The Fox is Black)
This reminds me a little of the Atlas of True Names, Endonym Map is a map of the world with all countries labelled in the language of the people who live there.
My first thought was that Ireland should be Éire but this (and other such quibbles) are tackled in the errata.
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A geek for something
I came across that previous quote looking for this video, it’s a panel from this year’s Comic-Con about fantasy writing and world-building featuring GRRM, Joe Abercrombie, Diana Gabaldon, Lev Grossman, and Patrick Rothfuss.
It’s got some great insight into their respective worlds and processes, plenty of map talk, and some good book recommendations too, but running through a lot of their answers was the idea that you should write for yourself, you should do things because they’re what you’re interested in and what you enjoy, which is something that carries well beyond writing.
If you’re a geek for something, if that’s herbology, or the nature of the night sky, or plate tectonics, revel in your geekery, roll around in it, and make that a part of your world, because that will be really interesting to the people reading it because you’re interested in it. Whereas if you try to do something because you feel like you’re supposed to… I don’t think that’s the best way to really enjoy yourself and make a vibrant world.
– Patrick Rothfuss
The minute you start to write to some kind of imagined taste, some audience that you imagine is out there somewhere you’re doomed.
– Joe Abercrombie
GRRM also makes some comments about trying to hop between genres that are in vogue and (almost) all panelists talk about writing for themselves first and I think it applies to any creative endeavour. My current creative output is only marginally greater than zero but I definitely spend too much time worrying excessively about whether people will like something I make to the point where I don’t make it. I should worry about whether I like it.
I also learned that:
- Westeros started out as upside-down Ireland (the Vale is Munster).
- The Six Duchies is upside-down Alaska.
- Lancaster/York = Lannister/Stark (really can’t believe I missed this one, I even went into the novels knowing about the War of the Roses influence…)
The full panel is about 50 minutes and well worth it (I’ve watched/listened to it now three times already).
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Springstreets
Warning: Springstreets is not to scale and should not be used while on a drive, last chance power or otherwise. The only thing you can really use this map to find is yourself.