Start of 2025 Hurricane Season

Yesterday the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season officially began, and the two main weather channels (The Weather Channel and FoxWeather) devoted much of their time to discussing this year's prospects regarding tropical storm systems and the damage that storms like Helene and Milton caused in 2024.  I remember as a kid in the 1960s getting a free hurricane plotting map that many stores...including Publix...offered.  Then I would eagerly wait for each day's newspaper (we got the Miami News)  to examine its (usually front-page) article about the status of ongoing tropical systems, usually with the accompanying maximum sustained winds and that all-important figure, its coordinates.  I'd duly plot out the new location and connect it to my previous plotting, making a gradual pathway that it was taking...I did this for years.  Nowadays, though, since you can pretty much check up on the different tropical storms online or on TV on a 24/7 basis, this painstaking plotting out of a hurricane's progress just isn't practiced anymore.  The last season I did this intentionally was in 1985 after Elena caused a scare in my Gainesville area after it abruptly shifted its path overnight to hover just off the coast at Cedar Key.  Now, of course, I can go back on Wikipedia and get a synopsis of each past season, along with a map showing the different named storms' trajectories.  For 2025, there will be no plotting in my house, but I'll keep in touch with the weather... 

Just Finished Reading The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

A few days ago on this blog I listed the top 51 fantasy book series according to BuzzFeed...Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy was #8.  So when I discovered that my son Will had already read it and left behind the first two volumes, I sat down to read it for myself...and I just finished reading the first book, titled The Blade Itself...

Abercrombie lifted his title from a saying by Homer, which he inserted at the beginning: The blade itself incites to violence.  And The Blade Itself is full of sharp, deadly blades, as well as all kinds of gratuitous, gory violence: squeamish readers beware.  If you can handle it, though, you might find, as I did, that not only is the story interesting, but the characters are deep and unforgettable.  It all takes place on another one of those fantasy worlds with its own continents, islands, nations, magic, history...and, of course, wars.  The narrative jumps around among its main characters:

 ---Logen "Ninefingers", a Northman (Viking-like) warrior with a long resume of wartime atrocities and now an outcast from his old ruler Bethod's empire.
 ---Inquistitor Glokta, a cynical yet strangely compelling figure, formerly a war hero but reduced to near-crippled status after his torture while a POW...right now he's my favorite character.
 ---Jezal, an inexperienced and somewhat pompous nobleman who is talented at fencing but virtually ignorant about the realities of war.
 ---First Magi Bayaz, a powerful wizard with a dark side who seems to want to do good.
 ---Collem West, a practical, courageous, and sympathetic officer.
 ---The Dogman, a friend and fellow fighter for Logen who, after their separation, sets out with his comrades to fight their enemies.
  ---Ferro, an abused former slave from the south with a single-minded passion for revenge. 

The United Empire is being attacked from the north, by Bethod's Northmen, and from the south, by the Gurkul Empire (which resembles loosely the early Muslim caliphates).   And then there are the Flatheads, or Shanka, in the far north that may eventually threaten the whole world.  It is in this context of conflict that the above characters (and others) find themselves...

One thing that bugged me with this book was the incredible number of names introduced, making it difficult to keep up with references to characters or places brought up earlier: I decided to write down each new name, with the page number, whenever I found one.  The other problem I had was: no map! In fantasy fiction, if you're going to make a big deal about its geography, then you'd better provide a map as well...but Abercrombie didn't.  Being a totally map-oriented kind of guy, I did find a useful one on the internet and have been using it ever since...

I'm already close to 200 pages through the next book in this series, titled Before They Are Hanged...and, yes, the title is derived from yet another famous line.  My son picked a good series to read...I'm intensely interested in seeing what happens to the different characters, as well as how some of the mysteries are explained in the end.  So far, I think it merits its high ranking from BuzzFeed...

Explosive Growth of Internet Information and Educational Resources

It seems that I am constantly in a state of "catch-up" when it comes to the Internet and the explosion of innovations in this exciting digital age of ours.  Being someone who likes history, languages, and reading, the amount of material now available over the World Wide Web is astounding, to say the least.  If you want to know what land Florida's counties covered in 1845, 1855, 1902, or later...all you have to do is perform a search and presto, there they are...I was surprised to see a sizeable town called Newnansville, where Gainesville would have been, on the 1845 map that also showed Alachua County extending to cover much of the Gulf of Mexico coastline.  You can now learn just about anything on YouTube...all that is needed is your time and attention. Just pick any college course and somebody's probably teaching it somewhere on this site.  There is so much language learning material available now on the Internet that it is mind-boggling.  And then you can translate anything you see on your screen into just about any language you want.  Amazing!  And what about the Wiki network that provides so much information and direction on just about any subject conceivable?  Today I accidentally stumbled upon one such site: Wikisources...

Wikisources offers a staggering amount of public domain literature, free of charge.  I like the fiction, but there are also works about science, history, law, religion, philosophy...just check out their categories for yourself!  And what's even cooler is that they has a mobile app called "Wikisurf" that enables me to read any of this material on my cell phone!

Maybe you're chuckling to yourself as I reveal all of these revelations that you might well have known about for some time...I wouldn't be at all surprised, being a bit behind the times in this area.  With this revolution of instant availability of information and educational resources, I'm going to have to sit back and consider revising my personal goals as I take into account the ever-expanding possibilities for growth in so many different areas...

Wanted: A Three-Dimensional Star Map

Tonight, after hearing that the skies will finally be clearing up after days of being overcast, I plan to step outside and do a little late-winter evening star-gazing.  I already know what to expect: the same constellations with their same configurations and the same stars, the brightest of which I know the names.  Yes, there will be Orion, with its famous "Belt" of three stars in the middle and the bright stars of Betelgeuse, Rigel, and Bellatrix.  North and a little to the west a lies the house-shaped (if you "connect" the stars like the old connect-the-dot puzzles) Auriga, with Capella being the standout star.  West of Orion and south of Auriga is Taurus of the Zodiac, Aldebaran its bright star and the famous Pleiades cluster further west.  The Zodiac extends eastward with Gemini (containing the "twin" stars Castor and Pollux), the faint Cancer, then Leo with its bright star Regulus...and then on to Virgo toward the eastern horizon.  The planet Jupiter will be shining bright, just about between Leo and Virgo.  The "dog stars" of Sirius (in Canis Major and the brightest star of the night sky) and Procyon (in Canis Major) will dominate the southern sky...they lie east of Orion.  And the Big Dipper, an asterism that is part of the constellation Ursa Major, will be to the right of the North Star (Polaris), with its handle on the bottom and the dipper on top.  Yes, I know the arrangement of stars in the night sky quite well...I learned it back in 1964 when I was seven years old.  Well, I think it's about time to expand my map into the third dimension...

Stars that appear close together in the sky are in all probability vastly distant from each other...one may be relatively close to us, like Sirius at 8.6 light-years, while "nearby" stars like Betelgeuse and Rigel are each around 1,400 light-years away.  What I want is a three-dimensional map of space that I can step into and see the sky from the point at which I am standing.  So, for example, I might just want to see how different the stars look from the vantage point of Sirius, so I walk to where it is on my 3-D map...and look around me.  Doubtless some stars, like Betelgeuse and Rigel, would be just as bright, but other stars might dim or get brighter.  And some may disappear while others become prominent.  And the constellations themselves might change a bit in their shapes.  Also, I would of course see our own Sun, which would be located at the diametrically opposite part of the sky that we see Sirius in...

A real three-dimensional space map is probably too unwieldy to construct, but with our virtual reality technology on the advance, it should be quite feasible to duplicate it in virtual space.  I wonder whether such maps exist yet...if and when they do, I definitely want to be in on it...

Perusing Past Election Result Maps on Wikipedia

This morning I've been using Wikipedia to go over presidential election results from the past 70+ years, concentrating on the nationwide maps showing the general election results, broken down by individual counties.  I was surprised that my current home county of Alachua, home to the University of Florida and a supposed "blue" Democratic area in northern Florida surrounded by a sea of "red" Republican counties, went for George (H.W.) Bush in 1988 over Michael Dukakis.  And in the extremely close election between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960, it was the Republican Nixon who won Alachua while surrounding counties went for JFK.  But then again, that 1960 election was the last one that consistently had the South pretty much run by very conservative Democrats (the "Boll Weevils").  For example, if you look at the map showing where the biggest support for Franklin Roosevelt was in his 1944 election against Thomas Dewey, it was in the southern states.  But in 1964, the South underwent a realignment that would only be interrupted when favorite son candidates Jimmy Carter (Georgia) and Bill Clinton (Arkansas) successfully ran for the high office.  Conservative wing Republican Barry Goldwater won the Deep South in '64 and, four years later, independent candidate George Wallace would split it with Nixon.  Nixon swept the area (and almost the rest of the country) from George McGovern in 1972, and the shift of conservative southern Democrats to the Republican Party had begun. Still, there are pockets of strong Democratic regions in states like Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina in spite of their states' now consistently Republican orientation.  However, there are other states in the country whose shifts are a bit more puzzling...

Until the past few elections, for example, Kentucky was one of those states that could go either way.  The Democratic strong areas were always in its far western area near the Mississippi River and in its far eastern area near West Virginia.  Now those areas seem to have gone over to the Republicans.  Speaking of West Virginia, it used to be strongly Democratic...but has undergone a flip-flop of its own.  Another state that has drastically changed its political orientation is Oklahoma, which used to have a large Democratic base in its southeastern section but which now seems to be uniformly Republican...

Being someone who loves to pore over maps, I could spend hours upon hours looking at the ones Wikipedia provides.  I trust their data, although I know that there are areas that Wikipedia's articles might just be suspect for their objectivity.  But when it comes to data like this, they are a great source.  They're also useful for keeping up with sports standings, too!

Atlas of Middle Earth and Its Appeal

Every now and then I get into a whimsical mood and check out a peculiar spin-off book from my local library: The Atlas of Middle Earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad. It is based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, known best for The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This book goes into meticulous detail about the various stages of change in Middle Earth, a thoroughly fictional place, through the different "ages" as Tolkien laid out in his often cumbersome tales.

Fonstad is herself a geographer with cartographic experience. It shows in this excellent book, although as I study its pages I get the disturbing feeling that my time would be better served looking over maps of real places. And yet, because I have enjoyed an affinity with maps since early childhood and feel quite comfortable around them, I keep coming back to this book.

As for the Third Age, the era in which The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings transpires, I am pretty familiar with the geography of this completely non-existent world. As for the earlier ages, there were a lot of cataclysmic upheavals that occurred with Middle Earth, raising and sinking islands and parts of continents, making one place move to another realm, and even changing the shape of Middle Earth itself. Definitely pure fantasy, not science fiction!

Since Atlas of Middle Earth is based on stories and illustrates where events took place involving those stories' characters, how about a personal "Atlas of Real Earth" compiled in a comparable manner? Let's say, for example, that I want such an atlas for my family and friends. The maps would feature migration routes as we moved from southern Georgia in my infancy to Alexandria, Virginia, and then to Opa-Locka and later Hollywood in southeastern Florida. Then in my adulthood to Gainesville, Leesburg for a seven-month respite, and then back to Gainesville. There would be a special page showing the various places in Gainesville I've lived as well. Not to mention the vacation excursions and other travel I've undergone. And of course, friends and other members of my family would have their own tales and "trails" featured on the maps.

I think that would be a pretty cool idea for a business: make and sell a highly stylized atlas, patterned after Tolkien's maps, depicting your own life's events and journeys just as if you were the one living out some fantasy adventure!

Google Maps and Reality

The other day I checked out Google Maps to chart out a new addition to my running course as I gradually increase my mileage. My goal is to eventually have a full marathon-length course relatively close to home that doesn't involve repetition. A subdivision near Devil's Millhopper looked appealing. I noticed on my map that a long, winding road went northward from NW 53rd Avenue and eventually would deposit me quite a distance away on NW 43rd Street. Then I could run back and reconnect with my original course.

In practice, through, as I rode by bicycle through this neighborhood, I discovered that the "long and winding road" was just a cartographic fantasy. My map had connections showing between neighborhoods that simply did not exist (the connections, that is); I encountered multiple dead ends. Finally, on my disappointed way back through this subdivision, I decided to investigate one of those "dead ends", only to discover that it led into a park that didn't allow motorized traffic but did allow bicyclists (and runners) through. And that path through the park did enable me to get onto 43rd Street anyway, albeit in a different location. Cool, but my Google Map just had a street featured there.

Don't get me wrong: I am very grateful and happy in general with my "maps" feature on Google. It really is quite amazing, actually. And the maps are usually pretty accurate, especially when trying to navigate down established major roads. But sometimes that accuracy breaks down in neighborhoods and can cause some consternation on the part of the frustrated traveller!

Cross City’s Insane Street Grid

I tried Google Map to find out where Dixie County High School, the starting point for Saturday’s 5K race, was in relation to Cross City. Google had it spotted far east of the main town on US 19. But in truth, I had to drive through most of Cross City before I reached it. At least Google had the part about it being on US 19 correct. But maybe Google isn’t completely to blame; Cross City’s street plan is kind of weird, to put it mildly without using profanity.

Before my visit, I already found out that Cross City’s street plan was bizarre. The roads north of US 19 have a completely different numbering system than those lying to the south. And the numbers tend to be very high. As a matter of fact, while on US 19 approaching the area, in the middle of the boondocks, I saw a sign advertising “592nd Street”!


View Larger Map

As you can see on the pictured Google Map (press the "+" square in the map's upper left corner a couple of times to zoom in better), I could go south on NE 147th Street, cross US 19, and then suddenly be on SE 304th Street. And note that SE 22nd Avenue, on one side of US 19, is slightly north of NE 190th Avenue on the other. Quite disorienting. But that’s not all.

The day before the race, I looked at a fold-out city map of Cross City available at my Publix grocery store to see if they had Dixie High School on it. Which they didn’t. But I noticed something else: none of the roads were numbered as they were on Google; instead they had proper names! When I visited the area in person, though, the numbered signs were there.

It’s almost as if Cross City is at once a site of two alternative realities connected by a wormhole (US 19) and a third alternative reality (named, not numbered streets) somehow in play. I don’t get it, but the folks living there probably don’t think anything of it, I bet. Seems a little spooky to me, though. I wonder if there isn’t a black hole in the center of town causing all of this.

Drinking Starbucks on the Hudson, Going to Work in Brooklyn

Anyone who visits Manhattan comes away with the impression that it is a very, very compressed urban area. But how compressed it really was I was unaware until I actually went there in person. So after I got back home I tried a simple little project.

I set two Google Maps to the same scale, with my home neighborhood in one (my house being at its center) and Midtown Manhattan in the other (and the Marriott Marquis hotel I stayed at in its center). I then superimposed one map onto the other, the two maps' centers aligned as well as the cardinal directions. The results were revealing to me, to say the least.

--Rockefeller Center would be at the entrance to my humble little subdivision onto NW 34th Street (Gainesville grid).

--The NE corner of my neighborhood running course would be precisely at that traffic circle (containing the beautiful giant globe) at the SW corner of Central Park.

--I'm sitting in the Magnolia Parke Starbucks writing this. But were I in the corresponding point in Manhattan, I wouldn't actually be in Manhattan: I would be "sitting" in the middle of the Hudson River halfway between 14th Avenue on the east side and Hoboken, New Jersey on the west. And this Starbucks is within walking distance of my house.

--The Empire State Building and Macy's would lie in the subdivision just south of my extremely close YMCA.

--The Williamsburg Bridge to Brooklyn would begin right at the Solar Walk, an outdoors planetarium running along Gainesville's 8th Avenue. It would then head toward the UF campus as it approached the Brooklyn side.

--New York's Chinatown roughly corresponds to Gainesville's Westside Park, which is located near the Solar Walk.

--Gainesville's Oaks Mall (our big shopping mall) would be in Paulus Hook, New Jersey.

--My workplace, situated on the southern end of Gainesville, corresponds to an area in western Brooklyn, near 2nd Avenue and 9th Street ( a few blocks from the end of the Brooklyn Bridge).

Superimposing maps is a cool idea that can also be used to compare the relative sizes of political entities from various distant parts of the world . I'll be using it from time to time in the future.

Yellow on Road Maps

When I was a little kid, I was an atlas fanatic. I would pore for hours over maps in world atlases, road atlases, and even star atlases. At one time, I even had a hobby of collecting road maps whereby I would walk to all of the gas stations within a couple of miles of my house and take whatever (then) free road maps they had.

In our home, we had one of those great Rand McNally road atlases of the United States. I would trace various federal highway routes through different states and across their borders, imagining that I was actually driving down the real roads and through the towns along the way (especially going east-west along routes like US 2 and US 6). I was deeply disappointed when I discovered that US 441, my "favorite" route (it still is) disappeared somewhere in Tennessee, never making it to Canada or the Great Lakes.

Through the road atlas I also noticed the cites and metropolitan area that were growing the quickest in population. These urban areas were depicted by yellow on the map. I was most impressed by the cities that had the biggest "yellow" (for some time I liked Newark, New Jersey for this one reason alone). Later, I got a revised road atlas and noticed how many more cities had gone from "point" depictions to the "yellow".

But as I grew older as a kid, I would begin to question whether urban growth was such a good idea. After all, my own home area of south Florida was becoming one gigantic, mass urban sprawl. I pictured the land designated by yellow in road atlases as being urban sprawls of buildings, roads, and parking lots. With nature in those areas being essentially wiped out.

Now, living in Gainesville (in north-central Florida), I am in a "yellow" zone but also in an environment with a lot of "nature" in it. And it makes me wonder how really urban those other yellow areas are. I bet even Newark, New Jersey has plenty of "natural" places within its borders. Now that would be an interesting project for someone to do (if they haven't already done so, that is): Go to the most urbanized locations in the U.S. and discover nature and wildlife in their midsts.