tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55232212024-09-16T17:29:07.437-07:00random thoughts on design, politics, culture, and maps.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]Blogger131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-16121534800189698442014-05-09T13:02:00.001-07:002014-05-09T13:02:53.094-07:00

"Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink." A lot can happen in 100 years so it's hard to predict the defining moments in the first 14. But I think one of the defining issues (after global warming) will be the struggle for clean water on a planet where three quarters of its surface is covered by water. Of course this struggle is already here for many regions of the Earth.

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-84901519315297994122014-04-19T18:06:00.000-07:002014-04-19T18:06:32.051-07:00

As our ability to engineer the world has increased exponentially, catastrophic failure has become increasingly rare. This is undoubtedly a positive trend resulting in countless saved lives. It also creates a tendency to be shocked to the point of denial when catastrophe eventually does strike. Unless you’re highly trained to deal with stress and danger, the normal reaction to a catastrophic event

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-442433922455367162013-06-16T13:00:00.001-07:002013-06-16T13:00:29.951-07:00

A Map of the California-Nevada Border as it passes through the pool at the Cal Neva Lodge, a photo by amproehl on Flickr.The Cal-Neva lodge has several notable distinctions beyond the fact that the property, lodge and building all straddle the border between California and Nevada. The lodge was once partially owned by Frank Sinatra. Judy Garland was discovered there after singing in the fabled

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-57846039318175049722013-05-21T12:22:00.001-07:002013-05-21T12:22:55.813-07:00

I believe that in 20 years, people will look back on yesterday's tornados in Moore Oklahoma (and their predicted connection to global warming) and wonder how anyone could have advocated for more coal or "drill baby drill" when we knew these environmental problems were unfolding. "I also think people will look back on Sandy Hook and wonder how anyone could have thought that the

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-67660660195884499112013-02-05T09:44:00.001-08:002013-02-05T10:55:49.891-08:00

Particle colliders have been described as being like smashing two watches together to figure out how clocks work. It is at times a crude tool but one that has, none the less, led to real discovery. I've always been fascinated by the images created by particle colliders. The image of spiraling particles recently made me think of the process of corporate innovation. Most big companies

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-18880965773307795442012-12-03T10:04:00.001-08:002012-12-03T13:34:41.016-08:00

I'm an introvert. I am reluctant to speak up in groups but I have always felt like I have something to say. Design, and visual design in particular, is a way of speaking or communicating. This was true in my early days as an exhibit designer and it is true in my work as an interaction designer. It is also the case for the presentations I've assembled over the years to visualize issues for

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-28582409129382296292012-11-05T08:43:00.001-08:002012-11-05T08:43:11.703-08:00

"For many Americans, Sandy has highlighted the relationship between a warming planet and intensifying extreme weather. For others, it’s provided more fodder for jokes mocking the problem." -- Stephan Lacey writing about Republicans joking about climate change before and after Hurricane Sandy 

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-23731897141295694482012-11-01T14:54:00.001-07:002012-11-01T14:54:59.128-07:00

A Map of the Hamlet of Cross River, NY as it looked in 1868, a photo by amproehl on Flickr.Another map in my "Lost Towns" series.

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-84495786348568104192012-10-23T10:49:00.001-07:002012-10-23T10:49:32.339-07:00

Data examples "the rising cost of sales" Sent from my iPad

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-65656036744879859122012-10-16T23:51:00.001-07:002012-10-18T08:58:12.406-07:00

I thought of this concept a while back after noticing more and more subway-style maps being used to show other things. I finally got around to mocking it up. I still have more work to do on it but I thought I would post it before someone else comes up with the same idea. After finishing the first draft, I stumbled on the Cool Infographics page on Subway Maps which includes several more

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-68786976562351988822012-09-25T11:14:00.000-07:002012-09-25T11:14:34.899-07:00

Steven Johnson, author or a number of great, thought-provoking titles including 'Emergence' and 'Where Good Ideas Come From' has just released a new book titled, 'Future Perfect'. In a post about it on his blog he includes the following quote from 'Emergence', "To old-school progressives, the protesters appeared to be headless, out of control, a swarm of small causes with no organizing

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-37548848176264219392012-09-10T13:09:00.001-07:002012-09-10T13:09:38.493-07:00

A Map of the Strange Border and Banking Policies Between Austria and Germany around Jungholz, a photo by amproehl on Flickr.There is no shortage of interesting exclaves around the world and Jungholz does not disappoint. Like many other European exclaves, Jungholz owes its origins to Germany's Feudal era. Jungholz lies in a valley in the Alps. Once a German farmstead, it was sold to a new owner in

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-22943792038908912972012-07-06T10:37:00.001-07:002012-07-06T10:37:30.902-07:00

I was browsing through a list of exclaves around the world when I happened upon these two islands in Eastern Africa. The islands are Malawian territory but sit entirely within Mozambique's territorial waters. I am shocked at the lack of drama behind some strange borders and these two islands appear to be no exception. Most of the history behind the border can be traced to the explorer, David

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-38117584875532631722012-06-23T17:08:00.001-07:002012-06-23T17:08:32.642-07:00

This is a shot of Lake Wakatipu in New Zealand outside of Queenstown that I took back in 2005. We were on our way to going canyoning (which turned out to be scarier than the bungy jump we had done the day before). Mt. Aspiring National Park might be visible in the far distance in this photo. The hills on the left shore of the Lake might be part of "The Remarkables," so named because

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-91484993160949429882012-06-04T14:58:00.001-07:002012-06-06T11:16:14.849-07:00

I've always been fascinated that I-280 in Palo Alto goes over the top of a particle accelerator. It's not everyday that you can drive over the top of a Nobel Prize winning Physics Lab. I also find the curve of the highway against the accelerator's "straightest building on Earth" geometry interesting so I decided to make this map. As I was looking at the satellite images, I was intrigued by

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-80213608432603928242012-04-15T12:33:00.001-07:002012-04-15T12:33:20.892-07:00

Central Park TypeMap - sketch #2, a photo by amproehl on Flickr.This is another map in my Typemap series. It is still something of an experiment but I decided it was worth posting. I started working on it about a month ago but it was dancing around in my head for the last six months. There are aspects that looked better in my head but it's getting closer. The effect I'm after is a sea of organic

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-11891334342544377952012-01-22T09:48:00.001-08:002012-01-22T09:48:35.797-08:00

I've never been attracted to cruise ship vacations and I'm even less interested now that I've seen the news of the Costa Concordia disaster. But any disaster also makes me imagine what it must have been like to be there. My guess is that the chaos of the evacuation and subsequent rescues were quite typical of many disasters even though the Captain of the Costs Concordia appears to

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-14662687223751437712012-01-06T15:23:00.001-08:002012-01-06T15:23:38.955-08:00

In Louis Sullivan's classic statement, "Form Follows Function" it is function that is usually seen as the dominant member of this design duality. It was one of the first design tenets that I learned in college and one that remains a core part of my design philosophy to this day. That said, I can't think of a single design project where the opposite wasn't true at least some of the time. The truth

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-55411381917225327752011-08-22T13:27:00.001-07:002011-08-22T13:27:21.394-07:00

A Map of the Border Between the USA and Canada as it Passes Through the Town of Derby Line, Vermont, a photo by amproehl on Flickr.The story of Derby Line Vermont begins with a mistake and ends with an intentional act inspired by the mistake. For most of it's 2000 mile length, the USA / Canada border follows the 45th parallel. I have already written about the exception at the Northwest Angle in

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-24798361043111399112011-07-28T11:32:00.001-07:002011-07-28T11:32:04.987-07:00

The Border Between Egypt & Sudan at the Wadi Halfa Salient, a photo by amproehl on Flickr.See the 52 villages in the map? No? That's because they were flooded by the damning of the Nile and the creation of Lake Nasser (known as Lake Nubia in Sudan). The strange bulge (known as a salient in cartography parlance) along this portion of the Egypt-Sudan border was originally surrounded the

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-25821400286497378902011-07-07T07:44:00.001-07:002011-07-07T07:44:02.007-07:00

A Map of the Border Between New York & New Jersey on Ellis Island, a photo by amproehl on Flickr.For so many immigrants, stepping off a ship onto Ellis Island was synonymous with arrival in New York City. Many years later, after the immigration station had closed and the buildings lie decaying, the US Supreme Court would decide that Ellis Island, with one small exception, was part of New

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-89340514594771199682011-06-27T09:30:00.001-07:002011-06-27T09:30:34.981-07:00

A Map of the very strange border(s) between the Netherlands and Belgium at Baarle-Nassau, a photo by amproehl on Flickr.Without going into excruciating detail about allegiances to dukes, lords and kings, it is hard to explain the origin if this rather unique set of international borders. Suffice it to say that the land was bought, sold, and loaned through many generations to the point where the

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-55699518369280499242011-06-22T12:58:00.001-07:002011-06-22T12:58:13.588-07:00

A Map of the Former Town of Monticello, CA in Relation to Today's Lake Berryessa, a photo by amproehl on Flickr.Where Lake Berryessa now stands there once was a fertile valley full of farms, orchards and the small town of Monticello, California. Before Monticello there were the Adobe buildings that were part of the Mexican-owned Rancho de Los Putahs. And before the Spanish arrived, there was the

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-24888058371375436202011-05-24T10:49:00.001-07:002011-05-24T10:49:10.905-07:00

A Map of the Strange Kentucky Border at the New Madrid Bend in the Mississippi River, a photo by amproehl on Flickr.The border of Kentucky at what is known as "The New Madrid Bend" owes it's strangeness to the serpentine path of the Mississippi River. The River was supposed to define the western edge of the state of Kentucky and the Southern edge of Missouri. The result is an exclave peninsula of

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5523221.post-6707590120787874042011-04-20T12:32:00.001-07:002011-04-20T12:32:19.930-07:00

A Map of "The Five Points" neighborhood in New York City and its relationship to today's streets and the old Collect Pond., a photo by amproehl on Flickr.This is my first attempt to try to render the story of "The Five Points" Neighborhood in historical layers. The neighborhood or more aptly, slum was also known as Paradise Square was always notorious but was made famous more recently

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09031193386772475926[email protected]0