The Israel-Hamas war has intrigued Bibical map reading

| November 19, 2023

Panoramic view of the Sea of Galilee in 2006 (click for larger) After a brief discussion and look at current and previous maps of Israel and the area Christians study (the Holy Land)  … prior to … and during the life of Jesus, I noticed that the Sea of Galilee as well as most landmarks […]

The things we discuss when looking up at clouds   🎶

| October 26, 2023

Most people enjoy a day or week at the beach, but few who are younger get the opportunity to spend much more time than that enjoying the sand and surf. Thankfully Brenda and I have figured out how to do it … even if it is not on a sailboat as I had planned. While […]

Some history … and can Israel eliminate Hamas in the Gaza Strip without another full blown war in the Middle East?

| October 14, 2023

Like most … but depressingly not all Americans … I’ve been heavy hearted and angry this week after Hamas terrorist slaughtered innocent Israeli civilians (including 27 Americans) and took an estimated 150 hostages back to Gaza. I’m not sure how those who side with Hamas and their backers (Iran) can explain away such horrific murder, but […]

Who else has tried to “pinch-to-zoom” a paper map? #humor

| September 23, 2023

I had to laugh at myself the while reading one of the World War II Pacific Island campaign history books then looking up at my cork wall and trying to “pinch-to-zoom” the paper map for more details. Oh, the tech habits we adopt! And since this is a random kind of filler humor post, below […]

Just how long is the South American country of Chile?

| June 24, 2023

Most of us know from Geography class that the country of Chile in South America is a narrrow but l-o-n-g country … but may not have a perspective as to it’s entire length. A “map website,” BrilliantMaps, that I follow on Twitter posted a couple photos illustrating just how long (or tall) it is. It […]

When were the borders of the countries of the World mapped?

| February 22, 2023

Here is an impressive map of "The Age of the World’s Borders." (right-click and zoom in) But when were most of the world’s borders formed? By time period they are: 1200-1499: 2,405km (0.9%) 1500-1699: 5,463km (2.1%) 1700-1724: 4,264km (1.6%) 1725-1749: 0km (0%) 1750-1774: 8,491km (3.3%) 1775-1799: 4,350km (1.7%) 1800-1824: 9,025km (3.5%) 1825-1849: 9,309km (3.6%) 1850-1874: […]

Native American tribes in America before the Europeans #maps

| November 20, 2022

Maps and history have always held my interest (as they do for my son Taylor too). Having grown up when schools glossed over most of American the history prior to Columbus in 1492 (or perhaps the Vikings) … it is interesting to learn a little bit more about the “approximately 20 million” Native Americans that […]

Centuries pass and the borders of countries in Europe change

| November 2, 2022

If you like maps and watching the borders of countries, here’s a small, quick video of the changing borders in Europe over the centuries. Pretty wild.

Filler Friday: Do you enjoy photos of our moon? #space

| October 7, 2022

Not that I’m trying to promote astrophotographers (although have mentioned this photographer before) or the selling of things on my blog, but since I enjoy maps and space photography … check out this from Andrew McCarthy (see Sunrise on the Highlands).

Kiribati: Located in 4 hemispheres and unique GMT+14 timezone

| August 2, 2022

Learned a few interesting geographic facts about the nation of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean from Brilliantmaps, Reddit and of course Wikipedia the other day and found the timezone oddity particularly interesting. The country is “the furthest ahead of Greenwich meantime at GMT +14, making it the first country in the world to ring-in the […]

A map of showing the 4037 cities with populations over 100K

| September 23, 2021

This map was posted on Brilliant Maps back in 2015, but graphically seeing the 4037 cities around the world with over 100,000 people in them was interesting for those of us who enjoy studying maps. LINK to larger black and white and LINK to color overlay map It may not be the most up-to-date map, […]

A modern old favorite map (Pangaea – 175-300 million years ago)

| September 21, 2021

When I was a kid, I remember studying the illuminated glass globe in my bedroom and my grandparents pre-WW II atlas and then stumbling across the science theory showing the Alfred Wegener proposed supercontinent called Pangaea. The other day I saved the image overlay of today’s international borders on top of the globe image (click […]

Tech Friday: Apple Magic Mouse scrolling extension ScrollMaps

| August 13, 2021

Years ago (2015) it was a struggle to get Apple’s Magic Mouse to play nice with Google’s Calendar app. Since I was not the only one who had this problem, I shared a browser extension fix for Chrome that at one time I thought might be just temporarily needed (but it is still needed). It […]

Books (audio): In “Search of a Kingdom” by Laurance Bergreen

| July 28, 2021

Perhaps it is my aging eyes, just worn out in the evening … or just too many distractions when the TV is on … but my book reading has slowed a bit. Of the several books sitting next to my chair, on my Kindle or iPad, most have been started, but sit unfinished.  So this […]

Looking for something positive amidst the #COVID19 Pandemic

| March 31, 2020

Although few of us really want to be tracking the exponential explosion of the COVID19 spread, a friend asked me if there was a preferred site to go to for updated information. I responded with CDC.gov or Department of Health here in Ohio as trusted sources, but then suggested that if he was like me, […]

Tech Friday, sort of: If you like geography, world history and maps – you will like this

| February 28, 2020

Right-click and Save-as for a very interesting larger download version of this map A new Brilliant Maps twitter feed is constantly sharing some very interesting mapping  projects and this one was particularly intriguing. As a commenter posted, “obviously a map like this is going to disputed, but PisseGuri82 has gone to great lengths to explain […]

Music Monday: Green Day and the a US National Park road trip

| January 20, 2020

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How does marriage impact the taxes you pay?

| September 18, 2019

Does Your State Have a Marriage Tax Penalty? It isn’t always easy to decipher the tax impact of marriage on taxes, but the Tax Foundation summarized the tax code “marriage penalty” and offers an overview map. YMMV. Under a progressive, graduated-rate income tax system, tax rates increase as a taxpayer’s marginal income increases. A marriage […]

Tech Friday: There is a problem with live GPS rerouting

| June 7, 2019

A pitfall in real-time GPS mapping services is that, although they “can” highlight road construction and closures, they are not always accurate or give appropriate advice for detours or “route arounds.” This was apparent on a 16 hour drive back from Florida (see comment) and more recently for a road closing leading to our development […]

What makes the Mississippi River important and so big?

| May 5, 2019

Every student learns just how big and important the Mississippi River is in our country. From transporting materials from the America’s breadbasket to markets throughout the country and beyond … to draining the snowmelt and rainfall off the land so it can be cultivated (was reminded of this with all the flooding this spring). It […]

Music Monday: Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair

| April 9, 2018

(click for larger) I read an interesting article about music in Wired this past weekend and in particular a World Song Map image that instead of a "place name" there is a "song name." It may not be the best song selection for the place, but it did trigger an old song from 1967 by […]

New Avin Android based Nav PLUS display for BMW X5 35d

| September 19, 2017

A successful install after receiving the Andrew Rodriguez “group buy” iDrive Android Avin replacement for my BMW X5 35d on Saturday. It was a bit intimidating seeing the bundles of wires and 4″x4″ instruction sheet. But after disassembling the dash, most of the plug n play was very smooth. If there would have been a […]

Forgotten and leftover from Christmas 2016

| March 19, 2017

My son Taylor is geography and map kind of guy so I gave him a mag-lift spinning globe for his desk for Christmas 2016. His interests and innate sense of direction is probably why he pursued “Urban Planning and now coordinates development for Clermont County Ohio as a county planner. Anyway, I had forgotten that […]

Archive: The much-loved western NY Farmhouse – SOLD

| June 23, 2014

Chris (my “hard working” sister-in-law) and I spent a few more days in Jamestown, New York and stretched out a weekend to work on my in-law’s beloved “Farmhouse.” It looks like we are finally making headway in getting it ready to show … ready or not it will be on the market. I hope whoever […]

For lovers of maps, check out New York Public Library online

| April 2, 2014

Both my son and I love old paper maps, nautical charts and aeronautical sectionals so the online release of 20,000 high resolution downloads may be worth checking out. The Lionel Pincus & Princess Firyal Map Division is very proud to announce the release of more than 20,000 cartographic works as high resolution downloads. We believe […]

Another Walgreens: Liberty Township continues to grow

| September 25, 2010

We live in a changing area, not as much in 2009 or 2010 as a few years ago, pre-recession, but growth is still happening. I’ve been pondering the idea of including an occasional archived photo or two from the West Chester/Liberty Township Ohio area. The thinking is that it might be nice to have a […]

World War II POW and B-17 Pilot Howard Claflin

| September 3, 2009

While talking with a long time client and friend Bruce Claflin about  the business climate, our conversation turned from that sour subject to our  families.  We both have close ties to living World War II USAF veterans and  have sons heading in a similar direction — AF ROTC. His son being older and finishing up […]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog