Maps

Me and seven of my most intrepid friends went camping this weekend at Big Trees. Our stuff got tossed around by a bear cub that we dubbed Floyd — he put minor slashes in my tent and broke one of the poles while we were away hiking around Lake Alpine on Saturday. An inconvenience to be sure, but everything turned out ok. In other news, here’s what I’m reading these days: Taco truck sales divide Salinas Latinos (SJ Merc, June…

Earlier today I wrote about how Google had added Street View, a really awesome new feature that allows for street-level photos in major metro areas, including the Bay Area. I was able to check out my own house here in Oakland, and saw my Toyota Corolla parked smartly in front. Man, this is so freakin’ sweet.

On his blog, Daniel Hernandez notes that there have been a couple really neat proposals for a proper subway system for LA. The first one, designed by Numan Parada, would put a subway stop at 26th and Wilshire, about 2 blocks from my parents’ house. It would take two transfers to get there from LAX, which would be freakin’ sweet. The second one would put a stop at 23rd and Santa Monica Blvd., about 6-7 blocks from my parents’ house,…

I’m near that pool in the center.

This is a piece I wrote for The Economist’s latest “Technology Quarterly” guide (December 2, 2006). You’ll just have to take it on faith that I wrote it, given that there’s no byline. Hed: Roaming holiday Dek: Communications : New gizmos that combine audio guides with satellite tracking let tourists explore cities at their own pace WHEN Melissa Mahan and her husband visited The Netherlands, they felt imprisoned by their tour bus. It forced them to see the city according…

Paul Boutin just pointed me to the fact that Google Maps has updated its imaging. It’s so good now that I can pick out the building that I used to live in in Senegal (click on the image to make it bigger). The red arrow marks my home from November 2002 – May 2003. The Université Gaston Berger is about 12 km east of the city of Saint-Louis, Senegal.

I was reading up on Hezbollah on Wikipedia earlier this morning and got side tracked to the 1947 UN Partition Plan. Why doesn’t anyone talk about this anymore? The map is pretty sweet. I wonder if we’ll ever see something like it actually implemented.

The NYT has a sweet map.

Gadling reports that one of my favorite small businesses from my hometown is closing its doors at the end of May. Everything is 20 percent off until then. Although I only went in there a few times, they always had what I wanted and were helpful and friendly. I bought my Melbourne Lonely Planet there in 2002. I’ll be sure to stop in when I’m home next month. You might want to consider health insurance for travelers if you’re going…

I really want a copy of this map to hang on my wall, to replace my National Geographic world map. It combines a political and physical map, along with Internet top level domains and country calling codes. Damn cool! You can buy it in four different flavors: 48-inch — 24-inch (122cm — 61cm) Laminated: $63.75 Unlaminated: $40 34-inch — 17-inch (86cm — 43cm) Laminated: $40 Unlaminated: $25 Oh man, I’m so tempted to buy this. For now, I’ve just made…