Read the blog post from David Rumsey’s blog.  Check out the maps, download the whole thing as a pdf.  It is truly amazing.

It would be an exaggeration to say that Howard Zinn is the reason I’m a geographer. I can say that he is one of the reasons that I am willing and able to think carefully about the world I live in, why it looks the way it does, and what that means. The only tribute I can offer is to share a few sentences of his that move me, that remind me of who I am and where I come from.

“Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is the numbers of people all over the world who have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience. And our problem is that scene in All Quiet on the Western Front where the schoolboys march off dutifully in a line to war. Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world, in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem. We recognize this for Nazi Germany. But America is different. That’s all we’ve been brought up on… [But] these lovely things about America were never lovely. We have been expansionist and aggressive and mean to other people from the beginning. And we’ve been aggressive and mean to people in this country, and we’ve allocated the wealth of this country in a very unjust way. We’ve never had justice in courts for the poor people, for black people, for radicals. Now how can we boast that America is a very special place?”

Howard Zinn, “The Problem is Civil Disobedience” speech at Johns Hopkins University, November 1970 reprinted in Voices of a People’s History of the United States

via Michael Deal ◊ Graphic Design.

In preparation for the immanent release of a new print edition of the Periphery and a new Periphery Mixtape, which feature’s a great sample from the Beatles, we’d like to showcase the work of Michael Deal.  Click on the link above or on the picture for more infographics and larger versions.

Written, Produced, and Directed by Won Dum Joo

From Samuel Arbeson

Urban transit maps are wonderful tools: they are guides to traveling, they serve as mechanisms for distilling and abstracting a city down to a set of linkages and interconnections, and they are beautiful. The first ‘modern’ subway map is London’s Tube Map, designed by Harry Beck. Since then, many cities have based their transit system map designs on its spare and elegant layout, such as Boston, New York, and Amsterdam…

…And while convenient interstellar travel is nothing more than a murky dream, and might always be that way, there is power in creating tools for beginning to wrap our minds around the interconnections of our galactic neighborhood.

The Map: click to download as a PDF

In this little flash game you control a flock of geese as they fly over a gridded landscape. Avoid airplanes and and weather systems as you work your way home.

Northeast Stunned By Freak January Snowfall | The Onion – Americas Finest News Source.

SYRACUSE, NY—In a rare instance of icy-cold January weather, much of the Northeast awoke Tuesday morning to find itself buried under nearly 1.5 inches of snowfall.

We just got word that a sorting sequel is in development for next semester.  The team that brought you “The Big Sort: The Never Ending Saga” is due to release “Sorts on a Plane:  The Map Room.”  We’ve obtained this photo from the set.  Can’t wait to see what the new map room ends up looking like.

History’s hidden helpers | Education | guardian.co.uk .