I have certain interests that, if left unchecked, would easily become obsessions that leave me unemployed and incapable of speaking with the outside world.
One such restrained obsession is maps. I can't really pass a map without looking at it. I can't look at it without finding a reason to look just a little longer. On road trips, I'll start in earnest, just looking at the atlas to locate the next interchange. But my wandering eye will send me following the Appalachian Trail five states up, or wondering if a particular state highway curves because of geology or Not In My Back Yard reasons. Three hours later, I've forgotten why I opened the atlas in the first place, but I can tell you I want to go see a lake in Idaho.
So a site like Strange Maps, which posts maps from all over time and purpose, could easily suck me in for a year. From language politics in Belgium, to galosh-themed early Soviet-era posters, to a New Yorker-like French view of the world, to airline maps that put Buffalo in Quebec and New Orleans on the dry side of Lake Pontchartrain, to plans for foreign occupation of the U.S., it's all there and smartly presented.
I have a coffeetable "Great Map Book" that I received as a gift, but it focuses its giant full-color pages on the history, function and evolution of maps. So there's a lot of Latin and a lot of maps of pastures watched over by gods and guarded by angels. It's enjoyable in that aspect but still a little too far back and too pre-Scientific Revolution for me. In some ways, this site is what I wished that book would be. In other ways, I wish I'd never found the damned site.
*apparently cartophilia isn't an accepted word, but it sure fits, and sounds more professional diagnosis-like than "map lover"
As you may have noticed, the site has changed. Sampa, the free-site host, did a version 2 of some sort.
Despite an FAQ that made it sound like allowing one's site to go through v.2 surgery would be okay, there were several flexibilities that surprisingly disappeared with the click of a button. (e.g. I cannot believe sidebars like this one are even narrower than before.)
And I'm told -- miraculously! -- that the conversion cannot be undone. Truth be told, I'm actually quite pissed. But free is free. Sampa has otherwise been good to me.
So I need to sort through site "features" to see how I can make do. Except that I don't have the time at the moment, in the middle of graduate classes and Lighthousehockey.com. (btw, I've removed that Lighthouse RSS feed so that you're not clogged with random Islanders hockey gibberish).
But I promise to touch up the accessories when I get a chance, and return to irregularly scheduled blogging.
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, which posts maps from all over time and purpose, could easily suck me in for a year. From language politics 
February, 2008