Mapping Insanity

Those close to me know that I’m kind of a map nerd.  I’ve always been crazy about maps.  My sister has even applied the nome de guerre of “Mr. Map”. Not very sexy, but it is what it is. They kid me until they need directions or a faster way to get from Point A to the ever elusive Point B.

Maps have really reached their golden age with the internet.  I can remember struggling to pinpoint my actual location in the middle of the Panamanian jungle as a second lieutenant in 1981.  Nowadays, all my modern counterpart has to do is pull out his personal navigation device and he knows within a couple of meters where he is.  I was lucky to get the right grid square.

The coolest aspect, to me (again nerdy side on full display), is using Google maps with the satellite view to find different places, some on the exotic side.  Whenever I’m reading a book I invariably call up the location the author is writing about to assess his accuracy or the amount of literary license taken.  I’ve even created a game whenever ABC news entertainment section posts photos in their celebrity real estate section.  They’ll post a picture of some celebrity’s house that’s up for sale and I’ll give myself five minutes to find it on Google maps.   My record is about thirty seconds but it was pretty easy, Bob Hope’s former home in Toluca Lake, CA.   I guess that makes me some watered down form of cyber stalker, eh, well, I can live with that. 

The ABC News Photo of Hope's Mansion

Found!

I just finished reading my latest Tom Kratman book, Caliphate, which takes place about a hundred years into the future.  It was a fascinating look at how Europe falls to its burgeoning Muslim underclass due to appeasement policies and low birthrates.  The Muslims establish an Islamic state and are at odds against the American Empire, fully militarized by Islamic nuclear terrorism. 

Really, Really Good Read

It was a withering incitement of the European tendency to take the easy way out versus the harder right.  I’ve written before that Tom and I served together as lieutenants in Panama and I’ve become a real fan of his military science fiction.  It was kinda cool reliving lieutenant days as one of the main characters goes through infantry officer basic at Ft Benning, albeit a hundred years in the future.  Olson Hall survives but apparently the I-Bar did not, a damned shame.  The guy can write.    

The Backup Catcher, Of All People, Damn!

The beard’s magic has apparently run its course as the Sox lost last night a game they had every right to win.  Buccholz served up a gopher ball with a changeup even the announcers told him ahead of time not to repeat against the Rays’ best hitter.  Time to grow up young man.   

Playoff Beard Falls to 2 & 1, Day 9