Posts Tagged ‘Ponce de Leon’
“Being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing”*…
Maps are crucial– and they’re also often crucially wrong… or at least misleading. Any attempt to reduce our 3-D world in 2-D results in distortion.
It is hard to represent our spherical world on flat piece of paper. Cartographers use something called a “projection” to morph the globe into 2D map. The most popular of these is the Mercator projection.
Every map projection introduces distortion, and each has its own set of problems. One of the most common criticisms of the Mercator map is that it exaggerates the size of countries nearer the poles (US, Russia, Europe), while downplaying the size of those near the equator (the African Continent). On the Mercator projection Greenland appears to be roughly the same size as Africa. In reality, Greenland is 0.8 million sq. miles and Africa is 11.6 million sq. miles, nearly 14 and a half times larger.
This app was created by James Talmage and Damon Maneice. It was inspired by an episode of The West Wing and an infographic by Kai Krause entitled “The True Size of Africa“. We hope teachers will use it to show their students just how big the world actually is…
The world as it actually is: “The True Size,” an interactive tool that let’s one compare the real scale of any two countries.
Apposite: “Animated Map: Where Are the Largest Cities Throughout History?” (with thanks to friend JA)
* Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
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As we muse on measurement, we might recall that it was on this date in 1513 that Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon came ashore and claimed “La Florida” [the “land of flowers”] for Spain. While it has long been accepted that de Leon landed with his three caravels near St. Augustine and became the first European of record to see the peninsula, scholars have recently challenged details of that historical account, suggesting that he actually beached near Melbourne.
In any event, he went on to map the Atlantic coast down to the Florida Keys and north along the Gulf coast; historian John Reed Swanton believed that he sailed perhaps as far as Apalachee Bay on Florida’s western coast. Though popular lore has it that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth, there is no contemporary evidence to support the story, which most modern historians consider a myth.
“To an artist a metaphor is as real as a dollar”*…
Before a certain mouse took over Orlando, Florida was already home to a slew of delightfully bizarre tourist attractions. You could meet menacing pirates and hoop skirt-clad Southern Belles. Or visit the circus every day. Or watch an 80-year-old man break a world record as he waterskied barefoot in a banana-yellow jumpsuit…
How did the Sunshine State use to attract tourists? Circus animals, water ski shows and a half-mile replica of the Great Wall of China: “Let’s revisit Florida’s bizarre lost theme parks from before the Disney era.”
* Tom Robbins, Another Roadside Attraction
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As we pull over to investigate, we might recall that it was on this date in 1513 that Juan Ponce de León, the Spanish explorer who had become the Governor of Puerto Rico and Hispanola, but who believed there to be land further west, first set eyes on what he first believed was another island, which he claimed for Spain and named “Florida”… the name by which we know it still. Legend has it that Ponce de León was searching for the Fountain of Youth; while there is no contemporary evidence that that’s true, it does seem resonant with Florida’s history thereafter…
“Behold, I will smite all your territory with frogs”*…
In South Florida, cane toads are so numerous that they seem to be dropping from the sky. They’re overtaking parking lots and backyards, can weigh almost six pounds, and pack enough poison to kill pets. Why the surge?…
Find out at “Frogpocalypse Now.”
* God, giving Moses a message for the Pharaoh (Exodus 8:2)
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As we hop out of the way, we might recall that it was on this date in 1513 that Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon came ashore and claimed “La Florida” [the “land of flowers”] for Spain. While it has long been accepted that de Leon landed with his three caravels near St. Augustine and became the first European of record to see the peninsula, scholars have recently challenged details of that historical account, suggesting that he actually beached near Melbourne.
Juan Ponce de Leon is commemorated on a stamp in Spain, left, while St. Augustine residents in 1923 re-enact his landing, right.
Hanging on to those Hamiltons and Franklins…
Always wanted that epitome of stylishness, a duct-tape wallet? Of course, one can buy it… But now the same folks, DB Clay, that sell the finished product, will send a kit, so that one can have the satisfaction of making one’s own– and the artistic freedom to make it just as one likes it:
As we consider the frontiers of accessorization, we might recall that it was on this date that Ponce de Leon became the first European to land on the coast of Florida. (“The Ponce,” who believed that the peninsula was an island, called it “La Florida” because his discovery came during the time of the Easter feast, or “Pascua Florida.”)
In search of the Fountain of Youth, Ponce de Leon came ashore near what we now know as St. Augustine, wearing a fetching silver sword-and-scabbard combination and a pair of tres-courant matchlock pistols, complemented by a stunning stone-encrusted powder horn.
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