750 Years of American Independence!

by Neil Woodburn on

We Americans are notoriously bad at history and geography and the rest of the world sadly knows it. Unfortunately, the opportunity for misinformation and ignorance seems to be exponentially increasing thanks to online encyclopedias written and edited by the masses, such as Wikipedia–or so The Onion would have us believe.

In the hilarious article, “Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years Of American Independence: Founding Fathers, Patriots, Mr. T. Honored,” the satirical newspaper mocks the errors, freaky niche topics, and sophomoric humor, that appear from time to time within the online pages of the much-loved encyclopedia. For example, the Wikipedia entry for “American Inderpendance” according to The Onion…

“…features detailed maps of the original colonies–including Narnia, the central ice deserts, and Westeros–as well as profiles of famous American historical figures such as Benjamin Franklin, Special Agent Jack Bauer, and Samuel Adams who is also a defensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals.”

While we here at Gadling all love this great online tool and often link to it with our posts, The Onion article, humorous or otherwise, is a great reminder to always be skeptical about anything you read online. Except, of course, that which you find on Gadling.

VintageMaps.com

by Adrienne Wilson on

Maps are the sort of thing to get real geeked out about and that’s exactly what happened when I stumbled upon this Vintage Maps site. I pretty much flipped my wig. Reading maps is a skill I’d like to develop more and become a pro at doing, but until that time there’s nothing wrong with collecting a few here and there. Looking at vintage and antique maps and the way someone saw the world from who knows what view is something to marvel.

This antique map of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey in Asia looks very different to me, but it could just be the small photo size of the map. If you’ve got a favorite region of the world it might be worth getting one of these vintage pieces for your library in addition to the maps of the modern world. They’re a little pricey in comparison to the maps you would use on the road today, but I’m sure worth every penny.

MSN’s Top 10 Museums to Make You Go Hmm…

by Adrienne Wilson on

I like the term off-the-beaten track because it doesn’t necessarily have to mean running off to Cambodia or some place far away, usually costing hundreds of dollars. Using that same term you can apply it to small and big city excursions in the beautiful land of America. MSN has a great top 10 list to prove it. Their list feature’s what their editors consider the top 10 most bizarre museums in the country and trust me they are weird! The only one I’ve heard of was the Museum of Bad Art, but there are several others are new and strange to me. Hanging out in Houston? Go to the National Museum of Funeral History. Crazy about Mardi Gras? Check out Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World in Algiers, LA.

Others include a Giant Shoe Museum, Untidy Museum, and Mutter Museum to name a few. See their full list and start exploring some very off-the-beaten track museums.

National Geographic on Istanbul

by Adrienne Wilson on

My travel agent is doing his best to convince to me to stay and play in Istanbul on my way into Dushanbe, but I’m on a mission. I have to get in and out of Tajikistan in a reasonable amount of time. Yet, this Nat Geo guide to spending 48 hrs in the city is making it much more tempting than I thought. My layover will permit me to feast on Turkish fare onto of a roof or soak in a Turkish bath, but the Grand Bazaar I will have to miss. Fooey! Next time around I suppose.

Those of you with a lot more hours to kill than myself should look into Nat Geo’s selection of Istanbul blogs, podcasts, newspapers, magazines, maps, movies, and books that will all help you in creating the most whirling fun-filled Turkish time. Afterwards we can compare notes – your 48 hrs to my 10 or so.

National Parks Endangered

by Erik Olsen on

Let’s talk tragedy a moment. Let’s take a look at how hot things are getting, and how uncomfortable this makes us each day during the summer, and how much it costs to use the AC on full blast and all those things…sucks, huh? Now forget the ice caps melting and Manhattan going underwater and the Maldives disappearing. that likely won’t happen in our lifetime. Our kids will have to deal with that. But there is a very real tragedy due to global warming that, says Outside Magazine, might be happening right now. As they put it: “Imagine Glacier National Park with no glaciers, Joshua Tree barren of Joshua trees, Yellowstone absent of grizzlies, and Yosemite even more crowded than it already is.” Yosemite more crowded than it is!? We’ll have to call it Disney Yosemite.

But seriously, as a rabid fan of the National Parks, I shudder at the thought that they might have more problems than just poor administration. The Outside piece takes this bit of doomsday news from a new report issued Tuesday by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The report is called “Losing Ground,” and it discusses a wide array of problems that could occur if these warming trends continue. The interactive here is actually quite well done.

Anyway, each park has its own problems from Glacier Park no longer having glaciers (will they rename it?) to an infestation of mountain bark beetles at Yellowstone which would devastate the forests.

We should take this stuff seriously. The parks are the crown jewels of our national natural heritage. It would suck to see them permanently harmed.