VariegatedA mixture of topics, all thrown together.

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Siri's Joey Votto Adventure

I've been a long-term admitted Apple fan as long as I can remember, literally. I've been using Apple products continuously since I started messing with my prized dad's Apple II at 18 months old, irritating him to no end. When I wouldn't leave it alone, he took up my mom's suggestion, and instead of barring me from it, taught me how to use it. Hence, a technophile was born. Read more

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The Super Bowl without a Super Bowl....

This year marks the first time that I haven't sat and watched the Super Bowl in memory. The earliest one I remember is, of course, the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX. Now, 25 years later, I'm skipping one. Why? Read more

Our Epic Forthcoming Journey, and My New Project

Amy and I are using our trip to 2011 AAG in Seattle as an excuse to put together a crazy cross-country overland trip with a bunch of friends. Geographers FTW. Read more

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Tilting at Windmills: One Final Look at a College Football Playoff

This week, I update those brackets with new results (the final games of the regular season) and expand them, including brackets of 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 40 and 48 teams.  I used the same methodology as the last post. Read more

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The 2010 NCAA Div I-A Football Playoffs (One Casual Football Fan's Dream of What Could Have Been...)

Ever wonder what we're missing without a tournament?  Yeah, me too.  So, I've developed six tournament formats, shown below, including one of 16 teams, 20 teams, 24 teams, 28 teams and 30 teams.  In each case, conference champions of EVERY Division I-A conference receives a berth to the tournament, just like in NCAA basketball.  With 11 conferences, that leaves room for five at-large berths in the 16-team grid, nine in the 20-team, 13 in the 24-team, and so on. Read more

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The United States of Pop Music

Using album sales to approximate a "popular" act to represent each of the 50 states, plus DC and Puerto Rico. Read more

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The Popular Feedback Remix: 50 States, 50 TV Series

After the success in driving traffic that the first "50 States, 50 TV Series" encountered, I used the feedback from commenters to create a remixed map. Read more

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50 States, 50 Television Series

As you may remember a couple days ago, there was a piece was published on the Huffington Post identifying every state of the U.S. by one movie, which of course I answered with a map of my own.  The original map from the HuffPo was featured on the fantastically entertaining Strange Maps blog, in which the author Frank Jacobs made a request for a similar map of TV shows.  Well, I couldn't pass a challenge like that. Read more

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50 States, 50 Movies

A piece was published on the Huffington Post today, identifying every state of the U.S. by one movie. The selection criteria isn't necessarily clear on the HuffPo.... not much is said about what kind of thinking was behind these selections.  It appears that most of these movies have stories based in the states listed, which is a good idea. Now, beyond the fact that the cartography of this map is sooooooooo incredibly terrible (gross, gross, gross!), I do think they could have come up with some better selections for some of these states.  Okay, fine, many of these states.  Yeah, I'm sitting here, debating an issue of taste.  So?   My proposed changes, or at least suggestions for alternatives Read more

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On Cover Music...

It's always been my firm belief that the talent of a songwriter is most recognized not in the original performance or recording, but in subsequent performances and interpretations by other artists. In other words, if a song is great, then aspects of it will hold up even in a mediocre cover or tribute. How, then, do we explain the suckiness of every cover of John Lennon's catalog? Read more