Tunnel vision

highlevelwalkway2, originally uploaded by moclaydon.

What's the world coming to, I ask you......this picture is 10 days old! (I really must get my act together, blame it on the bloody weather......or something!)......it's the High Level Bridge and that guy on the left was singing to himself......I moved out of the way sharpish.

OTHER STUFF

This one's for my Ma, sis and bro-in-law who actually 'lived the dream'

 

"Moscow-Vladivostok: virtual journey on Google Maps

The great Trans Siberian Railway, the pride of Russia, goes across two continents, 12 regions and 87 cities. The joint project of Google and the Russian Railways lets you take a trip along the famous route and see Baikal, Khekhtsirsky range, Barguzin mountains, Yenisei river and many other picturesque places of Russia without leaving your house. During the trip, you can enjoy Russian classic literature, brilliant images and fascinating stories about the most attractive sites on the route."

It's in real time......apparently 9 days worth, though I can't swear to it.....I recommend the Russian radio station or the 'rumble of wheels' as your traveling soundtrack.....
(you can join the train anywhere on the map, you don't have to do the full trip!)

Climb aboard here, don't forget your sandwiches!

And talking of timewasting.......

 

There's a nice point-and-click game here

bum issued by.....

....H.O. Wills...........no comment except to say I've hardly been over the doors all day and sometimes you have to work with what you happen to have on the kitchen table!

OTHER STUFF.....

Some alternative Christmas music.....very alternative.....but I like it!

"Cigar Box Nation offers our own gift of music to you.  This album is free for everyone this Christmas...just go ahead and download.  We've compiled almost one hour of holiday music played on cigar box guitars, ukuleles, dulcimers and more.    Please spread the word (and holiday cheer)!  May the world ring with the awesome sounds of cigar box guitars this Christmas." Download it here 

(sample track on the next link......)

This is just a screengrab from UMapper (the original plan was for an embedded map, but Blogger didn't like their code, and I haven't got time to work out why) so here's the link to my very first map (which is rubbish, but if you click on the '2' you'll find the audio file promised above!). You'll guess you can add your own photos and audio, even make your own map-based game, there's some video tutorials here if you fancy checking it out and doing a photo tour of YOUR block.

Shepherds pie/lots of veg/large pot of tea/couch, vintage videos and cuddly blanket here I come!

Sunny for some

Of course what you can't see is the pile of woollies and coats on the ground by their feet!

Feeling a bit under the weather tonight, y'know...the sneezy/croaky/headachey variety, so it's going to be an early night with a double lemsip for me I think. The-boy-in-the-attic has it tougher though, he's somewhere out in the middle of the North Sea on the way back from a DFDS mini-cruise to Amsterdam.....apparently it's a bit rough out there. He rang me at work this morning (while still on the way there) when they were marrooned offshore and trying to get a pilot aboard....at that point he was all for spending a month's salary on a flight home and could I find out prices. But obviously he's found inner reserves of strength (or just decided it was a ridiculously expensive option) and is now aboard again for another sleepless night. But the whole affair reminded me of a website that might appeal to the inner anorak in you just begging to be let out.........

MarineTraffic.com is a GoogleMaps mash-up that plots (worldwide) live data from ships GPS systems....and that blue line on the piccy above plots the boyos meandering progress over the last 24 hours or so....I won't bore you with tonnage and wind speeds......

Nighty night!

Back door....

....no, not mine, the one at work. By the way the curly stemmed plant is 100% plastic and the sofas would fit in well in a budget hotel chain reception area....really can't imagine what they were thinking of! A bit of a non-day today, head down doing boring things, but I made progress with stuff that's been hanging over my head for weeks, so not all bad.

But I DID find this.....

They say....
"Create free Google Maps from your Flickr Photosets for use in your website or blog, or for sending to friend's Facebook, Twitter or your favourite website. Its quick and easy, only takes three simple steps and best of all, its free!"
....now all I need to do is to start using Flickr more and creating sets!
Link to MapFlickr

There's loads of people feeling under the weather or even downright sick at the moment, it happens every year at about this time at the uni when a whole load of foreign germs hit town. I tried to embed a great (1945) video from Archive.org (be warned, dip in there and you'll be lost for days!), but it didn't work, so here's the link instead....Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases

And, just as predicted, I got sucked in.....just downloaded Weird Islands (1921) in pdf, the illustrations are amazing!

I'll leave you with a song....

Where on earth am I?

Well, Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.00pm I'm precisely here. MyGeoPosition.com does the number crunching, you just drag the marker.

Where's the Path?

Google aerial photos alongside Ordnance Survey Maps.....nice! (warning for evening users....there's a 30,000 cap on the number of daily OS images displayed, morning use recommended)

Where's the Path

Puget soundscape

Listen to Puget Sound...

Putting Britain on the Map

Splendid 1953 video of the Ordnance Survey at work. When I was drawing maps for the DOE in the 70's things really hadn't changed that much.....during training we had weeks mastering the art of hand lettering (a full week of my working life was taken up writing the single word MOONMAN with a mapping pen getting to grips with the concept of 'negative spaces'!) and how to use proportional dividers, scribing was still seen as cutting-edge technology. Notice the distinct lack of female presence and the prevalence of the necktie and sensible specs. Happy days!

Urban utopia

An interesting post at Strange Maps about Sir Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928), the father of the garden city movement. There's a place in his utopian scheme for ‘Homes for Waifs’, an ‘Insane Asylum’ and a ‘Home for Inebriates’......the man thought of everything!