The Solar Eclipse

If you have not heard, the entire continental United States will, weather cooperating, be able to see at least a partial solar eclipse on Monday, 21 August. It is still too far away for an accurate weather forecast, but I am hoping that we have good weather in Philadelphia that day. Or else why bother working from home that day?

In the meantime, enjoy this eclipse-related piece from xkcd that ties together my love for astronomy things with my love for political things.

This weekend will be crazy town
This weekend will be crazy town

Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

The United States of Misspelled Werds

The National Spelling Bee was this week and Google produced a map of the words each state seeks the most help spelling goodly.

Naturally, there was a misspelling in their own graphic—unfortunately I do not have an image of that, but trust me they misspelled ninety as nintey in Maryland.

Wisconsin, you need help.

To be fair, it would take me a little while to sound out supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
To be fair, it would take me a little while to sound out supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Credit for the piece goes to Googel.

How an E-mail is Sent. (And No, I Don’t Mean by Pressing Send.)

Google is a big company. What do big companies do from time to time? Market themselves. And so this is a screenshot from a fun interactive infographic piece that has supplementals from text to photos to videos as Google explains how an e-mail is sent. All the while Google touts its green energy initiatives and energy efficiencies. It’s a game changing win-win paradigm-shifting grand slam of a piece. (Sorry, that just felt like an appropriate place to use CorporateSpeak.)

How an e-mail gets from A to B
How an e-mail gets from A to B

I’m On a Quest

For those that may have missed it, earlier this week Google released its newest addition to its Google Maps product offering: the 8-bit Quest map. Never before has the world been seen in such high-resolution. And if you look close enough, you might even be able to spy some interesting features.

America…if only Vespucci had a map like this
America…if only Vespucci had a map like this
The Chicago metropolitan area
The Chicago metropolitan area
My old stomping grounds
My old stomping grounds
Monsters in the southeast suburbs, another reason not to visit Indianapolis…
Monsters in the southeast suburbs, another reason not to visit Indianapolis…
Scranton–Wilkes-Barre is also under monster threat…
Scranton–Wilkes-Barre is also under monster threat…
Wolfman…I'll be near him when on holiday next weekend…maybe I'll okay…
Wolfman…I'll be near him when on holiday next weekend…maybe I'll okay…
And if you know where Swedesboro is you get bonus points…
And if you know where Swedesboro is you get bonus points…

Happy Monster Hunting Quest.