Saturday 29 September 2012

Projections at Boston Logan Airport

Apparently in some lovely corner of Terminal E at Boston Logan Airport one comes across this beautiful bevy of projections.

With much thanks to our roving report Derek Turner who e-mailed me these last night. The only sad thing is that I didn't take them in person!
12 09 24 Sinusoidal Projection
Haven't heard of this one before. 12 09 24 Icosahedron Gnomonic Projection
Nor this one - but what a whacky shape (just a tad impractical for day-to-day use).
12 09 24 Octant Projection
12 09 24 Homolographic Projection
Ah, an old favourite.
12 09 24 Gnomonic Projection
Complete with Derek's feet.
12 09 24 Sinusoidal Projection and Feet

Saturday 22 September 2012

London Calling

As I have done previously in September, I took a week of to kick around London. First off was a visit to Greenwich to check out the prime meridan. Yup, it's still there.
12 09 17 Greenwich Meridian
As is the FB and other measurement artefacts.
12 09 17 Greenwich Meridian
I'm not sure how reliable this claim is as I suspect that the shop of the National Maritime Museum is closer...
12 09 17 Greenwich Shop
...and that's only considering shops in Greenwich. I wonder if there is a shop somewhere which the Greenwich meridian bisects. And that's without going into the detail of where exactly the meridian is in the first place.

My prime meridian theme happily continued whilst staying with relatives north of London in Stanstead Abbotts. My aunt had spotted a bollard a km or so from their house and took me to see it.
12 09 18 Meridian Bollard - Stanstead Abbotts
This bollard was erected in 1984 during the centenary of the prime meridian. Golly, is it really that young? Now how can I find out where the rest are? Or is it simply a case of walking up the prime meridian on an OS map? Ummm, that sounds like a retirement challenge.

There is a brillaint bit in this website which says "At Greenwich, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and the Astronomer Royal, Arnold Wolfendale, planted a tree on either side of the Line at the Observatory, before joining a crowd of 7,000 children taking part in a wide range of events in the park outside. Neither tree has survived."

Re: the last sentence. I wonder if there was any connection...?

Later in the week I visited the Transport for London Museum at Covent Garden. I'd been looking forward to seeing the Mind the Map exhibition for many months. It was lovely to see a few old favourites, especially after reading the book on Harry Beck, and some new ideas.

Before.
12 09 19 Mind the Map - Pre H Beck
And after.
12 09 19 Mind the Map - H Beck Variant
Harry Beck experimenting with the electric circuit and his tube map design.
12 09 19 Mind the Map - H Beck Experiments with Electricity
Remember the time they removed the 'clutter' of the Thames? I'm pleased it has reappeared on Tube maps.
12 09 19 Mind the Map - Without the Thames
I loved this one. An alphabet of tube maps.
12 09 19 Mind the Map - A to Z the Tube Way
All in a lovely relaxing week. Am already scheming my next expedition...

Sunday 16 September 2012

2 FBMs and a Trig

A glorious day in South Devon for a bit of bagging today.  First off was a treat - a FBM near Beer Quarry.
12 09 16 TP7148 - Beer
I would struggle to find some of these if it weren't for the helpful commentary supplied by other baggers.  It also makes me realise that my alleged eccentricity for needing to find these lumps of concrete pales into insignificance to others.  If you read down the links for this FBM one bagger writes "I walked up from the Youth Hostel where I had stayed the previous night as part of a challenge I have set myself to stay in the Youth Hostels in alphabetical order. Do not ask me why as I have not got an answer for that one."

Next was a forlorn trig in a hedge.  Somewhat damaged at the top and got an extra hug from me for that (OK, perhaps I am slightly nutty).
12 09 16 TP1129 - Beer Head
12 09 16 TP1129 - Beer Head
And the trio finished with a new, to me, FBM, a Berntsen.   Nothing terribly exciting to look at really, but makes me happy.  And the views across to Portland were magnificent.
12 09 16 TP0643 - Beer FBM Aux 1
A peek inside.
12 09 16 TP0643 - Beer FBM Aux 1