Info Pimp

"Libraries are brothels for the mind. Which means that librarians are the madams, greeting punters, understanding their strange tastes and needs, and pimping their books." Guy Browning (The Guardian column, www.guardian.co.uk 18 October 2003)

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

What's inside us and what's in the world around us.

Okay, so I saw this on an advertising postcard - and promptly cut out the figure and made it hang from my computer monitor at work...until I realised that it mayn't be quite appropriate and binned it *blushes*
And now look! It's gleaming from lit-up bus shelters all over town!
I know what I think about it - but just what does the average punter make of it all?

But there is something that has me even more excited: Worldmapper.
"Worldmapper is a collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest."
Truly weird and wonderful. I wasted the best part of an hour delving into map after map. Countries resized according to figures on their tourism, attended births, ore exports, toy imports, immigration, emmigration, and more.
Looking at the first page it's amazing to see India pulsing like a a yellow heart.
Some maps sort of resemble the land mass maps we are used to seeing. And some are absolutely nuts!
It looks like the site is a continuing project - and I'll be keen to see the resources maps (groundwater recharge, forest loss, etc) when they are released.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

well i think you should hang it right back up on your computer ...

everyone loves a 'twisted' librarian..hehe, ..well i know i do..

3:24 am  

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