The Soviet Union routinely included misinformation in its maps of its own country out of paranoia (rooted in history) over an invader using these same maps to attack the USSR.
As did we! Back in the 1990’s, I remember wondering why a footpath suddenly turned round 3 sides of a rectangle with nothing in it on the map - until I arrived and realised it was round a huge listening station!
Maybe Sandy Island is where all the missing socks end up. What I really need to know is why you are not wearing a glove in the photo with the twigs. Hypothermia must've already set in, making you feel the need to peel off your layers.
Hope the scoping went well. If you've not seen it before, Dave Barry's humorous 2008 essay is worth a read.
>>"I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn’t really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, quote, ``HE’S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BUTT!’‘
and
>>"MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don’t want to be too graphic, here, but: Have you ever seen a space shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt."
Best thing I've read all month. Amazing. Thank you.
(Also: I have to take my gloves off to grab the twigs because my fingers were already so deadened that in gloves they were too clumsy to grip anything.)
Dave’s piece still makes me laugh, though I’ve read it countless times. Thank you for answering my burning question. I might finally be able to sleep tonight. 😁
Great read. Brought back memories of winter camping in the mountains of New Mexico. Is that sound coyotes approaching or snow falling from trees? Are those loud crunching noises elk or bear? Waking up in the early morning surrounded by elk, waking up on a different morning to find mountain lion tracks circling my bivvy, and those days and nights deep in the silence of the clouds at 10,000 feet
That sounds wonderful. Also terrifying! (I mean, that's one thing about the UK, in fauna terms it's pretty tame - we don't have to worry about the wildlife too much, not to the scale of mountain lions. Ye gawds.)
Never had a wild animal give me trouble, in the same area I often came face to face with coyotes, bull elk and bald eagles. The encounter would stop us both then the animal would either back into the brush or fly away. The most terrifying encounter was the other side of the continent doing some commercial diving. A great white swam up to about 3 meters away, we looked at each other and before I could even begin to react it turned and swam off. Never even had time to consider what I would have done. It's been a good life
So glad you enjoyed, Priya. :) When I took that photo of my hands clutching the gathered twigs, I remember that my fingers and my toes were completely without feeling, and I didn't feel much of my feet until we got back in Al's landrover the next morning. An adventure that was not without discomfort...
I had a professor of visual studies who said, “A river is not a line” and we spent a good part of the term exploring that idea. When a river floods, we are upset because the river didn’t adhere to our definition. It’s a living, changing, moving piece of our planet that dictates economic and cultural circumstances. A thin blue line on a map deceives the viewer by hiding its power and historical influence.
Ah yes, Reminds me of when, in the very early sixties, I took my then bride to be camping in the wilds of Staten Island. & yes there were wilds on Staten Island back then, some of such even fairly dry ground.
So! Topo map and tent in back pack, ferry from Manhattan, bus into the wilderness. Seat of the pants navigating bus turns, 9 p.m. black outside the bus windows, finger on map, pulled the 'let us off string', right here!
Nice woods aside the road, beautiful clearing 50 feet in, wee campfire cooked supper, tented, slept.
To awake the following morn to a guy on manicured green grass some 15 yards away, having just swung a club, shouting, "FORE!"
I'm reading Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain and find incredible the power L-mode has in dictating how you perceive reality. What's all on the map may have been someone else's left brain, bored with the details of the task, just shoving symbols in willynilly.
Thoroughly enjoyable read. I wish more people left little stories they've made up for locations, on benches, in clearings, in woods in the middle of somewhere.
Thank you for this great read, Mike! As someone who lives on an island (tropical, nonetheless), I'm always discovering something new in nature. And yes, you are so right...photos can never make you feel the place. Unless you live there, and it makes all the difference. :)
I completely agree with you, maps are great tools but hardly paint the full picture you get by visiting a place. I love maps and use them extensively, but they never compare to the actual landscape and sites of being there.
As for the island that is undiscovered... There is a slight chance there was an island that could have been volcanic and unstable, and eroded over time disappearing into the ocean. That region has very complicated tectonics and subduction systems leading to sporadic island chains and volcanic activity. Small chance and more likely a game of telephone that has perpetuated an error.
The Soviet Union routinely included misinformation in its maps of its own country out of paranoia (rooted in history) over an invader using these same maps to attack the USSR.
As did we! Back in the 1990’s, I remember wondering why a footpath suddenly turned round 3 sides of a rectangle with nothing in it on the map - until I arrived and realised it was round a huge listening station!
Thank you both! This is a fascinating addition.
Maybe Sandy Island is where all the missing socks end up. What I really need to know is why you are not wearing a glove in the photo with the twigs. Hypothermia must've already set in, making you feel the need to peel off your layers.
Hope the scoping went well. If you've not seen it before, Dave Barry's humorous 2008 essay is worth a read.
https://www.miamiherald.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/dave-barry/article1928847.html
>>"I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn’t really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, quote, ``HE’S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BUTT!’‘
and
>>"MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don’t want to be too graphic, here, but: Have you ever seen a space shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt."
Best thing I've read all month. Amazing. Thank you.
(Also: I have to take my gloves off to grab the twigs because my fingers were already so deadened that in gloves they were too clumsy to grip anything.)
Dave’s piece still makes me laugh, though I’ve read it countless times. Thank you for answering my burning question. I might finally be able to sleep tonight. 😁
Great read. Brought back memories of winter camping in the mountains of New Mexico. Is that sound coyotes approaching or snow falling from trees? Are those loud crunching noises elk or bear? Waking up in the early morning surrounded by elk, waking up on a different morning to find mountain lion tracks circling my bivvy, and those days and nights deep in the silence of the clouds at 10,000 feet
That sounds wonderful. Also terrifying! (I mean, that's one thing about the UK, in fauna terms it's pretty tame - we don't have to worry about the wildlife too much, not to the scale of mountain lions. Ye gawds.)
Never had a wild animal give me trouble, in the same area I often came face to face with coyotes, bull elk and bald eagles. The encounter would stop us both then the animal would either back into the brush or fly away. The most terrifying encounter was the other side of the continent doing some commercial diving. A great white swam up to about 3 meters away, we looked at each other and before I could even begin to react it turned and swam off. Never even had time to consider what I would have done. It's been a good life
You crack me up Mike. Always a delight to read your work.
Thank you, Mariuccia. :)
Loved reading this so much - I was actually shivering thinking about camping in all that snow
So glad you enjoyed, Priya. :) When I took that photo of my hands clutching the gathered twigs, I remember that my fingers and my toes were completely without feeling, and I didn't feel much of my feet until we got back in Al's landrover the next morning. An adventure that was not without discomfort...
Thank you for this brilliant piece of writing!
Too kind, Wendy. Thank you. :)
I had a professor of visual studies who said, “A river is not a line” and we spent a good part of the term exploring that idea. When a river floods, we are upset because the river didn’t adhere to our definition. It’s a living, changing, moving piece of our planet that dictates economic and cultural circumstances. A thin blue line on a map deceives the viewer by hiding its power and historical influence.
Experience is dynamic but our record can only be static.
I’m glad you survived the night!
Ah yes, Reminds me of when, in the very early sixties, I took my then bride to be camping in the wilds of Staten Island. & yes there were wilds on Staten Island back then, some of such even fairly dry ground.
So! Topo map and tent in back pack, ferry from Manhattan, bus into the wilderness. Seat of the pants navigating bus turns, 9 p.m. black outside the bus windows, finger on map, pulled the 'let us off string', right here!
Nice woods aside the road, beautiful clearing 50 feet in, wee campfire cooked supper, tented, slept.
To awake the following morn to a guy on manicured green grass some 15 yards away, having just swung a club, shouting, "FORE!"
"Hic sunt dracones" ... or Sandy Island.
I'm reading Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain and find incredible the power L-mode has in dictating how you perceive reality. What's all on the map may have been someone else's left brain, bored with the details of the task, just shoving symbols in willynilly.
Thoroughly enjoyable read. I wish more people left little stories they've made up for locations, on benches, in clearings, in woods in the middle of somewhere.
Thank you for this great read, Mike! As someone who lives on an island (tropical, nonetheless), I'm always discovering something new in nature. And yes, you are so right...photos can never make you feel the place. Unless you live there, and it makes all the difference. :)
I completely agree with you, maps are great tools but hardly paint the full picture you get by visiting a place. I love maps and use them extensively, but they never compare to the actual landscape and sites of being there.
As for the island that is undiscovered... There is a slight chance there was an island that could have been volcanic and unstable, and eroded over time disappearing into the ocean. That region has very complicated tectonics and subduction systems leading to sporadic island chains and volcanic activity. Small chance and more likely a game of telephone that has perpetuated an error.