[FRIAM] Maps from Memory

Sun Jun 7 13:24:39 EDT 2020

At a political gathering here in Santa Fe, I saw Al Franken do his drawing
of the 50 states, all the while responding to political questions.
Impressive feat. He then auctioned it off to raise money for the DSCC. As I
recall it went for $3500 to Bob Odenkirk, Sol of Better Call Sol.

Here's my guess...Delaware.

George Duncan
Emeritus Professor of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University
georgeduncanart.com
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My art theme: Dynamic exposition of the tension between matrix order and
luminous chaos.

"Attempt what is not certain. Certainty may or may not come later. It may
then be a valuable delusion."
>From "Notes to myself on beginning a painting" by Richard Diebenkorn.

"It's that knife-edge of uncertainty where we come alive to our truest
power." Joanna Macy.

On Sat, Jun 6, 2020 at 9:38 PM Steve Smith <sasmyth at swcp.com> wrote:

>
> On 6/6/20 8:34 PM, thompnickson2 at gmail.com wrote:
>
> Steve,
>
>
>
> When I was on sabbatical in England and feeling Very homesick, I set about
> to draw a memory map of the United States.  I was really pleased with the
> result, and showed off with pride to my family.  One of my children pointed
> out to me that I had only 49 states.
>
> I was VERY impressed when I saw Al Franken do his:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0-FYyuvrRk&list=PL0UW7LoJRk9fFIEVBUq_mX94CYioFkdOL&index=273
>
> the one I saw myself was one he narrated and it took a lot longer:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4XtczOvT6c
>
> I'd probably remember them all and maybe even in the right location, but
> with only a few regions reflecting accurate scales and boundaries.    New
> England and the northern Atlantic Seaboard would suck...  the West and
> Midwest would probably be fine... I think I could *nail* the 4 corners
> states though!
>
>   Can you guess which one I left out?
>
> I'm not good at these guessing games, and without reference to your
> age/era when you were in England, I'd be winging a tail at a donkey here.
>
> Seems like a "trick question", which becomes my best angle for guessing:
>     * Switzerland? (doh! not a state!)
>
>     * NM?   (though a hard one to leave out geometrically).
>
>     * AK/HI ?   (too obvious)
>
>     * MA (nahhhhh...)
>
>     * Idaho?
>
> OK... yah got me!
>
>
>
>
>
> N
>
>
>
> Nicholas Thompson
>
> Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
>
> Clark University
>
> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com
>
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> <friam-bounces at redfish.com> *On
> Behalf Of *Steve Smith
> *Sent:* Saturday, June 6, 2020 6:29 PM
> *To:* friam at redfish.com
> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] word of the day: "Eschatology"
>
>
>
> Nick -
>
> One day, during geography, I raised my hand and said, “How come
> north/south America and Europe/Africa sort of *fit together?”  *General
> merriment on all sides, including the teacher’s.
>
>
>
> Did she do that to YOU, also?
>
> Nah, but my 4th grade teacher drew her own maps on mimeograph.  When we
> were studying Europe, she left out Switzerland.   When she handed out the
> unmarked maps as homework and asked us to fill in the country names and
> place/identify their capitals, I noticed she had left out Switzerland!   I
> raised my hand, waited for her to call on me, then politely (or possibly
> too eagerly) asked "Where is Switzerland?".   I don't remember what
> happened next... but she basically told me to "shut up".   I did.   But I
> did not do *any more* Geography homework (or at least her hand-drawn map)
> assignments for the rest of the year.
>
> When I flunked (who gets an F in a class in 4th grade?) the class, my
> parents intervened and made the deal with her that she would pass me
> if/when I did all the homework that summer.   It grated the hell out of me,
> but I remember whipping out the whole year of assignments in the first week
> (or so) because we didn't not do what our parents told us to, even if we
> sometimes didn't do what our teachers told us to do.  I had, after all,
> paid attention in class and *read the book* as I was as fascinated with
> geography as anything else...   I held the line on the
> Europe-sans-Switzerland assignment and my parents acquiesced.  I *LIKE* to
> think that Ms. McCarty was more careful with her maps after I (innocently)
> asked her about "Switzerland?".
>
> Later she told me to shut up when she was teaching "weather" and my father
> had just shown me (he took daily meteorological readings at the USFS
> offices)  about wet-bulb temperature and even alcohol thermometers (which
> are preferred over mercury ones for very low temperature use)...  the "shut
> up" came when I raised my hand and asked if the thermometer she was showing
> us was mercury or alcohol.   I think she said "there is no such thing"
> before she told me to shut up.   I don't know why she ever called on me,
> but then one could ask why I ever bothered to raise my hand.   I think I
> did cut way back on that as the year progressed.
>
> Did your first grade teacher break a ruler on your knuckles for having bad
> penmanship (age 6) ?   And I didn't even go to Catholic School!  Her name
> was Mrs. Hay and *should have been* a Nun...
>
> - Steve
>
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