11, 12, 13...

Today at work someone mentioned that the date is 11/12/13. Which means it's one of the last 'cool' dates to get married on for a long time (next year there will be 12/13/14, but after that, you're pretty much out of luck), so if you are looking for something like that in a wedding date, you have a few short hours to elope.

I figured that blogging on 11/12/13 would be commemoration enough. And today I saw the most incredible thing:

Okay, so it isn't a good picture, although it does give you an idea. I'm a little concerned about the proportions of everything, and their placement, because it doesn't seem like this would all fit on the globe without overlapping at the top. And I don't think Russia sits on top of Canada. It's as if the map were drawn looking down from the North Pole. (Okay, my cartographer brother, tell me about Mercator Projections).

But speaking of Russia: Yeah. There is no Russia. It is the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics." (Again, sorry, bad picture, I did my best in a semi-dark hall shooting through glass). Now for all you young folks out there, this is back from the days of the Cold War, which seems silly now in many ways, but was rather frightening to contemplate. The USSR ended in the early '90's, breaking up into Russia, all those Eastern European countries, and a lot of '-stans'. So, this map is very outdated. But it reminds me so much of my childhood, because we had a map with the USSR on it, and I remember how much I enjoyed spreading out that map and examining all the countries on it, seeing how far they were, all the interesting names, their capitals. My sister and I once planned a route (probably entirely infeasible) around the world, hitting all of the countries we wanted to go to. I have a soft spot for maps with the USSR because they bring back some good memories. Although it is pretty ridiculous that this map is still hanging in a building. (And NOT a building that houses archives.)

Anyway, it was a nice little trip down memory lane, and maybe sometime I'll go back and get better pictures. And learn about Mercator Projection. And find all the other countries that have changed since this map was made.

Ah, life.