And a bad projection of a world map, ridiculously centred on Africa rather than the Pacific Ocean or even USA, admittedly generated by ChatGPT after multiple bad attempts, that looks a little off in places but it’s hard to judge because of the stupid projection, and we’re supposed to trust that the places marked are correct?
I mean, it's your blog. Do what you will. I just think it's worth noting that a lot of people take AI-generated imagery as a marker of poor quality or a disregard for the time of the reader. Perhaps that's not true in this specific case, but I think it's worth noting. Thanks, by the way :)
I think I could rework this Coupling Language and Geography into "falsehoods programmers believe about geography" since I could never figure out how to land the core conceit at the end.
The slop on this article really sucks, but it touches on a fascinating subject. One of my favorite non-fiction books I've read in recent years is How to Hide an Empire, which goes into great detail about the US possessions outside the "logo map". Fun fact, many of the islands they staked a claim to were claimed due to their rich guano deposits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guano_Islands_Act
How does it work for the antarctica bases? Do they appear as US on maxmind?
From what I found searching around, it is based on the IP ranges of the bases themselves (McMurdo, Amundsen-Scott, Palmer, etc.). I think all the Military bases clock as US, but if you are outside their jurisdiction, Antarctica is AQ. Though I wonder what, if any, IP ranges are registered under that country code.
I wondered why I can’t remember ever seeing a .um domain name (US Minor Outlying Islands). According to Wikipedia, there was a .um TLD, and the registrar sold a few domains in it, but ICANN took it out of the root domain in 2008.
zesterer | 17 hours ago
Reads
Encounters AI-generated image of an island with a sign on it that says 'island', pointing, incredulously, away from the island
Sighs, closes tab
There are so many public domain photos of actual atolls, why not use one?
chrismorgan | 16 hours ago
And a bad projection of a world map, ridiculously centred on Africa rather than the Pacific Ocean or even USA, admittedly generated by ChatGPT after multiple bad attempts, that looks a little off in places but it’s hard to judge because of the stupid projection, and we’re supposed to trust that the places marked are correct?
[OP] jumex | 10 hours ago
sigh. I guess I can remove the ai picutres. I just thought it was silly when I googled "island with a palm tree on it" I got that silly picture.
[OP] jumex | 10 hours ago
There. Fixed. No AI images anymore. All those words are my own.
zesterer | 9 hours ago
I mean, it's your blog. Do what you will. I just think it's worth noting that a lot of people take AI-generated imagery as a marker of poor quality or a disregard for the time of the reader. Perhaps that's not true in this specific case, but I think it's worth noting. Thanks, by the way :)
As an aside, I did enjoy the post!
[OP] jumex | 8 hours ago
No, I appreciate your feedback. I don't want AI images to detour from the article. It is a good callout.
justinpombrio | 11 hours ago
ubernostrum | 20 hours ago
I once tried to solve the similar problem of identifying places that are “US states”, at least in the sense of having “state” postal abbreviations the US postal service will accept for delivery.
gerikson | 20 hours ago
"Falsehoods programmers believe about geography"
veqq | 12 hours ago
I think I could rework this Coupling Language and Geography into "falsehoods programmers believe about geography" since I could never figure out how to land the core conceit at the end.
technomancy | 10 hours ago
The slop on this article really sucks, but it touches on a fascinating subject. One of my favorite non-fiction books I've read in recent years is How to Hide an Empire, which goes into great detail about the US possessions outside the "logo map". Fun fact, many of the islands they staked a claim to were claimed due to their rich guano deposits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guano_Islands_Act
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250251091/howtohideanempire/
[OP] jumex | 9 hours ago
Slop removed by popular demand. :)
OMG, that book looks so interesting! I'm buying it right now!
einacio | 19 hours ago
How does it work for the antarctica bases? Do they appear as US on maxmind?
[OP] jumex | 12 hours ago
That's a really good question. I'll dig around.
[OP] jumex | 9 hours ago
From what I found searching around, it is based on the IP ranges of the bases themselves (McMurdo, Amundsen-Scott, Palmer, etc.). I think all the Military bases clock as US, but if you are outside their jurisdiction, Antarctica is AQ. Though I wonder what, if any, IP ranges are registered under that country code.
wrs | 12 hours ago
I wondered why I can’t remember ever seeing a
.umdomain name (US Minor Outlying Islands). According to Wikipedia, there was a.umTLD, and the registrar sold a few domains in it, but ICANN took it out of the root domain in 2008.fanf | 7 hours ago
icannwiki has a somewhat different history of .um