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Alright, I'll take a couple of shots at it, but you really didn't give us enough of a clue.

It was one of those stupid exercises you do at company retreats

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There are quite a few things to notice on this image:

Now while I have already given away that one beer, you finger a bunch of interesting things...

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1. The American Midwest has almost a "grid" of cities, almost undoubtedly arising from proximity to grain elevators. Transport cost of grain would drive the development of towns at some interval.

Proximity to grain elevators or proximity of grain elevators to railroads? I know squat, but I'll guess both.

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2. Most of the lights are near water, with the earliest developed coastlines a solid outline of lights: the Nile, Italy's coast (the whole Med, really). Not a big surprise, since that's where the population centers are because that's how people used to get around. Actually, come to think of it, why is the Nile a solid white line?

(looking down the page...) No, I didn't notice the Nile. Now, I am guessing that there may be a certain amount of amplification/distortion just to make this composite image interesting, but that *is* pretty interesting.

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3. You can see some of the settlement routes of lands by light density, particularly in Russia and N America.

River valleys?

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4. The North Slope appears to have more candlepower than the rest of Alaska.

One part of this may come down to what spots on the map are "twenty-four seven" relative to satellite snapshots. Skyscrapers in Fairbanks may turn many lights off between midnight and 7AM, where I bet the mercury-vapor lamps lights in Prudhoe Bay burn all night long. Just guessing.

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5. Humans are practically dripping off of this little spherical rock.

I just finished reading "A Short History of Progress" by this comsymp pinko Canadian Ronald Wright. At some point in his essays he makes the point -- and I can't find the reference -- that humans have managed to light up the planet such that it blazes away in space (my poor paraphrase). It certainly makes this NASA snapshot more interesting. I am trying to figure out where the global warming deniers get all of their moxie.

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6. Outdoor folks in the continental US can give up on their silly ideas that they go to any "wilderness" areas.

This is one aspect that makes me think that light amplification, bleeding, distortion, whatever, may have some effect... I have a pretty good handle on what the situation is in the Pacific Northwest and I know there are some bits of wilderness around, satellite imagery notwithstanding.

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7. Disease, poverty, infant mortality, short life expectancy and probably bad smell are inversely correllated to candlepower (again, no big suprise, since this is basically an "infrastructure map").

Yes, the stats in New York City are not what one would hope.

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My best guess: what the hell is up with the Nile River?

Wright's book spends some time on the Nile. Interesting. Korea just hit me. Literally night-and-day on an arbitrary political divide. South Korea looks like an island.

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Jim

Jim

*Oh, and that was a Fairbanks joke.
_________________________
Jim


'Tis the exceptional fellow who lies awake at night thinking of his successes.