What I Learned Today

Today I learned about the impressive collection of maps held by the Library of Congress, which has the largest map library in the world (6 million items). These items are publicly available to anyone with a (free) Library of Congress card, and there are also a lot of digital maps available online.

The Geography and Maps Division is currently featuring key maps from the American Revolution period (to commemorate the U.S.’s 250th anniversary). These 1,470 maps include a map of Philadelphia that includes a sketch of the State House where the Continental Congress met to hash out the Declaration of Independence, a Rochambeau map of the 1776 Battle of Long Island, the first map of the United States showing them as an independent country (1783), and more.

First map of the United States as an independent country (1783)

They also have an collection of Revolution era maps made accessible to visually impaired individuals. They have created “tactile maps” that reproduce maps with raised outlines, Braille labels, and textures, as well as audio descriptions of the maps. To make these tactile maps, they first choose maps likely to translate well to this form (ideally not too complicated), identify lines and edges, add Braille labels, then add texture to shade different regions. The maps are printed with a regular printer, on special paper, then heated and the places with ink swell into ridges you can feel. Awesome!

My screenshot of the tactile map example during the June 9 webinar

Finally, the “By the People” program at the Library of Congress, where you can volunteer to help transcribe handwritten materials, will soon be launching a project to transcribe nautical maps from the Atlantic Neptune Collection. It should show up at By the People when it opens. You can help enrich this collection!

You may know that you can disable the “AI Overview” in a Google search for a single search by including “-ai” (minus ai) in your search text. But Google doesn’t give you a way to turn it off for all searches.

However, you can configure your browser’s built-in search shortcuts to do it for you. A regular Google search is something like

https://www.google.com/search?q=text

where “text” is the text you are searching for. But if you add an extra parameter (udm=14) to this search, it disables the AI overview:

https://www.google.com/search?q=text&udm=14

You can make this version your default search shortcut in Google Chrome as follows:

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Search Engine -> Manage Search Engines.
3. Scroll down to the “Site Search” section and click “Add”.
4. Give this search a name (like “udm14”).
5. In the “URL with %s in place of query” box, paste this: {google:baseURL}search?q=%s&udm=14. It will look like this (mine says “Edit”; yours will say “Add”):
   
6. Click “Save”.
7. Under the three dots menu, select “Make default”.
8. Try a search and enjoy no AI overview!

I have not yet figured out how to do this in Safari.

The other day, I found some “watermelon licorice” in the store and was intrigued enough to purchase it. It was a paler red than Red Vines and didn’t taste noticeably like watermelon, but it was a fun treat.

That made me wonder – what exactly IS licorice? (How can you make a watermelon version of it?)

Merriam-Webster defines licorice as:

a : the dried root of a European leguminous plant (Glycyrrhiza glabra) with pinnate leaves and spikes of blue flowers
also : an extract of this used especially in medicine, liquors, and confectionery
b : a candy flavored with licorice or a substitute (such as anise)

Licorice (the candy) is traditionally flavored/sweetened using an extract from the root of the licorice plant (glycyrrhiza glabra), which is extremely sweet and has some medicinal applications (but is toxic in high doses).

I think this means that the folks who say red licorice isn’t really “licorice” might be right – red licorice usually doesn’t include glycyrrhizin (the licorice plant extract), like its black cousin does. This watermelon licorice doesn’t, either – and its first ingredient is corn syrup. It also contains no watermelon. :)

I learned a new word today – “commentariat”. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it refers to “members of the news media considered as a class,” while Merriam-Webster instead says it is “a group of powerful and influential commentators.” I heard it more informally applied to the group of people who actively comment and participate in discussions in a particular online forum. Charming!

Exoplanets are generally discovered in indirect ways, by the slight wobble they impart to their host star, or by passing in front of the star and briefly dimming its light.

But here we have a glorious compilation of seven images taken from Earth over seven years, in which four exoplanets are directly imaged!

These planets are all orbiting a star named HR 8799, in the constellation Pegasus. The images were collected by the Keck Observatory in Hawaii. The source images were used to infer and interpolate the planets’ orbits. (This planetary system seems to be nearly perpendicular to us. Not all of them are, naturally.) Magical to watch.