Here are some old New Jersey maps, available online. Take a look at this map of southern New Jersey made by Dutch settlers in
1669. The Dutch labeled Cape May "Cabo May." Take a look at Delaware Bay. The Dutch called it Godyn's Bay. This
1709 map shows a division between east and west New Jersey. Probably most interesting of all is
this map from 1795. Here, you can see archaic names of towns. What is now Pennington was once called "Pennytown." Lawrenceville was once called "Maidenhead." What is today called Hightstown was once called "Hiatstown." How about that little island off the southwestern New Jersey coast, Egg Island? Is that even there anymore?
posted by candasartan
on Feb 10, 2012 -
23 comments
I come from Bankers and Businessmen, New Jersey. The dividing line between north and south New Jersey is the
Driscoll Bridge according to one theory. The
Sports Fan rule applies a hypothetical line between where NY Giant fandom ends and Philadelphia Eagle fanaticism begins. Under the
Sandwhich conjecture, South Jersey's northern border is where people stop eating hoagies for lunch and start eating subs.
New Jersey is too nuanced for simple binary categorization. Rigorous tests of the competing theories produce contradictory results (
Monmouth County is part of South Jersey under the Driscoll theory and North Jersey using Sports Fan methodology.) Throwing out the ineffectiveness of northern and southern classifications, a recent Rutgers graduate and current state employee has produced a controversial and
highly accurate visualization of a new Jersey, though some may be offended.
posted by otto42
on Dec 8, 2011 -
73 comments
They’d met in the psychology department at U.C.L.A., where Gonzaga was conducting a study on married couples. Setrakian, who had a master’s in clinical psychology, was the project coördinator. To test their procedures, they needed a man and a woman to impersonate a married couple for multiple sessions. Gonzaga and Setrakian became the impersonators, and fell in love.
An article about
online dating from the New Yorker.
posted by wittgenstein
on Jul 3, 2011 -
18 comments
Have you always longed for a comprehensive list of the shit Kiwis are really into? No, neither have we. Here it is anyway. Kiwianarama
posted by midnightbarber
on May 25, 2011 -
25 comments
Pizza!
Slice Harvester is one man's quest to taste and review every pizza slice offered by NYC's pizzerias. His mission statement reads,
"...I'm going by neighborhood, starting in Manhattan, getting a plain slice at every place. I am f***ing sick of the current trend in Pizza Journalism that's all about f***ing artichoke guacamole tahini pizza on rice dough. That s*** isn't pizza. Sorry."
posted by Arthur Phillips Jones Jr
on Sep 28, 2010 -
69 comments
"Out of the blue, in the middle of a recession, the phone rang. What would it cost, the caller asked the founder of
DonorsChoose.org, to fund every California teacher's wish list posted on the Web site? The founder, Charles Best, thought perhaps the female caller would hang up when he tossed out his best guess: "Something over $1 million," he told her. A day later, Hilda Yao, executive director of the Claire Giannini Fund
mailed a check of more than $1.3 million to cover the entire California wish list, 2,233 projects in all, with an extra $100,000 tossed in to help pay for other teacher needs across the country. (DonorsChoose: previously on MeFi) [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Sep 3, 2010 -
82 comments
The
rumours are increasing that there will be a merger between the two left-leaning political parties in Canada, the hapless Liberals under the wooden Michael Ignatieff, and the perennial almost-show New Democrats under the magnificently
mustached Jack Layton. Denials all 'round, of course, but as separate parties they have not managed to take down Stephen Harper and his wiley Conservatives.
posted by anothermug
on Jun 8, 2010 -
117 comments
Bad credit or no credit? No Problem! Are you on welfare? Social Security? No Problem! You have to see the
Special Man!
posted by grapefoot
on Apr 19, 2010 -
23 comments
It's not uncommon for the mayors of two cities locked in sports competition to make
friendly wagers. But, do the cities' art museums do too? Apparently, they
do.
posted by Leezie
on Jan 28, 2010 -
26 comments
David Levine, beloved caricaturist for several publications, but most notably for the
New York Review of Books,
died last Tuesday at age 83 due to complications of prostate cancer. Since 1963, he contributed over 3,800 caricatures for the magazine, which prominently featured his drawings in promotional material. You can look at over 2,500 of his drawings
here, review his website featuring his painting
here, and see him interviewed
here.
Toward the end of his life, his vision failed due to macular degeneration and his relationship with the magazine became
somewhat strained. Upon his death, the magazine noted that he was, simply, "the greatest caricaturist of his time."
[more inside]
posted by pasici
on Jan 1, 2010 -
24 comments
