The Real World

The Man writes...if you're thinking Albaniana seems to be short of blog material these days, well - no need to feel too much sympathy there.

At my place of work we were visited today by the Governor of New York State, David Paterson and other leading figures in State politics. By all accounts matters had reached bitter gridlock under Governor Eliot Spitzer, who resigned in disgrace last March, but Paterson embarked on a much more collaborative approach. It was refreshing - particularly to British eyes - to see the most senior Republicans and Democratics in the State talking of their respect - and even without irony love - for each other.

In fictional politics our "West Wing" DVD fix last night included one of my favourite scenes, when the (presumably fictional) "Cartographers for Social Equality" visited the White House. They wanted the Peters Projection of the Earth to become the norm in every school - it reflects area accurately so Africa looks much bigger than on the usual Mercator Projection. They also wanted World maps to show the Southern Hemisphere at the top rather than the bottom.

I'm pleased to report that the World maps at the kids' school already do this, and that we recently hung the "conventional" map in our office upside-down.