Ah, the delicious, creamy avocado. We love it, despite its fleeting ripeness and frustrating tendency to turn brown when you try to store it. From salads to guacamole to much-memed millennial avocado toast, the weird berry (that’s right—it’s a berry) with the signature green flesh is one of the more versatile fruits, but also one of the more fickle. Once an avocado is ready, you better cut it open within hours because it’s not going to last.
Once it’s cut, an avocado starts to oxidize, turning that green flesh a sickly brown color. It’s not harmful to eat, but it’s not particularly appetizing. The key to keeping the browning from happening is to keep the flesh from being exposed to oxygen.
Some people rub an unused avocado half with oil to keep oxidation at bay. Others swear by squeezing some lemon juice over it. Some say placing plastic wrap tightly over it with the pit still in it will keep it green.
But a YouTube video from Avocados from Mexico demonstrates a quick, easy, eco-friendly way to store half an avocado that doesn’t require anything but a container and some water.
It almost seems too simple, but people swear it works. The avocado half won’t last forever, of course, but if you don’t eat an avocado half within three days, do you really deserve that avocado half? I don’t think so.
A few more fun facts about avocados: Avocados have more potassium than bananas, they are very high in fiber compared to other foods and they’re also high in heart-healthy fat, like olive oil. Also, did you know that you can’t grow a Hass avocado from a Hass avocado seed? Weird, right?
And if your mind is blown about the avocados-are-berries thing, I feel you. I won’t tell you that strawberries, raspberries and blackberries are not actually berries, but bananas, cucumbers and pumpkins are, because that would just be cruel. (It’s true, though. I’m sorry.)
Cheers! May your avocados be perfectly ripe, their pits small and their oxidation slow.
A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing.
Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold.
A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen.
Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity’s 2025 Carter Work Project.
Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing.
Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The MicroBuild® Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide affordable appliances and building materials to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth.
Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.
Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.
Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:
Speaking up on social media about the growing housing crisis
Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity build in your local community
Travel and build with Habitat in the U.S. or in one of 60+ countries where we work around the globe
Join the Let’s Open the Door movement and, when you donate, you can create your own personalized door
Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone.
Are you an American who has fantasized about having dual citizenship with Canada, our neighbor to the north? It opens you up to greater job opportunities, allows you to move between countries depending on economic conditions, and lets you qualify for domestic tuition in both nations. Further, with two passports, international travel becomes a lot easier, and you have more options when it’s time to retire.
Dual citizenship also gives you greater freedom when it comes to health coverage. Would you prefer the private system in the United States or the single-payer system in Canada?
Millions of Americans may now qualify for Canadian citizenship
After a new Canadian law was passed in December 2025, millions of Americans, especially those in the Northeast, may be able to qualify for Canadian citizenship more easily. The passage of Bill C-3, part of the Canadian Citizenship Act, reversed a 2009 law that limited eligibility for Canadian citizenship to first-generation relationships only.
As droves of Americans apply for proof of Canadian citizenship, processing times have doubled https://t.co/YMDoQ3XBhF
Now, Canadian citizenship is open to anyone who can provide proof of direct lineage from a parent, grandparent, or even great-grandparent who became a Canadian citizen on or after January 1, 1947 (this date differs for those who lived in the province of Newfoundland). However, if the ancestor renounced Canadian citizenship, eligibility stops there.
Are those with dual American-Canadian citizenship eligible for Canadian healthcare?
Americans who are eligible for dual citizenship and want to take advantage of Canada’s universal healthcare can qualify if they live in Canada for a certain number of days each year. For example, if you live in Ontario for at least 153 days a year, you can qualify for Canada’s healthcare system. However, if you have dual citizenship, you can’t simply travel from Detroit to Windsor whenever you want to see a doctor.
Since the law was passed in late 2025, thousands of Americans have applied for dual citizenship. Nicholas Berning, an immigration attorney at Boundary Bay Law in Bellingham, Washington, said that his legal practice has been “flooded” with applicants. Amandeep Hayer, an immigration attorney in Vancouver, British Columbia, told The Associated Press that his practice went from 200 cases a year to over 20 consultations a day. Hayer estimated that millions of Americans could qualify for dual citizenship under the new law.
Cassandra Fultz, an Ottawa-based immigration consultant, said that her American caseload has surged from 10 applicants a month to 100. “There’s been a very steady increase in interest in moving to Canada since November 2024, which is unprecedented. I’ve never seen this in my 17 years in the industry,” Fultz told CNN.
If you have documents proving that you had a parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent who was a Canadian citizen, the cost to apply for Canadian citizenship is only $75 CA ($55 U.S.). However, costs can quickly rise if you need to hire an attorney or obtain death or marriage certificates to prove your case.
There’s an old saying: “But without one nest, a bird may call the world its home.” If you’re an American who wants to broaden your horizons and expand your opportunities to choose the life you wish, check your family tree. You may be eligible for Canadian citizenship.
“Canada is north of the United States” sounds like a basic fact that even elementary school children know to be true. But is it really? It turns out, the actual geographic reality isn’t quite that simple.
In fact, the Canadian-American border is all kinds of weird when you start examining it closely. The long part that looks like a straight line on the map is actually 900 zigzagging lines. Sometimes that “straight” line along the 49th parallel varies by hundreds of feet. There’s a disputed island along the border that both countries claim as their own.
But perhaps the most surprising factoid about the border is how much of it (and the Canadian population that lives above it) is actually south of the northernmost U.S. states.
If someone told you half of Canadians live south of North Dakota and Washington, it sounds wrong, right? But it’s right.
As a geomap.bytes TikTok video explains, about 70% of Canadians have historically lived south of the 49th parallel. But even more surprising is that around half of all Canadians live south of the southern borders of North Dakota and Washington. An even wilder fact is that the southernmost point in Canada sits south of some part of 27 U.S. states. It’s even slightly south of a small part of Northern California.
According to the video, more Americans than Canadians live north of Canada’s southernmost point, Middle Island in Lake Erie. How is that true? Let’s look at the math.
The population of Canada as of 2026 is approximately 40 million people, so 50% would be around 20 million. The U.S. population is a little over 342 million, so only about 6% of the U.S. population needs to live north of Middle Island for that math to work out. It does, as RealLifeLore explains:
Commenters (especially those who don’t live near that part of either country) are bewildered by these counterintuitive facts:
“Wow this is crazy: if you go south from Detroit you end up in Canada 🤯🤯🤯”
“Journey: ‘born and raised in South Detroit’ …so Canada.”
“I mean it’s like I knew this because I know where the border is yet I’ve never really thought about it or really registered it in my brain.”
“Geography can be really weird at times.”
Though it may sound strange at first, the way the populations pan out actually does make sense geographically. Canada may be enormous land-wise, but the most easily habitable parts, climate-wise, are in the southern part of the country. The major population centers of Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa are all in that triangular area between Michigan and New York. And the vast majority (90%, according to the CBC) of Canadians live within 100 miles (160 km) of the U.S. border.
More surprising facts about Canadian-American geography (from Across the Globe):
The U.S.-Canada border is delineated by the longest clear-cut strip of land in the world.
Point Roberts, Washington, is only accessible by car if you drive through part of Canada.
The northernmost point in the contiguous U.S. is a bit of Minnesota jutting up into Canada. It was the result of a mapmaking mistake.
The disputed island mentioned at the beginning of this article is home to nearly 10,000 puffins.
The international border runs along the yellow centerline of a street that separates Derby Line, Vermont from Stanstead, Quebec.
At the border crossing in Blaine, Washington, a 67-foot concrete arch straddles the border between the two countries. The words “Children of a common mother” mark the American side. “Brethren dwelling together in unity” is written on the Canadian side.
The Great Lakes that sit between the two countries hold 21% of the world’s fresh water.
Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes that lies entirely within the U.S.
Canada and the U.S. have been on friendly terms for the vast majority of their mutual history, which is quite remarkable considering the history of the world. There’s a lot to love about our northern neighbors and a lot to know about the crooked line that delineates the two nations.
Finland gets a lot of attention for its approach to work-life balance, from four-day workweek experiments to generous parental leave policies. This has created some pretty entertaining stereotypes about what working in Finland must be like. Dan Toomey, an American who works for Morning Brew in Finland, decided to lean all the way into those stereotypes with a pair of TikTok videos that have people laughing at how painfully accurate they are.
In the first video, Toomey shows what Americans think the average Finnish workday looks like. It starts with him stepping out of his morning sauna, followed by hot chocolate hand-delivered by his company.
Around 11 AM, he finally sits down to work. “Since we all work at Spotify,” he explains, he begins his day by listening to ambient synth music while wrapped in a felt blanket. His daily $5,000 bonus arrives in the mail. He has a casual chat about Eurovision with Finland’s 36-year-old Prime Minister. Lunch is cold herring and more pine needles, followed by a walk through Narnia. He wraps up at 3:30 PM after his first and only meeting of the day, just in time for his second bonus to arrive.
The American workday video, on the other hand, looks like something from a particularly dark comedy sketch.
It begins at 4:30 AM on a Sunday. The American worker “sprints out of bed in record time,” recites the pledge of allegiance, and prepares breakfast: 12 eggs and a gallon of whole milk, consumed while staring at his phone. He writes emails for three hours straight before his first meeting, where everyone “shares big numbers, then makes a million dollars” as cash literally rains down on him.
Lunch is “every fast food there is,” eaten quickly before he squats at his desk to memorize a PowerPoint presentation. The workday finally ends at 1 AM when he places a spreadsheet under his pillow and gets tucked into bed by Jeff Bezos himself.
The videos are obviously satirical, but they hit a nerve because they’re rooted in real cultural differences. Finland genuinely does have policies that prioritize employee well-being in ways that seem almost fictional to American workers. Meanwhile, American hustle culture has created an environment where working yourself to exhaustion is often worn as a badge of honor.
Both videos have been praised not just for their humor, but for their critique of what we’ve normalized in our work cultures. As conversations about sustainable work practices continue, maybe the real question isn’t whether the stereotypes are accurate. It’s which version of the workday we actually want to be living.
If you’ve traveled on an airplane in the last several years, you know it’s much cheaper to choose the basic seats in the main cabin. There’s nothing inherently different about these particular seats, other than the fact that it will be randomly selected by the airline. If you’re traveling alone, that’s really not a bad deal, but if you’re traveling with a party that you’d like to keep together, like your children, the risk gets to be a little higher. One mom traveling with an 11 and 15-year old took the risk and banked on a stranger accommodating…that’s not quite how it played out.
Her seat was taken, on purpose
Tammy Nelson did a double take at her ticket after seeing the mom in her window seat. Of course, people accidentally sit in the wrong seats on planes all the time. However, Nelson quickly realized that this was no accident. This mom boarded the plane with her older children and had taken it upon herself to sit in the same row as her children, essentially commandeering a stranger’s seat. Nelson assumed it was a mistake and informed the woman that the seat was in fact hers but the response she received was surprising.
“She said, ‘Oh, you want to sit here?’,” Nelson told Good Morning America. “She said, ‘Oh, well I just thought I could switch with you because these are my kids.’”
That’s an interesting assumption considering seats are assigned and many people, like Nelson, pay extra to have the seat they prefer. Now, there’s no telling if funds were tight and this was an unplanned trip for the mom and kids which caused her to buy the more budget friendly tickets or if she was simply being frugal and was banking on the kindness of a stranger.
Either way, Nelson specifically paid for a window seat due to motion sickness and though she paid extra, she was willing to sit in the other row if that seat was also a window seat. But it turns out, it was a middle seat.
Surely there’s someone out there that loves the middle seat. Maybe a cold natured person that enjoys the body heat of two strangers sitting uncomfortably close. Or perhaps someone that doesn’t mind accidentally sleeping on an unsuspecting passenger’s shoulder. But that person wasn’t Nelson, so when the middle seat was offered in exchange for her bought and paid for window seat, she politely but firmly declined.
Having had only 90 minutes of sleep the night before and knowing I had to give a presentation to 500 people, I desperately needed some sleep, so I did not agree to switch seats. 🤷♀️ Before anyone comes after me… the kids looked like they were about 11 and 15 years old. And the mom was in arms-reach of both of them from the middle seat in the row behind us. The mom proceeded to complain for at least 15 minutes to the person next to her loud enough for me to hear. But the woman actually defended me – several times. It was so kind and I appreciated it so much because I was feeling really guilty. 🤦♀️ #airplaneseat#seatswitching#airplanekarens
Her refusal to give in to the mom’s seemingly entitled request for Nelson’s seat has resulted in parents and child-free people cheering her on after she posted the details on her TikTok page, MyCONQUERing, which quickly racked over 3.4 million views.
“Nope. If it’s not an upgrade it’s a sacrifice,” a commenter wrote.
“You did the RIGHT thing. Folks need to plan their travel together. Lack of planning on their part does not constitute an inconvenience on yours,” one person said.
“I have 3 kids and have sat in different rows when they were passed toddler age. I agree, book your flight earlier,” another said.
“You were right. As a woman with 3 children, I always pay extra so we’re sat together,” another mom said.
It’s a trope as old as time: the charming, yet conventionally unattractive girl gets a makeover, and suddenly her looks match her winning personality, opening an entire world of possibilities…and love interests.
And how do we know she’s conventionally unattractive? Glasses (because attractive people don’t read and can see perfectly, duh) and unkempt curly hair.
In pop culture, almost nothing instantly clocks a woman as less desirable or polished. At best, they can be the carefree bohemian or funny best friend. But you can bet you bottom dollar that if they are to be seen as a romantic love interest in any way, shape, or form, that hair is gonna be flat-ironed within an inch of its life. It’s screenwriting 101, people.
An era-defining transformation
One lasting example of this is the makeover scene in The Princess Diaries, wherein Mia Thermopolis (played by Anne Hathaway) goes from adorkable to refined thanks to a bit of hair straightening, plus some makeup, contacts, and intense eyebrow tweezing.
In a recent interview with People, Hathaway shared that the filmmaker never actually intended to promote the “curly = ugly” stereotype. It was actually just a logistical strategy.
“My natural hair is rather straight, so we had to create a contrast,” she shared, adding that going with her naturally straight hair meant “less time in the makeup trailer” overall.
…with “unintended consequences”
As a result, however, the message many audiences read was “curly hair is unattractive,” which Hathaway labeled as a “terrible, completely unintended side effect.”
If the comments section was any indicator, Hathaway was correct in saying the “unintended consequence” of that scene was the profound effect it left with viewers.
“I (a curly haired girly) started straightening my hair after I saw the scene at 12.”
“Yeah, watching this movie when it came out as someone who had curly hair and glasses did something to me lol.”
“I had curly hair and glasses when this movie came out and was bullied for both. I was in middle school and to this day I can’t watch this movie because it made me feel like the bullies were right. As an adult I know better but the gut feelings are still there.”
Granted, the creative decision might have been made in part for practical reasons, but let’s not forget that this movie came out in the early 2000s…a fairly rigid time period for beauty standards overall. The Princess Diaries was far from the only movie to portray curls (or glasses, or freckles, or anything past a size 2) as “ugly.” For all its good parts, the film was definitely a product of its time.
Straightening out the curl narrative
Thankfully, we’ve seen a lot of progress in this department. Not only do we see far more characters in media sporting their curls, but, thanks to social media, there’s a much larger wealth of knowledge for how to style and take care of curly hair.
Truly, there’s an entire language (I’m 2C to 3B type myself…iykyk) dedicated to curls now that simply did not exist at an earlier time. Not knowing that curls require an entirely different routine left many of us to resort to straightening or making peace with feeling like the ”ugly” one.
Even still, curls that aren’t styled and left in their Mia Thermopolis state are still often viewed by society as unprofessional, undesirable, or unclean in some way. That’s why representation matters. It’s so important to have our pop culture reflect a different reality so that we might start internalizing a different story and unlearning harmful stigma.
All this to say…Princess Diaries 3 should definitely let Mia’s curls go free. Just sayin’.
On April 27, in celebration of National Deaf History Month, Disney unveiled three beloved songs completely reanimated to feature the characters performing in American Sign Language (ASL).
The idea for the project, titled Songs in Sign Language, came from Senior Animator and Director Hyrum Osmond, whose Disney credits include Frozen (2013) and Zooptopia (2016).
In a special “making of video,” Osmond recalled growing up with a father who was “hard of hearing,” but never learning sign language to communicate with him.
“I have a lot of regret about that, because I couldn’t connect with him. I wanted to take down barriers with this project. It’s really all about connection.”
A groundbreaking effort rooted in authenticity
In a never-before-done undertaking for the studio, a team of more than 20 animators, many of them passionate volunteers, collaborated with the Tony Award-winning company Deaf West Theatre to curate signs that best matched each character’s specific personality.
This didn’t only involve hand movements, but “facial grammar” as well, meaning specific ways the face is used in ASL to further convey linguistic information. Raised eyebrows, for example, are used at the end of a sentence when asking simple questions. Furrowed eyebrows, on the other hand, are used when asking more complex “Who, What, Where, Why” type questions.
These efforts—done without AI, praise be—resulted in new animation for approximately 95% of the shots from “The Next Right Thing” (Frozen 2), “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” (Encanto), and “Beyond” (Moana 2).
This is far from Disney’s first attempt at making its magic available in ASL. There have been many heartwarming stories of characters in the park using sign language to connect with guests. But, save that one episode of the Little Mermaid series in the ’90s (iykyk), this is something completely new.
“We’ve never done anything like this at Disney Animation before,” shared Osmund.
People are already speaking out in praise of Songs in Sign Language, and hoping it leads to more.
“As someone who is partially deaf in one ear, I fully support this and think it’s very important and heartwarming that they’re doing this.”
“I would love to see more Encanto, Frozen II and Moana 2 songs in ASL! I am currently learning ASL and I’m a senior in high school, my ASL teacher who is hearing and is learning ASL like me and my classmates are would love this!”
Many of the compliments weren’t even about inclusivity. People also shared relief to see “creativity breaking through again,” as one viewer put it.
“Disney if you get back into funding cool, artistic and niche things like this that people want you’ll win people back over !!!!!!! What was special was always the details and that’s been lost the last 6 years or so. This is amazing,” commented one viewer.
“Disney stories are the universal language of childhood. The chance to bring our language into that world was a historic opportunity to reach a global audience. Working on this project was very emotional. For so long, we have known and loved the artistic medium of Disney Animation. Here, the art form was adapting to us. I hope this unlocks possibilities in the minds and hearts of Deaf children, and that this all leads to more down the road.”
Where to watch
Songs in Sign Language is currently only available to stream on Disney+, but we know it’s only a matter of time before the Internet does its thing.
It’s early morning and you’re snuggled tightly under the warm covers. Your alarm buzz isn’t quite enough to entice you to get up and en route to begin your day. But what if there was a public radio announcement with a trusty reminder that it’s good for the body, if possible, to get up and move? Well, in Japan, there is.
The Associated Press posted a clip on YouTube of people lightly stretching in various locations across Japan. They explain that this is a common practice. “This is how Japan wakes up,” a voiceover shares. “It’s called Radio Taiso. In English, it’s radio exercise. It’s a very simple idea. At 6:30 in the morning, on the radio, you get music. You get choreography to exercise by. People gather in city parks to do it. People gather in their offices. At schools. You can do it at home.”
Good for all ages
The exercise regimen is nothing too heavy. “The exercises are not very strenuous—just exercise and basic calisthenics,” they explain. “It’s suitable for all ages and everybody can do it. You can exert yourself a lot if you want, but you don’t have to.”
The host of the segment points out that Japan has a “long-lived population.” He shares, “As we all know, Japan is famous for longevity. I wouldn’t say that Radio Taiso is why, but it certainly can’t hurt anything.”
According to the BBC, Japan continues to break records for long, healthy lives: “The number of people in Japan aged 100 or older has risen to a record high of nearly 100,000, its government has announced. Setting a new record for the 55th year in a row, the number of centenarians in Japan was 99,763 as of September.”
100-year history
In a recent article, Yahoo!life explains that this tradition has been around for nearly a century. “Radio Taiso has an almost 100-year history,” write article author Stephen Wade, “formally introduced in 1928 and coinciding with the enthronement of Emperor Hirohito. The tradition endures because the exercises are suitable for all ages and capabilities, and easily accessible.”
Even more interestingly, Wade shares the roots of the exercise, writing, “Radio Taiso was inspired a century ago by a similar radio program in the United States sponsored by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. The Japan Radio Taiso Federation says officials of the postal ministry visited the United States in the 1920s and returned to Japan with the concept.”
The Japan Society explains that these routines, of course, are helpful for all ages. On their website they write, “Fun for children and adults alike, Radio Taiso is commonly used for group warm-ups in Japan and the whole school will participate in the exercises at the beginning of school Sports Day.”
They add that it gained popularity because of the positive mental and physical effects it seemed to have on citizens. “The purpose of Radio Taiso is to improve general health and fitness,” they write, “and the routine is therefore designed to be simple and accessible to all. It requires no equipment, can be done in a small space, and can be modified for those with mobility issues.”
Simple movements
The movements, as mentioned, are simple. Similarly to yoga, it begins with arm exercises. Participants lift their arms up and move them in gentle circles. Then, they slightly bend and twist their legs.
This continues for about ten-second intervals, adding bends in each direction, like a ballet routine. Then, there’s more twists, shoulder movements, slight hopping, and squats. Wade shares, “Each movement is repeated four to eight times, with instructions throughout to relax, breathe, and inhale and exhale slowly.”
Kodomokai
I reached out to an old high school friend, Nathan Hillyer, who has been living in Japan for quite some time. He confirmed that while it still exists, it’s mostly practiced by and beneficial to the elderly. “In the park near where I live, old people tend to go there to do it. It is run by NHK Radio 1 at 6:30 in the morning,” he shares.
He adds that his wife, Asuka Hillyer, shared that she would wake up early to do it back in the day. “My wife said when she was a kid, she would do it as a part of the ‘kodomokai’ (community kids club). They would get a stamp or something every morning, and if they had a certain number by the end of the year, they would get a prize. They would show up wearing their community paper kind of tied around their neck.”
Hillyer also recalled that the radio exercises began in the West. “I remember watching old American comedies in black and white, maybe W.C. Fields or something like that. They were in funny situations in which someone is trying to do their radio exercises and hearing the voice, but either they can’t keep up or something happens in the real space which is not matching the radio routine.”
He adds, “In Japan, it is quite the phenomenon because the Japanese tend to be very community-oriented.”
When you look at a state map, you see cities and towns of various sizes and populations. Even the tiniest towns with a handful of people—or even just one resident—have a place on the map.
One might assume, then, that every named town on every published map is a real place. But as it turns out, there have been imaginary towns on maps, from centuries ago up until the relatively recent past. And they were published that way on purpose.
The map trap was a clever way to prevent plagiarism
They’re called “phantom settlements” or “paper towns” and are part of a phenomenon known as map traps. Basically, map traps are place names conjured out of thin air and put on a map to protect a mapmaker’s copyright.
WHAT IS A MAP TRAP? ⁰⁰⁰⁰Map traps, trap streets, phantom settlements, cartographer’s follies and copyright easter eggs are the cartographer’s watermark. ⁰⁰They are created to ‘trap’ anyone copying their work ⁰⁰👉https://t.co/TaVR3BXm6Gpic.twitter.com/6WdtRWCkxp
It may seem strange for a professional mapmaker to make a map wrong on purpose, but it’s actually rather brilliant. Historically, cartography has been an incredibly important profession. Before the Internet and global positioning systems, paper maps were how people oriented themselves and found their way from place to place. Creating an accurate map was a vital and valuable skill.
If a cartographer created and published a map, they wouldn’t want people to plagiarize it. Inventing phantom settlements—pretend places with fake names that only exist on a map—was a way for cartographers to essentially “watermark” their original maps. If someone else made a map that included the fake town (or street or other detail), it would be clear whose map they had plagiarized.
One of these phantom settlement map traps was (or wasn’t?) Algoe, New York. If you’ve read John Green’s novel Paper Towns, you’re probably familiar with it. It’s not a real town. It never existed.
Algoe was the brainchild of Otto Lindberg and Ernest Alpers from General Drafting Company. In the 1930s, they were commissioned to create a map of New York and dropped the fictional Algoe at a dirt road intersection in the Catskill Mountains.
Some years later, Rand McNally published a map that included Algoe. The trap worked. Or did it? When General Drafting threatened to sue the mapmaking giant, Rand McNally told them they would lose.
Who knew a general store could be enough to prove a place existed? Photo credit: Canva
In an ironic twist of events, an “Algoe General Store” had been built at the intersection where Algoe was located (but didn’t really exist) on the map. The store owner had seen Algoe on the map and named his general store accordingly. Rand McNally claimed it had obtained the coordinates for Algoe from county records. And those records showed the Algoe General Store located at that place on the map, hence Algoe showing up on their map.
Do map traps still exist in the age of online maps?
Though there wasn’t a real town there and the shop didn’t last long, the general store’s name was enough to prove that a place called Algoe did exist. In fact, it was apparently included on Google Maps up until 2014, even though it was never actually a real place.
Today, if you type “Algoe, New York” into a Google Maps search, it comes back with a “no results” message. The same goes for “goblu” and “beatosu,” two fictional places in Michigan that were included in the official map of Michigan in 1978. (Variations of “Go Blue” and “Beat OSU” were a shout-out to the rivalry between the University of Michigan and Ohio State University by Peter Fletcher, the former chairman of the Michigan State Highway Commission. The map was also reprinted after some complaints.)
It’s hard to know how many phantom settlements in countries around the world have snuck into our modern navigation systems, but by now, it’s safe to guess they’ve mostly, if not entirely, been weeded out.
But hey, if you want to invent your own town, maybe start by building a general store with your proposed town’s name on it. It seems to be the way to go.
