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"QUANTUM SHOT" #649 Link - article by Simon Rose and Avi Abrams
"Your Very Own Slartibartfast Planet Factory" - Stuart Witts
With Google Earth you can explore and visualize our planet's surface on your flat laptop screen in minute detail, but it is still only flat... No sublime roundness to touch, no curves to trace, or even admit it, if you are an Earth lover - no Earth to hug. Globes allow you to hug the Earth (not to mention providing us with the most accurate and educational info).
Recently here at Dark Roasted Blend, we took a look at the unusual maps of various parts of the globe. This time, we thought we’d examine some of the more unusual depictions of the Earth itself.
Powered by a computerized sensor and an electromagnet, this striking globe seems to actually levitate in the air with no visible means of support (below left). The massive globe in Savannah Georgia (below right) is actually a decorated natural gas tank:
 (images via 1, 2)
These huge globes can be purchased (for around $40,000) or rented from here:
 (images via)
The Mapparium at the Mary Baker Eddy Library in Boston (more info) is a three-story glass globe turned inside out, so you can view it from the inside. It shows the world as it was in the 1930’s, including the USSR and European colonies in Africa and Asia:
 (images via 1, 2)
Vintage Globe Architecture
This photograph from the 1930’s shows the large globe in the Daily News building in New York City:
 (image via)
Not really a globe of Planet Earth, but a spherical structure meant to symbolize the "One World of 1939", this colossal structure was built for the 1939 New York World's Fair. It also doubled as a huge planetarium:


The view inside is also quite impressive, giving a great perspective on a City of Tomorrow:
 (images credit: Life Magazine)
Another impressive sphere / globe sculpture (designed by German sculptor Fritz Koenig, completed in 1971) in New York suffered a remarkable fate: it was nearly destroyed by debris from the World Trade Center in 2001, but survived and was relocated to nearby Battery Park. It is intended to return to the World Trade Center complex. Here is a similar sculpture "Sphere Within Sphere" by Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro, seen in New York:
 (image via)
Globe Clocks & Decoration
This unusual globe decorated clock (below left) dates from 1885. Even older - made in 1584 - is the Augsburg mechanical globe clock (below right):
 (images via 1, )
More modern take on wall globe/clock design, from T.O.M.T.:
 (images via 1, 2)
Above right: the Idea Globe™ or Polar Chalk Board, from Rocket Sauce!
Decorated Globe Bar, 16th century styled, will grace your living room for only $189, info:
 (image via)
More "decorating with old globes" ideas - recycle your old globe into the lights!
 (images via 1, 2)
or creep out your bedroom with all-seeing globe "eyeballs":
 (images via 1, 2, 3)
Designed for Niche Cosmologies and Obscure Statistics
The highlighted areas on this globe by Ingo Gunther symbolize areas of tension and crisis, where political issues also have a military dimension. Fascinating stuff. Check out other globes reflecting various issues and statistics, such as TV ownership, Life Expectancy, and even the amount of Nameless Places - click here
 (images credit: Ingo Gunther)
For those who believe the earth is in fact flat, how about this version of the planet?
 (images via)
Or maybe you’d prefer a cubed world?
 (images via)
Measure Your Ego with a Globe
Following the break up of the USSR, some globes were created that depicted just the proud population’s newly independent country, instead of the entire world, such as this globe of the Ukraine.
 (image via)
There are globes available for every country, actually.
Not only countries, but even small cities and towns may entertain their visitors with a "Globe-sized" history and sights. The one below is the Globe of the City of Borovsk, Province of Kaluga, Russian Federation:
 (image via)
If you truly want to know all about the earth, both inside and out, this globe reveals the planet’s crust and inner core (below left). The version shown on the right has a cross section, enabling you to study the interior of the planet:
 (images via 1, 2)
With this puzzle, you can put the world together yourself then take it apart again (below left). Rubik may have been famous for his cube, but he also designed other maddeningly complex puzzles, such as this one in the style of a globe (below right):
 (images via)
Interested in sampling a drink from every corner of the world? Well, you can almost do that with this globe liquor dispenser:
 (images via)
And finally, here’s a couple of yo-yo’s, designed so you can truly have the whole world in your hands:
 (image via)
Here is something... globular. From a vegetable, no less:
 (The Globe Pumpkin, image via)
 
CONTINUE TO THE "UNUSUAL MAPS"! ->
Simon Rose is the author of science fiction and fantasy novels for children, including The Alchemist's Portrait, The Sorcerer's Letterbox, The Clone Conspiracy, The Emerald Curse, The Heretic's Tomb and The Doomsday Mask.
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18 Comments:
You forgot the Globe Arena in Stockholm:
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&as_sitesearch=&as_qdr=all&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images&q=globe+arena&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=KYxrTPzKLY2jONWZjWQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDEQsAQwAw&biw=997&bih=848
About the Mapparium : funny that they chose for reversing the world like a sock i.s.o. simulating the view from the inside of earth; I guess they preferred keeping the world looking familiar.
The Savannah globe was featured in that Ben Affleck/Sanda Bullock movie "Forces of Nature." It's since had a paint job.
The goldish globe that was supposed to be in the WTC has a twin in the Vatican.
Buckminster Fuller had the most audacious globe-related idea of all: a sphere 1 mile in diameter that would house a flying city. Cloud Nine.
The sphere in New York is a sculpture of a famous italian artist, Arnaldo Pomodoro.
http://www.google.it/images?q=arnaldo%20pomodoro%20sfera%20new%20york&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=it&tab=wi&biw=1016&bih=567
Its a shame this one didn't last
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyld%27s_Great_Globe
There is also the UK Imperial War Museum which is formed from pieces of a shattered globe.
http://www.webbaviation.co.uk/manchester/imperial-war-museum.jpg
The sphere sculpture shown above is by Arnoldo Pomodoro. The Koenig sphere which was in front of the WTC is this one.
Absolutely missing here is Ingo Gunthers "worldprocessor" a very interesting collection of over 200 unusual globe mappings.
http://worldprocessor.com/catalog/world/
Your link to 'every country in the world' is not as described - no globe of Canada and many other countries ...
Great article and some wonderful globes here, but your introduction is a little weird... Roundness to touch? Curves to trace? Earth to hug? It's none of my business what you do in the privacy of your bedroom, and I must admit that some of these are quite pretty, but really, children might read this.
Here's another one for you Avi. This is the Great Globe in Durlestone Park, Dorset, UK. It's carved from one huge rock
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_a8TFB8QOPKo/TAZbqmjiAbI/AAAAAAAAAHE/eyfkppHpcLE/s1600/Dorset_0015.JPG
Hi Avi~ Enjoyed your article on weird globes. If you want more, you could check out the lobby of the DeLorme map company in Yarmouth, Maine-- which boasts "'Eartha', The World's Largest Rotating Indoor Globe".
Wow, there are some amazing globes there. The only issue with the drinks cabinet one is that you don't get to spin it which is half the fun...unless of course you want a cocktail.
check out a new take on an old art with Bellerby Globmakers http://www.bellerbyandco.com
Wonder if you know this page got noticed by the one and only Pee-Wee Herman. He thinks (and I agree) that Globey should be in the list.
This is Fabulous. Love this actor. Will get Globey into a next part :)
Great collection of globes. Definitely include PeeWee's GLOBEY in any updates!
You might want to check out the steampunk snow globes by Camryn Forrest at http://camrynforrest.com/2012/10/03/airship-voyager-water-globe/
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