Yes, the title is a bit of a “duh” statement, but I never fail to be surprised at the weirdness that is teh intarwebs.
Some of you may know that I am an active member of Markeroni, which I like to describe as Pokemon for history-lovers. Basically you visit historic landmarks, take a picture, and log them in the website. Gotta catch ‘em all, and all that. I personally only take pictures of signs (as opposed to historic buildings, for instance), and also post those on Flickr. (I also use it for photos of wild releases for BookCrossing, so that explains the random pictures of books in plastic bags.) I’ve been rather judicious about placing all my photos on the map. I figure there’s no issue with privacy since it’s not like these signs are a big secret.
Anyway, I recently received a message about Schmap, a digital map with nifty extras, saying that one of my photos had been shortlisted for the latest guide, and would I mind if it gets included? I agreed, and this morning I was notified that my photo was accepted in the Seventh Edition of Schmap’s Washington DC Guide.
Now here’s the truly weird part: the photo they chose for this tourist-friendly website was titled “George Washington’s Gristmill.” But it’s not a photo of the gristmill itself. It’s a photo of the historic marker across the street from the gristmill. Yes, really. Here is the photo:
I say it again: the internet is a truly strange place.
