Sometimes, you just get lucky

So, I'm working on a fun poster project for a client. It's something of a game board, based on a map of the Midwest. My first stroke of luck was finding Map Resources, which bills itself as maps for graphic design. Oh, yeah. Fully editable maps in Adobe Illustrator, complete with a kazillion layers, all useful. Including one of the Midwest that had all of the states I needed, rather than, oh, stopping just before the Dakotas. Yes, they're Plains States, but I needed just the corner of South Dakota. Rock on.

Okay, so the first bit of luck came from some effort on my part -- looking, then looking some more when I realized just how much trouble putting together individual state maps was likely to be. And how expensive it might become if I ended up buying individual maps rather than using the public domain ones published by the government.

But the second bit of luck? Pure serendipity.

The posters are pretty big -- about three feet wide. I re-sized the art several times until I had what I wanted, paying no attention to the mileage scale beyond making sure it was always selected so that it remained in scale to the map. The first miles tick mark on the scale is at 125 miles. I need to show 50 mile increments. Okay. I have a calculator. Figuring out the right length for the mile marker artwork shouldn't be too hard. Not too hard, but utterly likely to be some sort of wonky number, especially given how many re-sizing steps I'd gone through.

I set the zero point on the scale to the zero point of my document. I noted where the 125 mile mark fell. It's exactly at 12.5 inches! Ten even miles to the inch. Now that's lucky!

I'm off to set a 5" grid on my document....

Life in Wales

On my way home from the Transfer Station, I stopped by the Wales Market for a munchie fix. There's what looks like a new sign in the window, just to the left of the door. It reads:

"Please report any UFO activity by email:
WalesMA@[ISPdeleted].com

A.I.D.F. - Alien Invasion Defense Force
Defending earth from Extraterrestrial invasion from the
Center of the Modern Universe, Wales, MA 01081"

Great sign! The woman running the store tonight assured me it's not a joke. Better yet, two guys on the town's Finance Committee are the ones behind it. They're very scientific, very educated, she assured me. Their beliefs are based on a lot of scientific information.

Neither of them were present, so that's all I can report at this time. I do have one question -- is a mysterious change in the appearance of my LJ friends page a sign of UFO activity?

I will also observe that if Wales is the Center of the Modern Universe, it's vital that both minnehaha's visit soonestkind and arrange for a way to move it.

Just in time...

LJ is giving paid users a bunch of userpics, just in time for International Change Your Icon Day. See LJ News if you haven't already. And for those who didn't receive minnehaha K's reminder, she claims that International Change Your Icon Day is this Sunday, March 19th.