I was a bit late to Elon’s smart party…
“Boil things down to the most fundamental truths and then reason up from there.”
Elon Musk
I do Colonial Maps. That game does not come with a rule book… so I just kind of made up rules as I went along. After some trials and errors it became obvious that it was like a jig saw puzzle… (you have to research and build the pieces of course) and then you again (trial and error) fit the pieces together until you get a picture that is on the top of the box. Wait…it does not come with a picture on the box. Dammit!
Note how that is an analogy… its kinda like a jig saw puzzle. Elon says not to think like that. He says think in first principles instead of analogies. So I thunk different.
This map is the result of trying to fit a lot of jig saw puzzle pieces together to form a picture. After a lot of wasted effort I realized that did not work. My target is right in the middle. I should say LOST somewhere in the middle.
Then I remembered what he said…”Boil things down to the most fundamental truths“.
In this case I figured I will start with the first patents. A patent is the first time a virgin piece of land is handed over to a colonist. Then I will piece all those together to form the picture on the box of the puzzle pieces. And Day Yum! it worked…
Well it kinds sorta worked… until those embarassing GAPS started showing up in my pretty map…( like that ghastly one right in the middle!). I mean that is exactly where my ANDERSON ancestor should be BUT HELL! there ain’t NO patent.
Which is why I went down this rabbit hole…
Very nice sleuthing, sir!
Rene Jordan
June 15, 2026 at 5:46 pm
Thank you Rene,
I find it oddly rewarding to turn on a light and watch cockroaches scatter.
anderson1951
June 16, 2026 at 1:17 am
I have to say, you are one of the best map experts I’ve ever seen. I follow all your research and read everything you post…
Wayne McDaniel
June 16, 2026 at 5:19 am
Thank you Wayne,
This was an effort that paid off. Too many times I’ve wound up knocking on a door that would not answer. This episode produced some genuine history that actually exposes some crooks… i.e. the Haywoods and Frederick Philips. (it looks to me perhaps Philips just got drawn into the corruption… but still he fell into the trap of corruption). But this still shows that perseverance pays off and once you discover what causes the problem (in this case a coverup of corruption) you can develop a plan to root out the truth/facts. This is why I dig so deep.
anderson1951
June 16, 2026 at 5:43 am