Overheard a librarian complaining about a site that tracks every tree in a city park

I was at the downtown branch last week picking up a hold and this librarian was griping to a coworker about a website someone submitted. It's basically just a list of every single tree in a specific park in Portland, updated once a year with a photo and a note if it's shedding bark. She said it's the most boring thing she's ever seen and nobody visits it. But honestly, that sounds like exactly the kind of weirdly specific rabbit hole I love. Has anyone else run into a site that's so dull it's almost impressive?

2 comments

2 Comments

emma68416d ago

Honestly I used to roll my eyes at stuff like that too until I found one tracking every sewer grate in Seattle. Now I'm hooked on the dumbest data dumps.

richardharris16d ago

Haha, I'm with you on that. It's like once you start down that rabbit hole, you just can't stop. I mean, I spent a whole night once looking at a map that showed where every public trash can in Chicago was. It was oddly satisfying, like finally seeing the city's secret infrastructure. Maybe it's just me, but I got way more excited about that than I should have. It's like the dumbest data dumps are the best kinds of things to fall into.