Author: Adam DuVander

It’s been 34 years since John Hinckley attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan, then less than three months into his presidency. Outside the Washington, D.C., Hilton Hotel on March 30, 1981, Hinckley fired six shots in less than two seconds. Reagan was injured on a ricochet, but Secretary of State James Brady and two others were hit directly. While this story is well known in the United States, other assassination attempts before and after it are not as common knowledge. The map below shows 18 acts, four of which ended in the death of a president.

View US President Assassination Attempts in a full screen map

The assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy are much researched and discussed. The other two are lesser known. James Garfield was shot while at the Washington, D.C., train station on his way to a vacation. Garfield was shot in the shoulder and back, living 11 weeks afterward.

William McKinley was attending a World’s Fair in Buffalo, New York, when he was shot by an anarchist. Unlike Lincoln or Garfield, McKinley had Secret Service detail. In fact, because of the public nature of the visit to the fair, the president had three rather than the usual single bodyguard. Wounded in the abdomen, McKinley died just over a week later.

McKinley was succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt, who would survive his own assassination attempt. While running for an unprecedented third term, Roosevelt was shot in the chest before a campaign stop in Milwaukee. The bullet first hit his glasses case and his 50-page speech, then lodged in his ribcage. Undeterred, Roosevelt gave a 90 minute speech to the crowd, but came in a distant second in the polls a month later.

A whopping 11 of the assassination attempts happened in D.C., including at the White House itself. The most recent, in 2011, involved a man shooting at the presidential home. Someone had the same idea in 1994, with President Clinton safely inside.

While there have been several international plots, there has only been one serious attempt outside of the US. In 2005, a Georgian threw a live grenade toward the podium during George W. Bush’s speech in Georgia (the country). It did not detonate, though the pin was pulled.

Other attempts include Gerald Ford in California (twice in one month) and President-elect Franklin Roosevelt in Miami. For more, peruse the map icons. Look out for icons that represent more than one assassination attempt, with their contents pageable.

In many areas of the United States it’s spring break. For many, that means heading to the airport for what is still the public’s fastest form of transportation. No matter whether you’re headed to sunny climes or on a business trip, if you have a connection to make, you have a high likelihood of passing through one of these airports. The 30 busiest in the world are mapped below, explorable by total passengers and country.

View World’s Busiest Airports in a full screen map

A full 40% of these busiest airports are in the United States. Many of these top airports are major hubs for major airlines, leading to a lot of traffic. Delta pioneered the hub and spoke system in the 1950s with what is still its main base of operations in Atlanta. It is still the busiest airport in the world.

Los Angeles’ LAX is the hub for multiple airlines and is popular for international destinations. Both United and American Airlines use Chicago O’Hare as a hub. Dallas, the fourth-largest US airport (and ninth overall), is also American’s home base.

Other US airports in the top 20 include Denver (#17) and New York’s JFK (#18).

Outside of the US, China has the most airports in the top 30, with four. Beijing is the second-busiest overall, and Hong Kong rounds out the top 10. Germany is the only other country with multiple airports on the list: Frankfurt (#11) and Munich (#30).

Only three continents are represented by the 30 busiest airports: North America has 12 of them, Asia has 11, and seven are in Europe. Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Indonesia is the only airport in the southern hemisphere to make the list of busiest airports.

Air travel continues to grow, overall and at most of these top airports. Istanbul (#12) has seen an 11% increase in travelers over the last year. Seoul (#24) and Shanghai (#19) have increased by 9.7% and 7.6% respectively.

As you plan your travel, either now or in the future, consider these top airports as you put together your itineraries.

When you think of Hollywood, the physical place in California, a few images come to mind. At the top is likely the giant sign in the hills. Amongst those iconic Hollywood images is likely the Walk of Fame, the sidewalk adorned with literal stars for the famous. Over 2,000 people and groups are honored on the walk, some multiple times.

View Hollywood Walk of Fame in a full screen map

The first permanent star was placed in 1960, though it took until 1978 for it to be designated as a cultural monument. Today the Walk encompasses 1.3 miles of Hollywood Blvd and nearly a half mile of Vine St.

The stars are broken into categories, with the majority being for motion pictures (1,134) and television (598). Nearly 42% are for stars of neither large or small screen. Other categories include recording artists (442), radio personalities (243), and live performers (42).

There are also a handful of special types of stars. A mayoral star belongs to Johnny Grant, long-time honorary mayor of Hollywood, who is credited with revitalizing the Walk. Other special stars include the Los Angeles Dodgers, Victoria’s Secret Angels, and Disneyland (in honor of its 50th year).

There are 197 people with two or more stars, denoting their contributions in more than one category honored by the Walk. Gene Autry has five stars, for live performance, motion pictures, radio, recording, and television. It would take 14 minutes to walk along and see all of Autry’s stars (and you’d have to cross the street twice to do so).

Bob Hope and Tony Martin each have four stars. There are 32 people with three stars.

Each category is distributed along the Walk, which means some famous co-stars aren’t that close to each other. There’s half a mile between Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. It’s over a mile between comedians Laurel and Hardy. It’s almost a ten minute walk between Abbott and Costello’s stars. Since both were part of the original group, there’s no argument about who was on first.

Others are remarkably close. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall are just around the corner of Hollywood Blvd and Vine St from each other. There’s just a few feet between Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Many others share stars, such as magicians Penn and Teller, comedians Rowan and Martin, and actors Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

Explore the map above to find other insights and to look at only certain categories. If you happen to be on the Walk at this moment, put your nearest address into the search box in the map to find your nearest star using BatchGeo’s store locator feature.