On 13-Nov-08 23:32, Tim Cook wrote:
> "Darren New" <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote in message 
> news:491c7acb@news.povray.org...
>> Tim Cook wrote:
>>> Greenwich, England was decided upon as the Prime Meridian,
>>
>> I think you have to ask yourself why that was, first. :-)
> 
> Not really.  Sure, the British Empire was pretty much top of the pile.  
> But they could just as easily have chosen Paris, Jerusalem, Cairo, Rome, 
> or a random spot in the middle of the Sahara and marked it with a little 
> monument.  Regardless of *why* a particular place was chosen, the 
> important part is the fact that it *was* chosen, and agreed upon, and 
> thenceforth used by everyone.  There isn't really an obvious natural 
> feature to use as the Prime Meridian...well, maybe the highest point on 
> the surface, but when you're out and about exploring without being 
> actually certain what that point is, it's problematic, and if a higher 
> point than the one you know about is discovered, you have to change all 
> your maps.

I think there is a meridian that intersects almost no land at all. That 
would be a good prime meridian.

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