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"Warp" <war### [at] tag povrayorg> wrote in message
news:491af9d3@news.povray.org...
> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>> http://www.xkcd.com/503/
>
>> Man, the map looks weird with America in the middle!
>
> In Japan world maps always have Japan in the middle. It's even more
> ironic than the map in that comic. "The west", which includes America
> and Europe, is on the east on the map, and "the east", which includes
> Asia, is on the west on the map. Yes, they are known as "the western
> countries" and "the eastern countries" there in the same way as here,
> even though in their maps it's the opposite.
"Has in the middle," or placement of the boundaries of the map, has nothing
to do with demarcation of coordinates. Greenwich, England was decided upon
as the Prime Meridian, and most modern maps use this standard reference
positioning of the map contents. So there's really no irony.
--
Tim Cook
http://empyrean.freesitespace.net
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Tim Cook wrote:
> Greenwich, England was decided upon as the Prime Meridian,
I think you have to ask yourself why that was, first. :-)
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
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"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.
--
Tim Cook
http://empyrean.freesitespace.net
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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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Tim Cook wrote:
> 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.
Yep. People are still arguing about little endian vs big endian byte
ordering though :)
(and then there's those people who drive on the wrong side of the road)
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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.
It's also where the first reliable portable clock was invented.
Hence, you came to Greenwich, set your clock, then took it with you
sailing around the world to figure out where you were.
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
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