Wow. That is mind-blowing. Perspective is so useful!
Jayne: Yeah, that was some pretty risky sittin' you did there. Wash: That's right, of course, 'cause they wouldn't arrest me if we got boarded, I'm just the pilot. I can always say I was flying the ship by accident.
'Serenity'
Natter 72: We Were Unprepared for This
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Amy - Oct 05, 2013 3:57:12 pm PDT #8055 of 30000
Because books.
-t - Oct 05, 2013 4:06:42 pm PDT #8056 of 30000
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
I don't understand why that's surprising. Do people generally think Africa is not that big?
§ ita § - Oct 05, 2013 4:10:10 pm PDT #8057 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Do people generally think Africa is not that big?
That's what the commentary on the map itself says, but ignoring that, if you look at a Peters projection, would you think you could fit all that in the Dark Continent?
What percentage of people do you think understand why there are different projections in the first place, much less grasp the limitations of any given one? What input are they getting that would tell them the information in the surface area-alone comparison? I doubt many people are doing the math in their free time.
Ginger - Oct 05, 2013 4:17:53 pm PDT #8058 of 30000
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
The only way I'm going to find my finishing sander is to buy a new one, isn't it?
-t - Oct 05, 2013 4:22:09 pm PDT #8059 of 30000
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
I'm not saying it's not a useful pedagogical tool, it's a nice demonstration of relative size, just - my mind is not blown. I keep seeing links to that with great expressions of amazement and I feel left out.
Amy - Oct 05, 2013 4:26:25 pm PDT #8060 of 30000
Because books.
I knew Africa was huge, but seeing what else fits into it, for lack of a better explanation, gives me a much better idea of the actual size. I do much better with side-by-side comparisons.
-t - Oct 05, 2013 4:34:59 pm PDT #8061 of 30000
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
Maybe it's just that I'm not super visual so seeing it doesn't particularly trip my eureka switch. Or maybe I spent too much time playing with a globe as a kid.
Steph L. - Oct 05, 2013 4:36:19 pm PDT #8062 of 30000
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine
The only way I'm going to find my finishing sander is to buy a new one, isn't it?
It's probably in our attic.
§ ita § - Oct 05, 2013 4:40:30 pm PDT #8063 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I'm not saying it's not a useful pedagogical tool, it's a nice demonstration of relative size, just - my mind is not blown
If you already know that Africa is bigger than all those countries combined, then it has little surprise value for it. If you don't reel at how many different ways there are to take the information from the surface of a sphere and fail to replicate it in 2D, similarly unimpressive. I don't think any one thing every blew everyone's mind, and it's not a cool kid club to be blown or unblown. So you knew. Or you don't care. Is that surprising?
meara - Oct 05, 2013 4:41:10 pm PDT #8064 of 30000
It did surprise me because I thought China was bigger than that and Japan smaller. But it didn't super surprise me how big Africa was, if that makes sense? Sort of?