Coalition of the Confused

Hosted by Jenifer (Zarknorph)

Confused malcontents swilling Chardonnay while awaiting the Zombie Apocalypse.

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The Big questions in life General Confusion

Started 8/17/18 by Jenifer (Zarknorph); 44877 views.

Msg 223 of 256

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Host

We still don't know why we exist

Physicists at CERN have observed a property of antihydrogen that had previously only been predicted, reaffirming a fundamental symmetry of nature and prolonging the question of how we exist.

Alphabetical order has been around for 800 years. But is it on the way out?

We learn it as kids, and it organises everything from school registers to dictionaries, library shelves and the spice selection at the supermarket. Have you ever stopped to wonder where alphabetical order came from?

From: Jenifer (Zarknorph)

8/4/20

Why is the map of the world wrong?

Wrong

World Map HD Picture, World Map HD Image

Right

World Maps | Maps of all countries, cities and regions of The World

www.abc.net.au

'It's a gimmick': There's more to your world map than meets the eye

Why do most world maps depict north up top? And how does that tendency shape our perceptions of what is valuable or superior? Gary Nunn explains.

From: slackerx

8/5/20

Area preserving projections of the surface of a sphere onto a plane will also tend to be population preserving projections.

It is not surprising at the Peters projection better represents population density.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall–Peters_projection

Edited August 5, 2020 7:39 pm by slackerx

Msg 227 of 256 to Jenifer (Zarknorph)Zarknorph

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From: slackerx

8/5/20

Incidentally, the mathematics of the Peter's projection is the same mathematics that makes it possible to ride a tricycle with square wheels on a bumpy road.

YouTube

Square-Wheeled Tricycle

The Texas A&M Physics Department's square -wheeled trike, built by the machine shop. The trike rides on a road of repeated pieces of an inverted catenary.

Msg 228 of 256 to Jenifer (Zarknorph)Zarknorph

In reply toRe: msg 225

From: slackerx

8/5/20

It is also related to the inverted pendulem problem, wihich finds application in the segway.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_pendulum

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/3-Segway-is-one-of-inverted-pendulum-applications_fig3_330825329

Edited August 5, 2020 7:51 pm by slackerx

Msg 229 of 256 to slackerxslackerx

In reply toRe: msg 226

From: CzoeMC

8/5/20

I'd love to see a world map inverted, or at least with the southern hemisphere accentuated and highlighted, so we could see the regions not usually depicted. I mean, the early navigators managed to get around both South America and Africa, but world maps don't even give Antarctica hardly a blip.