brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,022
edited April 9
Main question: Why is one pole of the earth considered the top of the
earth or "north pole" and the other is considered the bottom of the
earth or "south pole"?
Subsidiary questions: I mean, really, who decided that? OK, the earth
spins around the sun, but who decided which end of the sun is up and
which end is down? Does the solar system have a top and a bottom? Or
the galaxy? Or the universe? What if we've had it all wrong and are
looking at all that stuff upside down? Who is the wise guy who decided
all that?
Morning @brianlux, I'm finding this thread absolutely fascinating!! Did you ever get the rain? We got the sunshine and it was great. I hope you are keeping well. Lots of love xxx
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,022
Morning @brianlux, I'm finding this thread absolutely fascinating!! Did you ever get the rain? We got the sunshine and it was great. I hope you are keeping well. Lots of love xxx
Hi there, Purple Fairy Tree. I'm glad you're enjoying the thread. Honestly, these odd questions really do pop into my head at all hours, lol!
Yes, we did get some fairly good rain. We're at about 90% of normal for the "rain year" that ends on the last day of June. I'm not sure we'll make "normal" this year- in fact, the next 10 days look to be dry and a bit warmer than normal for this time of year- but overall, we've had a decent winter. And who knows, we still could get rain later in the month or even in May before the long hot dry season is upon us. "Sunny California," as they like to say.
I'm glad you got some nice sunshine!
Love back at you!
"It's a sad and beautiful world"
-Roberto Benigni
0
crookedcross
Right Near Da Beach, Boiii Posts: 1,516
Main question: Why is one pole of the earth considered the top of the
earth or "north pole" and the other is considered the bottom of the
earth or "south pole"?
Subsidiary questions: I mean, really, who decided that? OK, the earth
spins around the sun, but who decided which end of the sun is up and
which end is down? Does the solar system have a top and a bottom? Or
the galaxy? Or the universe? What if we've had it all wrong and are
looking at all that stuff upside down? Who is the wise guy who decided
all that?
COME ON! I need to know this things!
We're probably sideways. Just rolling around the Sun and the Sun just rolling around Sagittarius A. Someone just accidentally hit this before emailing the first scrolls of the Milky Way.
Main question: Why is one pole of the earth considered the top of the
earth or "north pole" and the other is considered the bottom of the
earth or "south pole"?
Subsidiary questions: I mean, really, who decided that? OK, the earth
spins around the sun, but who decided which end of the sun is up and
which end is down? Does the solar system have a top and a bottom? Or
the galaxy? Or the universe? What if we've had it all wrong and are
looking at all that stuff upside down? Who is the wise guy who decided
all that?
COME ON! I need to know this things!
We're probably sideways. Just rolling around the Sun and the Sun just rolling around Sagittarius A. Someone just accidentally hit this before emailing the first scrolls of the Milky Way.
I hope not^^ When I hit the hay I'm so tired my questions don't get a chance to surface. Wild dreams lately though. If I dream up the answers to your questions I'll be back.
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,022
I hope not^^ When I hit the hay I'm so tired my questions don't get a chance to surface. Wild dreams lately though. If I dream up the answers to your questions I'll be back.
Dreams often have the best weird answers!
Someone elsewhere asked some questions that prompted me to re-visit this thread. She asked, "Why are lawn mowers sometimes so incredibly loud while grass growing is one of the quietest things imaginable?"
My answer was, "Actually, years ago I had this Sears hand-pushed manual lawn mower that
made this wonderful gentle sound. But then I realized that the sound I
was hearing was actually thousands of blades of grass screaming, proving
that grass is, indeed, a very quiet species."
When did society take garage doors opener's for granted? You used to have to be a Lord with peasants and lackeys to open a garage door. I don't even need a wizard or warlock anymore. Just some 120V power and a magical button.
It would be nice to be able to lash someone when it doesn't work ... oh well
I hope not^^ When I hit the hay I'm so tired my questions don't get a chance to surface. Wild dreams lately though. If I dream up the answers to your questions I'll be back.
Dreams often have the best weird answers!
Someone elsewhere asked some questions that prompted me to re-visit this thread. She asked, "Why are lawn mowers sometimes so incredibly loud while grass growing is one of the quietest things imaginable?"
My answer was, "Actually, years ago I had this Sears hand-pushed manual lawn mower that
made this wonderful gentle sound. But then I realized that the sound I
was hearing was actually thousands of blades of grass screaming, proving
that grass is, indeed, a very quiet species."
What you said reminds me of this...
Like tiny blades of grass, hair also seems to grow quietly.
Why is it called taking a dump and not leaving a dump? After all You're not really taking it anywhere.
8/28/98- Camden, NJ
10/31/09- Philly
5/21/10- NYC
9/2/12- Philly, PA
7/19/13- Wrigley
10/19/13- Brooklyn, NY
10/21/13- Philly, PA
10/22/13- Philly, PA
10/27/13- Baltimore, MD
4/28/16- Philly, PA
4/29/16- Philly, PA
5/1/16- NYC
5/2/16- NYC
9/2/18- Boston, MA
9/4/18- Boston, MA
9/14/22- Camden, NJ
9/7/24- Philly, PA
9/9/24- Philly, PA
Tres Mts.- 3/23/11- Philly. PA
Eddie Vedder- 6/25/11- Philly, PA
RNDM- 3/9/16- Philly, PA
When did society take garage doors opener's for granted? You used to have to be a Lord with peasants and lackeys to open a garage door. I don't even need a wizard or warlock anymore. Just some 120V power and a magical button.
It would be nice to be able to lash someone when it doesn't work ... oh well
Haha! The only lashing that happens around this place is the cat and her tongue on my arm once in a while. Nothing like a little sandpaper on one's arm!
I hope not^^ When I hit the hay I'm so tired my questions don't get a chance to surface. Wild dreams lately though. If I dream up the answers to your questions I'll be back.
Dreams often have the best weird answers!
Someone elsewhere asked some questions that prompted me to re-visit this thread. She asked, "Why are lawn mowers sometimes so incredibly loud while grass growing is one of the quietest things imaginable?"
My answer was, "Actually, years ago I had this Sears hand-pushed manual lawn mower that
made this wonderful gentle sound. But then I realized that the sound I
was hearing was actually thousands of blades of grass screaming, proving
that grass is, indeed, a very quiet species."
What you said reminds me of this...
Like tiny blades of grass, hair also seems to grow quietly.
I like the idea of tiny grass dreaming SOOO much better than screaming. A much more pleasant thought!
Why is it called taking a dump and not leaving a dump? After all You're not really taking it anywhere.
LOL, really!
Reminds me of Kilgore Trout and stealing mirrors. He believed mirrors were a a leak into another universe, and so when anyone would say, "I'm going to go take a leak," he thought they meant they were going to go steal a mirror. Strange man, that Trout!
Main question: Why is one pole of the earth considered the top of the
earth or "north pole" and the other is considered the bottom of the
earth or "south pole"?
Subsidiary questions: I mean, really, who decided that? OK, the earth
spins around the sun, but who decided which end of the sun is up and
which end is down? Does the solar system have a top and a bottom? Or
the galaxy? Or the universe? What if we've had it all wrong and are
looking at all that stuff upside down? Who is the wise guy who decided
all that?
COME ON! I need to know this things!
Thats funny because I was literally thinking this just the other day. If they decided south was up, it wouldn't make any difference. Do they do that near the South Pole and picture the earth's orbit in reverse compared to us? Makes sense to me.
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,022
Main question: Why is one pole of the earth considered the top of the
earth or "north pole" and the other is considered the bottom of the
earth or "south pole"?
Subsidiary questions: I mean, really, who decided that? OK, the earth
spins around the sun, but who decided which end of the sun is up and
which end is down? Does the solar system have a top and a bottom? Or
the galaxy? Or the universe? What if we've had it all wrong and are
looking at all that stuff upside down? Who is the wise guy who decided
all that?
COME ON! I need to know this things!
Thats funny because I was literally thinking this just the other day. If they decided south was up, it wouldn't make any difference. Do they do that near the South Pole and picture the earth's orbit in reverse compared to us? Makes sense to me.
Main question: Why is one pole of the earth considered the top of the
earth or "north pole" and the other is considered the bottom of the
earth or "south pole"?
Subsidiary questions: I mean, really, who decided that? OK, the earth
spins around the sun, but who decided which end of the sun is up and
which end is down? Does the solar system have a top and a bottom? Or
the galaxy? Or the universe? What if we've had it all wrong and are
looking at all that stuff upside down? Who is the wise guy who decided
all that?
COME ON! I need to know this things!
If you're asking, why is the direction called "north", the etymology of the word roughly translates as "to the left of the rising sun".
As to why "north" = "top", I think that's arbitrary. I would venture a guess that with compasses pointing north, it's an easy reference for navigation and cartography. If you were holding a compass and a map, you'd want the north reference at the top of the paper, so over time north became synonymous with top. Again, that is just my guess.
Main question: Why is one pole of the earth considered the top of the
earth or "north pole" and the other is considered the bottom of the
earth or "south pole"?
Subsidiary questions: I mean, really, who decided that? OK, the earth
spins around the sun, but who decided which end of the sun is up and
which end is down? Does the solar system have a top and a bottom? Or
the galaxy? Or the universe? What if we've had it all wrong and are
looking at all that stuff upside down? Who is the wise guy who decided
all that?
COME ON! I need to know this things!
If you're asking, why is the direction called "north", the etymology of the word roughly translates as "to the left of the rising sun".
As to why "north" = "top", I think that's arbitrary. I would venture a guess that with compasses pointing north, it's an easy reference for navigation and cartography. If you were holding a compass and a map, you'd want the north reference at the top of the paper, so over time north became synonymous with top. Again, that is just my guess.
That makes sense too. But the conclusion I came up with is because the first advanced civilizations were in the northern hemisphere. So when they created the globe and world maps, they put themselves on top and oriented the solar system accordingly. My thought was if the first advanced civilizations came out of the southern hemisphere, it'd be all reversed, the globes would be "upside down" and we'd be rotating the sun in reverse from that perspective. Kind of like how maps in America put USA in the center. And European maps have Europe in the center.
Why is it called taking a dump and not leaving a dump? After all You're not really taking it anywhere.
LOL, really!
Reminds me of Kilgore Trout and stealing mirrors. He believed mirrors were a a leak into another universe, and so when anyone would say, "I'm going to go take a leak," he thought they meant they were going to go steal a mirror. Strange man, that Trout!
Well @brianlux your Kilgore Trout mirrors story reminds me of a book by Mizuki Tsujimura called Lonely Castle in the Mirror
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,022
Main question: Why is one pole of the earth considered the top of the
earth or "north pole" and the other is considered the bottom of the
earth or "south pole"?
Subsidiary questions: I mean, really, who decided that? OK, the earth
spins around the sun, but who decided which end of the sun is up and
which end is down? Does the solar system have a top and a bottom? Or
the galaxy? Or the universe? What if we've had it all wrong and are
looking at all that stuff upside down? Who is the wise guy who decided
all that?
COME ON! I need to know this things!
If you're asking, why is the direction called "north", the etymology of the word roughly translates as "to the left of the rising sun".
As to why "north" = "top", I think that's arbitrary. I would venture a guess that with compasses pointing north, it's an easy reference for navigation and cartography. If you were holding a compass and a map, you'd want the north reference at the top of the paper, so over time north became synonymous with top. Again, that is just my guess.
That makes sense too. But the conclusion I came up with is because the first advanced civilizations were in the northern hemisphere. So when they created the globe and world maps, they put themselves on top and oriented the solar system accordingly. My thought was if the first advanced civilizations came out of the southern hemisphere, it'd be all reversed, the globes would be "upside down" and we'd be rotating the sun in reverse from that perspective. Kind of like how maps in America put USA in the center. And European maps have Europe in the center.
Right! In which case, the world map would look something like this:
Why is it called taking a dump and not leaving a dump? After all You're not really taking it anywhere.
LOL, really!
Reminds me of Kilgore Trout and stealing mirrors. He believed mirrors were a a leak into another universe, and so when anyone would say, "I'm going to go take a leak," he thought they meant they were going to go steal a mirror. Strange man, that Trout!
Well @brianlux your Kilgore Trout mirrors story reminds me of a book by Mizuki Tsujimura called Lonely Castle in the Mirror
Sounds interesting. Might have to add that to my ever lengthening list of "want to read". Goodreads.com people generally seem to like it a lot!
Main question: Why is one pole of the earth considered the top of the
earth or "north pole" and the other is considered the bottom of the
earth or "south pole"?
Subsidiary questions: I mean, really, who decided that? OK, the earth
spins around the sun, but who decided which end of the sun is up and
which end is down? Does the solar system have a top and a bottom? Or
the galaxy? Or the universe? What if we've had it all wrong and are
looking at all that stuff upside down? Who is the wise guy who decided
all that?
COME ON! I need to know this things!
If you're asking, why is the direction called "north", the etymology of the word roughly translates as "to the left of the rising sun".
As to why "north" = "top", I think that's arbitrary. I would venture a guess that with compasses pointing north, it's an easy reference for navigation and cartography. If you were holding a compass and a map, you'd want the north reference at the top of the paper, so over time north became synonymous with top. Again, that is just my guess.
This made me think of this option some more, and I realized a compass actually points both north and south. The needle is double sided. We just paint the north end a big bright red so it jumps out, but a south-pointing compass would be just as easy, just reverse the colors. Turns out the Chinese did make a south aligning compass thousands of years ago before north became standard.
Main question: Why is one pole of the earth considered the top of the
earth or "north pole" and the other is considered the bottom of the
earth or "south pole"?
Subsidiary questions: I mean, really, who decided that? OK, the earth
spins around the sun, but who decided which end of the sun is up and
which end is down? Does the solar system have a top and a bottom? Or
the galaxy? Or the universe? What if we've had it all wrong and are
looking at all that stuff upside down? Who is the wise guy who decided
all that?
COME ON! I need to know this things!
If you're asking, why is the direction called "north", the etymology of the word roughly translates as "to the left of the rising sun".
As to why "north" = "top", I think that's arbitrary. I would venture a guess that with compasses pointing north, it's an easy reference for navigation and cartography. If you were holding a compass and a map, you'd want the north reference at the top of the paper, so over time north became synonymous with top. Again, that is just my guess.
This made me think of this option some more, and I realized a compass actually points both north and south. The needle is double sided. We just paint the north end a big bright red so it jumps out, but a south-pointing compass would be just as easy, just reverse the colors. Turns out the Chinese did make a south aligning compass thousands of years ago before north became standard.
Interesting. With China being in the northern hemisphere, I would have thought they'd go with a north aligning compass.
In terms of European explorers/cartographers, your theory makes a lot of sense. It's probably a mixture of both our ideas along with some other geographic, social, and/or political reasons we haven't thought of.
Interesting thought experiment though. I'm such a big nerd that I'll probably wind up doing more research on this.
0
crookedcross
Right Near Da Beach, Boiii Posts: 1,516
When did society take garage doors opener's for granted? You used to have to be a Lord with peasants and lackeys to open a garage door. I don't even need a wizard or warlock anymore. Just some 120V power and a magical button.
It would be nice to be able to lash someone when it doesn't work ... oh well
I work with some pretty powerful radars and radios. Every now and then there's a dummy who sets 'em up wrong and make whole towns' magical buttons no workie (temporarily). Then garage door companies on the island get pummeled with service calls.
We didn't have a garage door opener growing up. We were about the only ones on the block that didn't. I thought we were poor because we were always the only ones on the block without something. My dad just saved his money well so he can enjoy retirement. Anyway, it was a heavy wooden door, I have no idea how much it weighed. But it wasn't;t too bad opening because it was spring assisted. But every few years a spring would blow out and it was near impossible. And even more impossible was getting a new spring back on!
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,022
We didn't have a garage door opener growing up. We were about the only ones on the block that didn't. I thought we were poor because we were always the only ones on the block without something. My dad just saved his money well so he can enjoy retirement. Anyway, it was a heavy wooden door, I have no idea how much it weighed. But it wasn't;t too bad opening because it was spring assisted. But every few years a spring would blow out and it was near impossible. And even more impossible was getting a new spring back on!
When I was growing up, we actually had five garage door openers that all worked quite well. My pop, my mom, my brother, my sister, and me!
We didn't have a garage door opener growing up. We were about the only ones on the block that didn't. I thought we were poor because we were always the only ones on the block without something. My dad just saved his money well so he can enjoy retirement. Anyway, it was a heavy wooden door, I have no idea how much it weighed. But it wasn't;t too bad opening because it was spring assisted. But every few years a spring would blow out and it was near impossible. And even more impossible was getting a new spring back on!
We had our living room share a wall with our garage in the house I grew up in. It had a heavy wood door as well. One of springs broke while I was sitting on the living room couch and it sounded like a small bomb went off. You are right, getting the new spring on was a chore.
Comments
Subsidiary questions: I mean, really, who decided that? OK, the earth spins around the sun, but who decided which end of the sun is up and which end is down? Does the solar system have a top and a bottom? Or the galaxy? Or the universe? What if we've had it all wrong and are looking at all that stuff upside down? Who is the wise guy who decided all that?
Honestly, these odd questions really do pop into my head at all hours, lol!
Bingo!, that's gotta be it!
When I hit the hay I'm so tired my questions don't get a chance to surface. Wild dreams lately though.
If I dream up the answers to your questions I'll be back.
Like tiny blades of grass, hair also seems to grow quietly.
10/31/09- Philly
5/21/10- NYC
9/2/12- Philly, PA
7/19/13- Wrigley
10/19/13- Brooklyn, NY
10/21/13- Philly, PA
10/22/13- Philly, PA
10/27/13- Baltimore, MD
4/28/16- Philly, PA
4/29/16- Philly, PA
5/1/16- NYC
5/2/16- NYC
9/2/18- Boston, MA
9/4/18- Boston, MA
9/14/22- Camden, NJ
9/7/24- Philly, PA
9/9/24- Philly, PA
Eddie Vedder- 6/25/11- Philly, PA
RNDM- 3/9/16- Philly, PA
Somethings wrong there, haha! I like the idea of tiny grass dreaming SOOO much better than screaming. A much more pleasant thought!
If they decided south was up, it wouldn't make any difference. Do they do that near the South Pole and picture the earth's orbit in reverse compared to us? Makes sense to me.
Great minds...
As to why "north" = "top", I think that's arbitrary. I would venture a guess that with compasses pointing north, it's an easy reference for navigation and cartography. If you were holding a compass and a map, you'd want the north reference at the top of the paper, so over time north became synonymous with top. Again, that is just my guess.
Kind of like how maps in America put USA in the center. And European maps have Europe in the center.
Well @brianlux your Kilgore Trout mirrors story reminds me of a book by Mizuki Tsujimura called Lonely Castle in the Mirror
Sounds interesting. Might have to add that to my ever lengthening list of "want to read". Goodreads.com people generally seem to like it a lot!
In terms of European explorers/cartographers, your theory makes a lot of sense. It's probably a mixture of both our ideas along with some other geographic, social, and/or political reasons we haven't thought of.
Interesting thought experiment though. I'm such a big nerd that I'll probably wind up doing more research on this.
Anyway, it was a heavy wooden door, I have no idea how much it weighed. But it wasn't;t too bad opening because it was spring assisted. But every few years a spring would blow out and it was near impossible. And even more impossible was getting a new spring back on!
When I was growing up, we actually had five garage door openers that all worked quite well. My pop, my mom, my brother, my sister, and me!