The Isolated Blurt Thread XXXVII: You're Welcome, Fuckers

My friend and I are talking about what our greatest accomplishments are. It's an interesting conversation!
 
As a little kid, I was always a great fan of the floor-standing world globes in the local library. There was the UK, tiny in proportion to other landmasses and the world was a place of endless fascination for my eyes. As I grew older, and looked at 'flat' world maps, I was always confused by how large the UK appeared to how I remembered it. I now have a reason! NOT my memory, but it took me till this old and seeing a youtube about 'facts about the world you thought you knew but didn't' that mentioned how Greenland wasn't nearly so big as it appeared on a flat world map that I asked Google and it told me this:

The UK appears significantly larger on a flat world map than it does on a globe because of distortions in projections like the Mercator projection, which exaggerates the size of landmasses further from the equator. This makes the UK look much larger relative to countries closer to the equator, even though it is a smaller country than many people realize.
  • Projection distortion: The Mercator projection is designed for navigation, where maintaining consistent angles is crucial. To achieve this, it stretches the globe onto a flat surface by exaggerating areas as they get closer to the poles.
  • The impact of latitude: This distortion is much more pronounced the farther a country is from the equator.
    • Countries like the UK, Finland, and Greenland appear much larger than they actually are.
    • Conversely, countries near the equator, like many in Africa, appear much smaller than they are.
I'm relieved I was recalling things right but embarrassed to find I'd never known about the distortions on a flat map due to the Mercator projector!
 
As a little kid, I was always a great fan of the floor-standing world globes in the local library. There was the UK, tiny in proportion to other landmasses and the world was a place of endless fascination for my eyes. As I grew older, and looked at 'flat' world maps, I was always confused by how large the UK appeared to how I remembered it. I now have a reason! NOT my memory, but it took me till this old and seeing a youtube about 'facts about the world you thought you knew but didn't' that mentioned how Greenland wasn't nearly so big as it appeared on a flat world map that I asked Google and it told me this:


I'm relieved I was recalling things right but embarrassed to find I'd never known about the distortions on a flat map due to the Mercator projector!

I thought the maps were off when someone told me Japan was about the same size as California.

And Japan is significantly larger than Great Britain, which also surprised me quite a bit.

I guess Japan being right next to the main continent of Asia gives the illusion that it’s smaller than it really is.

🤔
 
I'm never hungry, never. No hunger pains, at all. I can go days without getting hungry. However, when I do eat, it tastes soooooooo good. My stomach tells me one message. My taste buds are like yummmmooo.
 
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