Were You Really Taught History In School?

[Meathead]

Very maps used (Mercator) convey Eurocentric-thinking. They're in no way accurate to what you'd see from orbit and marginalize, distort, and misrepresent reality. Greenland and Africa are shown as roughly the same size despite Africa being 14 times the area of Greenland. So when discussing things like enviromental protection, one might think they're both about equal in terms of enviromental significance yet Africa's 14 times as significant as Greenland.

FFS, try to show a sphere on a flat surface and see what you come up with. The best you can do on relative size is a series of elongated footballs meeting only at the equator. Don't be such a vacuous hack!

I'm aware of the problem of depicting 3d objects on 2d surfaces. But that issue isn't what's going on with Mercator maps. As you'd know if as knowledgeable about it as I am.

Your English aside, I don't doubt at all that I am far more knowledgeable about it than you are. There is no way to map between something 3 dimensional on two dimensions without distortions. The fact that Greenland, Canada and Russia look huge relatively to places like Africa is not because Africa is a shit hole, it is because there is no other feasible way it can be done without producing a mind-boggling map which would distort equally as badly and make distances even more abstract.

There is, in fact, no way of producing a map of even a two-dimensional section of any sphere truly accurately.

Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.

 

[Spinster]

Very maps used (Mercator) convey Eurocentric-thinking. They're in no way accurate to what you'd see from orbit and marginalize, distort, and misrepresent reality. Greenland and Africa are shown as roughly the same size despite Africa being 14 times the area of Greenland. So when discussing things like enviromental protection, one might think they're both about equal in terms of enviromental significance yet Africa's 14 times as significant as Greenland.

FFS, try to show a sphere on a flat surface and see what you come up with. The best you can do on relative size is a series of elongated footballs meeting only at the equator. Don't be such a vacuous hack!

I'm aware of the problem of depicting 3d objects on 2d surfaces. But that issue isn't what's going on with Mercator maps. As you'd know if as knowledgeable about it as I am.

Your English aside, I don't doubt at all that I am far more knowledgeable about it than you are. There is no way to map between something 3 dimensional on two dimensions without distortions. The fact that Greenland, Canada and Russia look huge relatively to places like Africa is not because Africa is a shit hole, it is because there is no other feasible way it can be done without producing a mind-boggling map which would distort equally as badly and make distances even more abstract.

There is, in fact, no way of producing a map of even a two-dimensional section of any sphere truly accurately.

Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.

Ever see a GPS map? That's a two dimensional image of a three dimensional land mass.

 

[shadow355]

Were you really taught history in school or were you simply "spoon fed" what the government wanted you to be taught? Has Hollywood movies actually portrayed slavery in the correct light of actual historical facts?

Didn't Know Blacks Owned Slaves in America? You Were Taught History... ⋆ Joe For America

As I recall, I got more history in Middle School, than in High School. And it was a thorough education.


Shadow 355