Another one for Rob and the conspiracy theorists :-)

[jeremyrh]

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

But what if they took the Polar route?   

[RSL]

Well Eric, just look at that (Mercator) map. The Polar route -- especially if you go over the pole -- is even farther (or as modern ignoramuses would say, "further"). 

[Rob C]

Well, at least the red route proves the Nips (!) knew back then that the Earth must be flat, otherwise they'd have used the suicidal alternatives some suggested!

;-)

Rob

[FabienP]

Actually, the Japanese cheated: they gave different maps to IJN soldiers which showed that there was a shortcut unknown to the Western world . They did this by deceptively placing Japan in the centre of the map and could thus reach any destination in the Pacific Ocean without ever having to go to uncharted territory.

Yet another proof that Mercator projections with one's country in the centre of the map can seriously affect the perception of the world and make people dumb . If I had to find an explanation for this, I would incriminate Google Maps on the smartphone which killed analogue terrestrial globes in homes. Having access to digital content that uses other projections is difficult now that WGS84 is the standard coordinate system for pretty much anything.

Luckily, there is surely a globe in the Ovale Office and such a mistake could not happen to the newly elected President.

Cheers,

Fabien

[Rob C]

Actually, the Japanese cheated: they gave different maps to IJN soldiers which showed that there was a shortcut unknown to the Western world . They did this by deceptively placing Japan in the centre of the map and could thus reach any destination in the Pacific Ocean without ever having to go to uncharted territory.

Yet another proof that Mercator projections with one's country in the centre of the map can seriously affect the perception of the world and make people dumb . If I had to find an explanation for this, I would incriminate Google Maps on the smartphone which killed analogue terrestrial globes in homes. Having access to digital content that uses other projections is difficult now that WGS84 is the standard coordinate system for pretty much anything.

Luckily, there is surely a globe in the Ovale Office and such a mistake could not happen to the newly elected President.

Cheers,

Fabien

No longer: security thought it a bomb and had it destroyed by controlled explosion. In fact, it never had been a bomb: it was a gigantic, concealed-in-plain-sight microphone. That's where the KGB got the info. to do what it did during the US election recently. As they used to say in my day: loose lips sink ships! Only this time, the ship they sank was the TS Clinton, and all who sailed in her.

Such is life in the World Capital. We await Wikileaks about how it might be in the Red City. Of course, those leaks will have to be viewed with considered caution.

Watching Sky News this a.m. (as a change from Fance24 which runs in even more repetitive loops, documentaries included, The Debate a shining exception) I came to realise that as a news channel, SN had turned into a remarkable organ for the advertising of the rest of the Sky network which requires you pay hundreds of squids a year to absorb.

One items on SN this morning was about the 'rightness' of having children involved in commercials to encourage parents to stop smoking. Can you imagine, they are trying to turn death from cancer and heart disease into a political correctness issue! The mind would boggle, were it not already shell-shocked by the general dumbness of humanity today.

;-)

Rob