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Carpal Tunnel
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in the final analysis, aren't we all on islands? (which is to say that eventually you come to water and have to circle back, short of having an amphibious vehicle ;)


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Pooh-Bah
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> I am a knight who says "put South back on top." Who will help me tilt at this windmill?

Normally, this is just the sort of lost cause to which I joyfully give support. But how can I, from the Northern Hemisphere, grant succour to a person - even one who is an undoubted expert on HHGTTG - who describes me as "a bottom-dweller?"


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In medieval times Jerusalem, i.e., East, used to be at the top

I have a few ideas.
1. Similarily to what another person said here. It all depends on where you're facing. If you step outside and your front door faces (for fun let's say) west, that's the direction you'll map to the top of your house. Then you move around the block and (as someone else mentioned) end up with a map that has your house in the middle. Such a way of picking the direction might account for the Top is East in medieval Jerusalem.

2. Another reason might be: how comfortable are you with the sun? In the northern hemisphere--the shadow on a sundial would point more to the north. In the southern hemisphere--the shadow would point to the south. Would you rather be facing the sun, or have it behind you (in reference with point 2)? Also, where would you want the sun to rise, and where to set?

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South at the top?
I think you will find that in Ancient Egypt - Upper Egypt - the source of the Nile was at the top. As we all know water flows downhill, so the top of Egypt was at the top of the map and the Nile Delta was at the bottom. This may be where you came across the idea - I've looked for examples of maps on the Internet but all the maps I've found are modern interpretations, designed to give details of ancient sites rather than showing how the world was seen at the time.http://kroeber.anthro.mankato.msus.edu/prehistory/egypt/maps/mainmap.html

I should imagine that the source of a river was as good as anything to put at the top of a map in ancient civilisations.

I particularly like the Peter Projection which gives much better idea of the size of Africa.




#5726 09/01/00 07:39 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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#5727 09/01/00 07:44 PM
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#5728 09/02/00 11:08 AM
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> aren't we all on islands?

It depends, I suppose, on how you define an island. If you regard it as an area of land surrounded by water (as someone has already suggested) then Max's "island" stretching from Cape to Cape is a tenable view - although relying on a frozen Baring Strait could be a matter for contention. But few people would subscribe to such a definition, if only because it makes the term "island" more or less meaningless, from a practical point of view. So how can you define an island (apart from insisting the no man is -- ) ?? Or how do you define a continent, for that matter?

Australia is generally considered to be a continent, but a glance at any atlas shows it quite clearly as an island, albeit a pretty huge one. If you regard that continent as being Australasia, then you are presented with a series of islands.

Europe and Asia are considered to be separate continents yet are very clearly joined. You could, if you so wished, travel from one to the other without passing water, if I may put it that way. Trans-continent rather than incontinent, one might say.

This is a matter that has not previously given me any reason for reflection, but I own to being very confused, now


#5729 09/02/00 12:23 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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Europe and Asia are considered to be separate continents yet are very clearly joined. You could, if you so wished, travel from one to the other without passing water, if I may put it that way. Trans-continent rather than incontinent, one might say.

This is a matter that has not previously given me any reason for reflection, but I own to being very confused, now


Ohmigawd !! Oh, I am absolutely screaming, Rhuby!
Oh, the gutter has riz up and swallowed us whole! You'd have to be in-continent to be transcontinent from Europe to
Asia, but to do it without being incontinent, you'd have to
have one very strong bladder!


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> Oh, the gutter has riz up

Jackie, I have to protest about rising up from the gutter. On my house, the gutter runs along the eaves and collects the rainwater from the roof. Whilst it is possible to rise from that position, it is much easier to fall, so my personal viewpoint is that I descend from the gutter to, shall we say, abstruse historical analysis. (or whatever)
This also ties in with the possibility that we humans have a limited potential for sinking deeper into abstract and intellectual thought, whilst our potential for ascending to heights of scatology appears to be infinite.




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Carpal Tunnel
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our potential for ascending to heights of scatology appears to be infinite

I read you loud and clear: you're saying s--t floats!
Now I understand your odd perspective on gutters--
yours have nice leaves, and get washed by lovely rainwater.
I was thinking of the ones that run along the edges of the
streets, and used to carry much nastier things than that.
They may even have contributed to the cholera outbreaks in Britain in 1832, '47, '53, and '66.


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