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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Wait, I thought the world was shaped like a pear. That's what they taught us in school?!
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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No it just seems to have gone pear-shaped some days. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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oblique spheroid is the correct term, I believe. I was just trying to give the concept of a sphere a topical twist. the whole southern/northern hemisphere idea needs a little mentioning now and then...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Oblate, I always thunk it was.
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Joined: Aug 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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oblique spheroid Oblate spheroid, as I recall from Hogwash # whatever-it-was.... edit: There I go again, a minute late and a mantle short... Second edit: It was "Round September 02". http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=wordplay&Number=81502
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Joined: Aug 2002
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
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And I just realized that if Greenwich is a longitude 0 then part of England is in the eastern hemisphere!!
I don't know why this strikes me as so odd, where I live we fly due west to get to the "Far East" and north east to get to Western Europe.
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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ah, oblate it is. too much pie, I guess... o-bladi-o-blada...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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oblique spheroid or oblate spheroid...don't be trying to confuse me with your wordy shinanigans...
What is it, pumpkin or pear shaped?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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From et's link above:
Models are representations of objects that aid in our understanding. If we were to choose a scale model of the Earth, what objects would make a good miniature Earth? We might be tempted to choose an oblate object to show the true shape, but that would be inaccurate! Since the Earth is so slightly oblate, and the Earth's relief is so insignificant in comparison with its size, the best scale models of the Earth would actually be very round and very smooth. Billiard balls, marbles, ping pong balls, and other smooth spheres are the best representation of the Earth's true appearance.
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