What have you learned today?

Piscian

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So Im watching Top Chef S11 New Orleans and they have Anthony Mackie on because hes a native, so I guess it turns out his plot from Falcon America was actually pretty close to his roots. I had no idea.
 
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Gordon_4

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I have learned that this exists. And that I shall never own it because its too expensive. But by God do I fucking WANT it!
 

Gordon_4

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I want one of those with the following phrase etched into the glass: "GET IN THE FUCKING ROBOT, SHINJI"
I’m actually a little surprised Nerv’s motto wasn’t somewhere more prominent than the various symbols. Plus I’d be lying if I didn’t think that being able to set the GPU and CPU cooler’s RGB to mimic the pilot synch graphs wasn’t the coolest shit ever. Man that thing really hits the inner rings of my Nerd Dart Board.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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Your eyes are indeed deceived; the fact that the Mercator projection makes areas close to the poles look bigger is often illustrated by that many schoolchildren think that Greenland could give Africa a run for the money in the size compartment yet in real life Africa is vastly larger.

To illustrate this: zoom in somewhere on the equator on Google Maps(a map which uses the Mercator projection), drag yourself northwards and see how the scale in the lower right corner changes as you go further north.
For reference here’s how it would look on an actual physical globe.

1655726470603.jpeg
 

Chimpzy

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Doth my eyes deceive me then? Looks like the contiguous 48 could fit easily in the Greenland island.

View attachment 6420
the Mercator projection makes areas close to the poles look bigger is often illustrated by that many schoolchildren think that Greenland could give Africa a run for the money in the size compartment yet in real life Africa is vastly larger.
What Bedinsis said. Also since it was mentioned, how big is Africa? This big:
 

EvilRoy

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After decades of ceaseless battle with Denmark, peace has broken out over Hans Island, located in the Kennedy Channel between Greenland and Ellesmere Island. No longer will the lifeblood of the children of our two nations be spilled in futile conflict.

 
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Dalisclock

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After decades of ceaseless battle with Denmark, peace has broken out over Hans Island, located in the Kennedy Channel between Greenland and Ellesmere Island. No longer will the lifeblood of the children of our two nations be spilled in futile conflict.

I love the fact the solution to this problem was literally draw the border right down the middle of the island that nobody lives on and there is nothing of apparent value.
Surely something they couldn't have done decades ago because.......I don't fucking know.
 

The Rogue Wolf

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I love the fact the solution to this problem was literally draw the border right down the middle of the island that nobody lives on and there is nothing of apparent value.
Surely something they couldn't have done decades ago because.......I don't fucking know.
National pride: A deep-seated, untreated mental disease.
 
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EvilRoy

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I love the fact the solution to this problem was literally draw the border right down the middle of the island that nobody lives on and there is nothing of apparent value.
Surely something they couldn't have done decades ago because.......I don't fucking know.
My understanding, from way back in highschool so take it with a grain of salt, is that the fight was originally centered around the potential for the Kennedy Channel to be used as a trade route. This was in the 70's when the area was poorly mapped and extremely dangerous to traverse. Both groups wanted the island because the way costal borders work it would mean one side gets control of the pass and the other side gets to eat shit

Then, later, it turned out that there was a better northwest passage through Canada's north. Better meaning "slightly less likely to kill you, and a bit faster", but still an improvement. From there it just turned into basic pride that nobody took seriously. Denmark really could have had it if they wanted it that bad - Greenland actually operates in that region since it's their coast and Inuit would stage hunting grounds there, while Canadian vessels usually stuck way closer to the territories because there was very little reason to add a bunch of time to a trip just to skirt around Ellesmere island. The agreement reads like "let's just get this one off the books, and also throw a bone to First Nations by making no attempt to control their movement".
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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One of the comments was disturbingly funny -


KZR_ 161 1 year ago (edited)
It's truly terrifying how only small portion of this is taught in schools
 

hanselthecaretaker

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What a trip -


He could’ve fought with the Van Der Linde gang at some point. Oh bloody hell, I can pretend if I want!