Trivial Things That Annoy You...

[The Maestro]

Christmas cards. Waste of time, resources and money. They're only good when they've got cash inside when you open one. I think people should use the money the spend on a pack and give it to a charity instead.

[Otto Dem Wanz]

25 minutes ago, The Maestro said:

Christmas cards. Waste of time, resources and money. They're only good when they've got cash inside when you open one. I think people should use the money the spend on a pack and give it to a charity instead.

 

You can buy Christmas cards from charities themselves which is what we do, I agree with your general point but when you can buy them and donate at the same time it all works out!

[bAzTNM#1]

Perfectly fine patients that cause absolute chaos on a hospital ward because they want home. No you're not "getting your lawyer" or "getting the boys round to the ward". You'll go home when the doctor decides you do.

[RancidPunx]

I live in Cork in the south of Ireland , Dublin is located approx 3 hours North east of Cork .

Therefore if travelling from Cork to Dublin you say “up to Dublin” and If you are in Dublin travelling south to Cork you say “down to Cork”.

 

I legitimately can’t comprehend why people can’t grasp this concept. 

 

[Carbomb]

2 minutes ago, RancidPunx said:

I live in Cork in the south of Ireland , Dublin is located approx 3 hours North east of Cork .

Therefore if travelling from Cork to Dublin you say “up to Dublin” and If you are in Dublin travelling south to Cork you say “down to Cork”.

 

I legitimately can’t comprehend why people can’t grasp this concept. 

 

Here's a thing, though:

Why do we automatically assume that north is "up" and south is "down"? There's no "up" and "down" in space, so there's no real standard by which to decide the Earth's orientation, except how we traditionally drew maps, which is completely arbitrary.

Put it this way: who's to say we couldn't have maps like this?

[RancidPunx]

9 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Here's a thing, though:

Why do we automatically assume that north is "up" and south is "down"? There's no "up" and "down" in space, so there's no real standard by which to decide the Earth's orientation, except how we traditionally drew maps, which is completely arbitrary.

Put it this way: who's to say we couldn't have maps like this?

I get your point but maps do exist in this way and the I think we can safely say that the north/south orientation has been decided and accepted by all.

 

Thats like saying , why don’t we call things that are red “blue” and things that are blue “red”. Yes, it’s only a made up label we have attached to describe something but we have a system in place . 

[Brewster McCloud]

When you service a prostitute and she demands more than she was actually worth, the sexy little minx. 

[Carbomb]

9 minutes ago, RancidPunx said:

I get your point but maps do exist in this way and the I think we can safely say that the north/south orientation has been decided and accepted by all.

 

Thats like saying , why don’t we call things that are red “blue” and things that are blue “red”. Yes, it’s only a made up label we have attached to describe something but we have a system in place . 

Not necessarily. There's been a school of thought for a while that having this set idea of "up" and "down" in the world rather fixes and limits our thinking.

Not the most unbiased source, given their vested interest, but upsidedownmaps.com put up some good points on their website (although I was given to understand the term "The Orient" derives from the fact the sun rises in the east, "oriri" being the Latin "to rise):

Quote

 

Upside Down maps (also known as South-Up or Reversed maps) offer a completely different perspective of the world we live in.Technically speaking, even referring to the earth with words like “up” or “down” or comparing places with words “above” or “below” is flawed, considering that the earth is a spherical body (it’s actually slightly “fatter” at the equator) and flying through 3 dimensional space with no reference of up or down.

 

However, the issue of “up” and “down” does become an issue when viewing the surface of the earth projected onto a flat piece of paper (a map). And the effect of the orientation of a map is more significant than you might realize.

History of Map Orientation

As all maps require orientation for reference, the issue of how to layout the map orientation is as old as maps themselves. As map orientation is completely arbitrary, it is not surprising that they differed throughout time periods and regions.

The convention of North-up is usually attributed to the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy (90-168 AD). Justifications for his north-up approach vary.

In the middle ages, East was often placed at top. This is the origin of the term “The Orient” to refer to East Asia.

During the age of exploration, European cartographers again followed the north-up convention…perhaps because the North Star was their fixed reference point for navigation, or because they wanted (subconsciously or otherwise) to ensure Europe’s claim at the top of the world.

Maps’ Effect on World Perception

While the orientation of a map might seem harmless, it can have a significant effect on one’s perception of the world, and the relative importance of the different place in it.

In speech, we often refer to places being “above” or “below” others. Think of how you would say you’re about to travel to the state or country to your north or south (to go “down” to Kentucky from Indiana, or “up” to Canada from the US). Without even mentioning geography, ask any grade school student whether Mexico is “above” or “below” the United States. We’re all familiar with the “land down under”.

As we often correlate importance to relative height (think how a citizens of a country will fly their flag higher than all other flags), the north-up convention reinforces the idea that northern bodies are more important than their southern neighbors. Suddenly, traveling “down” to the South might have an inference much deeper than geographic location.

To summarize, unconditionally accepting the north-up map convention without at least appreciating the effect stands at odds with viewing all people and places within the world equally.

As you will see, viewing a South-up map is the perfect remedy…

Why South Up?

Here at Upside-Down-Maps.com, we do not endorse use of “upside-down” maps because this orientation is “better”. Objectively speaking, there is no advantage or disadvantage to a South-up map (or East-up or West-up, for that matter). Furthermore, all of the effects to world perception described above are equally significant for any other type of orientation.

We advocate the Upside Down orientation because it is unfamiliar and thus forces us to view the world differently!

 

 

Edited March 7, 2019 by Carbomb

[Chest Rockwell]

With all due respect, @Carbomb this is asinine and belongs at best in the shitty hill you would die on thread.

If those guys are serious they are wasting their lives.

Edited March 7, 2019 by Chest Rockwell

[Carbomb]

Just now, Chest Rockwell said:

With all due respect, @Carbomb this is asinine and belongs at best in the shitty hill you would die on thread.

It's not a hill I would die on, I just find it interesting. You find it asinine, I don't.

[Chest Rockwell]

Oh not you, I meant it's a shitty hill that the people who run that website have chosen to die on.

[Carbomb]

3 minutes ago, Chest Rockwell said:

Oh not you, I meant it's a shitty hill that the people who run that website have chosen to die on.

Ah, fair enough. To be honest, I think they're just doing it to sell upside-down maps (which is why I said it wasn't the most unbiased source).

I just find anything that gets us to question our set, conditioned ways of thinking to be interesting; I'm not championing abandoning things like "up=north" or anything, just that sometimes things like that can get you thinking in ways that hadn't occurred to you before.

[RancidPunx]

50 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Ah, fair enough. To be honest, I think they're just doing it to sell upside-down maps (which is why I said it wasn't the most unbiased source).

I just find anything that gets us to question our set, conditioned ways of thinking to be interesting; I'm not championing abandoning things like "up=north" or anything, just that sometimes things like that can get you thinking in ways that hadn't occurred to you before.

If you were in London and were planning to go to Scotland , what way would you phrase it ?

[Carbomb]

Just now, RancidPunx said:

If you were in London and were planning to go to Scotland , what way would you phrase it ?

"Pass me the Tramadol, I want to blend in."

[BomberPat]

It's an interesting thought experiment at best, fucking tedious at worst.

I've lived in Jersey for the better part of 20 years, having grown up in t'north, and I will never get used to people saying "going up to London", though. London is not somewhere you go "up" to.