that north is north and not actually south

5/21/2009 9:35:02 PM

because santa only lives at the NORTH pole.

[Edited on May 21, 2009 at 9:35 PM. Reason : and santa knows]

5/21/2009 9:35:38 PM

wait until the poles switch in the next 3 years or so

THEN we'll see what's what

5/21/2009 9:37:10 PM

^ Haha, yeah that would be a delightful mindfuck while they're in transition.

I can't imagine the damage it would do, or what the shifting of the magnetism would do for our protection against the sun and all those other delightful rays that try to fry our ass every day.

5/21/2009 9:41:05 PM

It's arbitrary I guess. If you wanted to determine if you were heading north or south without knowing where you were and without a compass you could use these:

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. You're heading north if the sun is on your right in the morning and on the left in the evening.

The stars in the northern sky look different than the stars in the southern sky.

5/21/2009 9:41:42 PM

no im not askin like that im asking why the globe isn't actually upside down (and everything else in the universe that science has defined as right-side-up)

5/21/2009 9:49:28 PM

I guess because the people who mattered at the time all lived above the equator and it was accepted as North was up on a map and not down. All of the people back then were good at astronomy and that's what they figured would be the best way to draw maps.

The people who mattered being Asians, Europeans, and middle easterners. The people around the equator and below were all conquered by the people who mattered.

5/21/2009 9:57:12 PM

because if this was the north, then everyone would be moving the fuck away and the weather would suck.

5/21/2009 11:27:52 PM

Clearly you've never seen Northern Exposure.

5/21/2009 11:29:38 PM

^^the weather does suck

5/22/2009 4:23:14 AM

on a related note, I've always wondered why an electron was decided to have a negative charge and a proton was decided to have a positive charge

it seems like the negative charge of the electron, by far the more common charge carrier, simply complicates many calculations with an unnecessary negation that is awaiting eagerly its own misremembrance

I remember briefly, in an epiphany, appreciating the logic of this -- appreciating enough to suspect that there is rationality to it even now, but it eludes my recollection.

[Edited on May 22, 2009 at 6:26 AM. Reason : ^ but with district heating many of their CHP plants achieve >90% thermodynamic efficiency!]

5/22/2009 6:25:07 AM

yo tiberius, do you work in utilities or what?

5/22/2009 8:06:41 AM