Things you were shockingly old when you learned

So Maine has a longer coast than California.

And Chimborazo is the highest mountain in the world, yeah yeah yeah.

Coastline measurement is a notoriously difficult definitional problem.

^ Was going to say.

Mauna loa is the highest mountain in the world!

If you measure from the sea floor

Tallest don't mean highest though!

Coastline measurement is a notoriously difficult definitional problem.

― Natalie Wouldn't (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, February 19, 2020 7:04 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Nah man you just walk along the beach with one of those sticks with a wheel on the end

One thing I remember from James Gleick's book Chaos is that coastlines are kind of like Mandelbrot sets: the closer you look, the more intricate they become. Measuring them accurately is close to impossible.

My embarrassing geography-related example is that Denmark isn't, and has never been, an island. I can't even really remember why I thought it.

Looking at a map, Spain's Atlantic coastline does seem longer than Portugal's (and not even counting the Canarias).

For whatever reason, I have a serious block in my brain when it comes to geography. Like I may have read multiple books about the history of a particular region, all festooned with maps I've pored over extensively, and I will still find myself regularly surprised to (re-)learn, oh, that place is next to that place! Huh!

I mean I have difficulty visualizing the layout of even just the states that circle my own. It's kinda ridiculous.

I'd've done all right generalizing the location of Ukraine, though, fwiw.

Once I had a friend
Who had the knack of tossing
His mind around geography
Boy, you think, you have problems

Looking at a map, Spain's Atlantic coastline does seem longer than Portugal's (and not even counting the Canarias).

― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 20 February 2020 12:49 (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

mandelbrot: LOOK CLOSER LOL

Eheh, I4ve just "measured" VERY roughly with a tape measure on a map and Spain's Atlantic coastline IS longer than Portugal's !

(my method may make a geographer want to die, though)

Joke for science nerds:

In the name Benoit B. Mandelbrot, what does the 'B' stand for?

Benoit B. Mandelbrot

Xp
Is some of it technically in the Bay of Biscay or something like that?

Oh it's the old mercantor projecter thingy again.

mercantor projecter

Let's call the whole thing off.

Wait, the Bay of Biscay IS part of the Atlantic !
So after checking some figures : the total coastline of Spain is 4872km with 2058km on the Mediterranean which leaves 2814km on the Atlantic.
Portugal's coastline is 1793km.
So Spain's Atlantic coastline is more than 1000km longer than Portugal's !

Xp
I'm on my phone rn!

Well glad this Portuguese guy's musings on the differentiation between national characteristics of 2 neighbouring countries thanks to the heat of the water in their relevant seas has kept you going for so long.

Was only one of a number of revelations that I heard last night . Went to a geeky science competition thing so there were another number of things related to that. He was just an audience member at the reception afterwards.

portugal is fractally wigglier than spain, the clue is in the name

vessels abandoned at sea can be left that way, cf the vessel washed up off cork last week

the can theoretically be claimed (scrap value would conservatively be a million on the one in question) but the local registering authority must be informed and (irish jurisdiction at least) will then seek owners and allow a year and a day, which youd presume would almost certainly turn something up.

once abandoned they go 'dark', no signal, no traceability. there's not, to the expert with whom i conversed's knowledge (dmac sr) any real record of what is floating around the atlantic waiting for you to crash into, hence even today two men on overnight eyeball watch is the standard practice on any of his boats (not sure whether there's an official protocol tbh)

two pleasing if scary mid-ocean thing that have gone from "old salt's tall tale" to "very scientifically real threat" since my boyhood have been
i: the rogue wave
ii: the giant squid

by contrast sadly diminished: the Sargasso Sea!!

lol @ me on that same thread, unchanged since records began:

luckily there are still FREAK WAVES and GIANT SQUIDS!!!!

― mark s, Saturday, 3 September 2011 17:45 (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Another thing I don't remember hearing directly before is that Guiness won't supply bars with barrels unless they also take the glasses for the pints. the bar the reception was in apparently has a manger that doesn't like having labels and logos very visible.
I had wondered why a tap simply said Rotating Craft Beer (possibly Ale) instead of having some tage related to which one it was.
Initially thought it was a brand title but doh, no it is a different type each barrel. Had a nice bitter stout yesterday.

& now wondering if that is a way that a certain clientele drinks its craft beer, no loyalty to brand but pot luck on which type it's going to get. & the novelty is the novelty?

Had previously thought that different glasses which seem to have been proliferating recently were a promotional thing that had its own impetus where people actually wanted to get their pint in whichever glass, possibly for the novelty.
& every brand seems to have its own glasses these days.

Eheh, yeah I don't know why this question which I had NEVER thought about (although going to Spain and Portugal regularly) was suddenly so exciting...
Well, at least, I know the answer now which is basically the idea of this thread !

And to be fair it didn't take me that long... around 10 min (with a lunch break in-between) !

massive thread side-eye from mandelbrot's unquiet shade

Today's ironic development, just came from a talk on Aquaculture given by somebody from Marine Science dept in GMIT. One of his office mates is the Portuguese guy I was talking about 2 days ago. So this guy who was talking about relative heat of seas works in Marine Science. Thought it was just an observation made by someone in another field.

He's no geographer, that's for sure !

So apparently it's Dan Aykroyd, not Dan Ackroyd

https://mirabiledictudotorg1.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/cathy-ack.jpg

You oughta know by now.

Lolololol

Anthony Perkins's wife Berry (who was also Marisa Berenson's sister) died on 9/11 on American Airlines Flight 11.

He led an interesting life.

Perkins reportedly had his first heterosexual experience at age 39 with actress Victoria Principal

aka Victorian Principles

that the accent in "telepathy" is on the 3rd syllable, not the second

#wordsyoureadinbooks

i've absolutely heard both out loud tho?

I’ve only ever heard the second, source?

and prob 90% of the time, i hear it on the 2nd, and also, everywhere i have now checked online is also 2nd lol i am confused

(xp)

accent on path in telepath, accent on lep in telepathy <-- how I break it down to an extent

sorry I meant "telepathic" not "telepathy"

I was just informed of this by a coworker, so grain of salt etc.

oh yeah it's def telePATHic

sleeve had you been saying/thinking te-LEH-puth-ick?