(A Library of Congress site with public domain maps. Can be a handy resource! The Schiaparelli map was from Wikimedia Commons.)
Surt, Sidra - they are forms of the latin name Syrtis, a marsh, and Syrtis Major was a large marshy area along the coast here. So it is a place on Earth like the others. Are all those names from Earth? #maps #Mars
One more example which I won't illustrate - Look on Schiapareli's map a bit above (south of) Syrtis Major at the left side of the map. See Hellas? That's an easy one - it's Greece. So you get the idea - these Mars names are places on Earth and in particular they come from classical geography - a mixture of real places known to the Greeks and Romans and mythological places from those sources. In Schiaparelli's time any educated European knew these things. #maps #Mars
So... the big question is - are these Schiaparelli names just randomly distributed or is there a pattern behind it? You guessed it - there's a pattern. That's where we are going next. #maps #Mars
We need a bit of a mind-flip to understand how Schiaparelli developed his naming scheme. We start with a map of Mars - let's use a modern one from the Hubble Space Telescope. But Schiaparelli didn't see Mars like this... #maps #Mars #Hubble
No - Schiaparelli saw Mars like this - with south at the top. Until the dawn of the space age most planetary maps were drawn with south at the top as seen in an inverting astronomical telescope. Only when maps might be used for direct physical exploration did the convention change to avoid potential confusion. Rather than turn our screens upside down, let's do a 'rotate 180 degrees' in Photoshop. Simples! #maps #Mars #Hubble
Today is the day. December 21st marks the 30th Anniversary of Marathon released on Classic Mac OS and later on modern Systems! And to Celebrate, A Medley and another Mashup is now on Andres Bravo Alt! Medley: youtu.be/zDA4nKENfXU Landing Mashup: youtu.be/uiZAWWrADKE #youtube #m30 #marathongame
I’m a fan of returning to Lady Day/annunciation, on the old date of the Spring Equinox, 25 March, for the start of the new year. Make accounting medieval again!
« Message de service : la fiction aimerait rappeler à la réalité que c’est son job à elle de délirer à plein tube. Elle prie donc le réel de gagner urgemment en sobriété, et de ne plus mélanger ses pinceaux avec les siens. Merci, bisous, merci. »
Having dinner in Sydney’s Chinatown I was feeling slightly self conscious about my obvious Americanness until two young women at the next table began deconstructing the lyrics and then full-throatedly singing Down Under.
Two hundred and seventy-five years ago, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was on his way from Paris to Vincennes when he experienced a powerful revelation. Responding to a literary journal he was reading along the way, he fell to the ground, began to weep, and came to the realization that human beings were essentially good—it was their secular and religious institutions that were wicked and corrupt.
Phil Stooke
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