On 4/15/23 7:17 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:
discussion at:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2761:_1-to-1_Scale
I'm puzzled by today's (12 April 2023) Explain XKCD. The cartoon is
a simple 1:1 scale drawing of the outline of each of Sol's planets,
with the drawings so stacked as to fit a snippet of each planet's edge
into a small rectangle that can be displayed on a physically-possible
screen.
The interpretations by the usually-reliable commenters are . . .
creative.
When it’s at 1:1, the silhouette is effectively useless. (Note the ant
on the Earth segment). (Lewis Carroll makes the same point in “Sylvie
and Bruno Concluded”.)
’“That’s another thing we’ve learned from your Nation,” said Mein Herr,
“map-making. But we’ve carried it much further than you. What do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?”
’“About six inches to the mile.”
’“Only six inches!” exclaimed Mein Herr. “We very soon got to six yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. And then came
the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the country, on the
scale of a mile to the mile!”
’“Have you used it much?” I enquired.
’“It has never been spread out, yet,” said Mein Herr: “the farmers objected: they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out the sunlight! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure
you it does nearly as well.”’
--
John W. Kennedy
Algernon Burbage, Lord Roderick, Father Martin, Bishop Baldwin,
King Pellinore, Captain Bailey, Merlin -- A Kingdom for a Stage!
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)