Chronicle of S’00.00.000 oops, err S’00.00.130
“Here, let me take a photo for you with your camera!”
“Thanks man, that’s very nice.”
“What’s with the cell-phone?”
“It’s a GPS. Turns out these guys have it wrong. This monument should be one kilometre that way.”
“How far’s that? Bout a quarter mile?”
“Where are you guys from, and what brings you to just south of the Equator?”
“We’re from Houston, and we’re filming a commercial for a client.”
It’s funny, this is so called middle of the world. Back in the earlier part of last century the best astronomers in the world, using the best equipment, with the best money decided that this is the Equator. They got it wrong. Wrong by 8 minutes (in astronomy terms) or by one kilometre in on the land terms. And it is a tough place to find. It took me 4 wrong buses and two wrong times to get it right.
We didn’t really figure this out until the GPS came along, and man, were faces red. This is a big goof. A lot of concrete got poured into this place. And a lot of commercials from Houston are filmed in this place. It’s big money. For a country that gave it’s name to this imaginary line, they imagined wrong.
But even that this place is wrong, and that it is really a memorial to inaccurate science more than the waist of the earth, the tourists keep coming in droves. People straddle the red line. They kiss across it. They embrace in two different hemispheres. And they do other things across this line, creative or otherwise.
But interestingly enough, when you are there with the GPS, and you show people that this line incorrect….they don’t want to hear it. “What’d ya mean it’s wrong. Hell they put this goddamn monument here, it must be right. It’s your gizmo that’s got it wrong.”
Fitting, no? People and societies are quite capable of perceiving their own realities. And when those realities are perceived, dead wrong as they can be, and an alternative (be it truth or otherwise) shows up, presents itself, people will still refuse to believe it.
“Hey, do you guys want to take your camera to the real Equator? I’ll take you there.”
“Naw, this is good enough. We’ve got a golf game anyway.”
It’s a fitting conclusion to four months on the road. Balancing the line between what we perceive and what we know is really out there.
“Thanks man, that’s very nice.”
“What’s with the cell-phone?”
“It’s a GPS. Turns out these guys have it wrong. This monument should be one kilometre that way.”
“How far’s that? Bout a quarter mile?”
“Where are you guys from, and what brings you to just south of the Equator?”
“We’re from Houston, and we’re filming a commercial for a client.”
It’s funny, this is so called middle of the world. Back in the earlier part of last century the best astronomers in the world, using the best equipment, with the best money decided that this is the Equator. They got it wrong. Wrong by 8 minutes (in astronomy terms) or by one kilometre in on the land terms. And it is a tough place to find. It took me 4 wrong buses and two wrong times to get it right.
We didn’t really figure this out until the GPS came along, and man, were faces red. This is a big goof. A lot of concrete got poured into this place. And a lot of commercials from Houston are filmed in this place. It’s big money. For a country that gave it’s name to this imaginary line, they imagined wrong.
But even that this place is wrong, and that it is really a memorial to inaccurate science more than the waist of the earth, the tourists keep coming in droves. People straddle the red line. They kiss across it. They embrace in two different hemispheres. And they do other things across this line, creative or otherwise.
But interestingly enough, when you are there with the GPS, and you show people that this line incorrect….they don’t want to hear it. “What’d ya mean it’s wrong. Hell they put this goddamn monument here, it must be right. It’s your gizmo that’s got it wrong.”
Fitting, no? People and societies are quite capable of perceiving their own realities. And when those realities are perceived, dead wrong as they can be, and an alternative (be it truth or otherwise) shows up, presents itself, people will still refuse to believe it.
“Hey, do you guys want to take your camera to the real Equator? I’ll take you there.”
“Naw, this is good enough. We’ve got a golf game anyway.”
It’s a fitting conclusion to four months on the road. Balancing the line between what we perceive and what we know is really out there.
posted by Bobert @ 7:55 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Ok Mr. Who says your GPS is the ultimate truth? Now, depending on which datum you set your GPS to use (if you can chanage it) you will get a different set of coordinates for the same point. So, maybe your GPS is set to use WGS84...but maybe on someone else's GPS they can set it to another one that makes that red line the equator! There is not enough beer on the table to explain this. Need a pen and paper, four pints (two full and two empty ones to use to trace circles around), and some potato chips. We'll edumacate you sooner or later.
Yeah, but Stevens, the Pre-Incans agree with my wee GPS, that's gospel, isn't it?
Post a Comment
<< Home