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How is it possible to sail from the UK to New Zealand along a very nearly straight line without intercepting any landmasses?
(hexbear.net)
It's a Bluesky link but he use adult tags as de facto "spoiler" tags. The problem is that content is hidden if you're not logged into Bluesky. Here's a Bluesky mirror site to show the entire thread...
https://subium.com/profile/c0nc0rdance.bsky.social/post/3kpkcq2ecws22
A huge hint...
How is that nearly straight? They go South but then turn North past Tierra del Fuego.
As I understand it - it's a straight line if you had a globe and you used a piece of string.
The problem is that "straight" on the surface of a globe is a curve. The map projection (how you flatten out a globe) makes that look even weirder no matter how it is done. Is any route on the surface of a globe a straight line? Does the initial question even make sense?
The better visualization is here in that thread:
https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:r643qxafn6b3pxfffiodojbn/bafkreibfe7ihvpro7hkjqygekbnt6iseefl7xchkroownxit576d3f3vze@jpeg
Thanks, turns out I can't undo a Mercator projection mentally.
Globes are trippy man, how do they work???