--- In
BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "adamnvillani" <avillani@u...>
wrote:
> Also, the actual definitions of the latitude lines are independent
> of how the continents might be configured; they're just relative to
> the orb of the earth and how it spins on its axis. Longitude is
> taken relative to Greenwich Observatory in England, but I suppose
if
> some giant came along and carted the observatory over to Ottawa or
> something, everyone would have to either renumber their longitude,
> or we'd have to redefine longitude. It's important to note that the
> choice of Greenwich is arbitrary... I've seen old American maps
> somewhere (can't remember where) that showed longitude relative to
> the dome of the Capitol in Washington. Using such a reference may
> seem a bit odd, but it makes sense if you're proclaiming the E/W
> extreme points of a country that straddles the Greenwich 180
> longitude line. I mean, it makes sense to me to declare the
> westernmost point in Alaska to be whatever is farthest out in the
> Aleutian Islands, not what lies along the date line.
>
> Adam
indeed
yet not only is east not always east
& west not always west
but even north & south are purely arbitrary
if western civ had been invented in the southern hemisphere
all the maps would be upside down