This was the day after the Sendai earthquake (March 11 - 9.0 Richter Scale) and subsequent tsunami (tidal wave)... I assume that the person may have wanted to know:
- If an earthquake in one place affects the stability of what's on the opposite side of the planet;
- Just because they had a lot of time on their hand and are just a deep thinker;
- Because when making a prison tunnel it's good to cover all your bases.
- Because they were looking for a way to get the heck away from Japan.
What he or she was looking for, is a map showing the antipodal (diametrically opposed - or opposite) point of the globe.
It's a handy little thing. Like most kids, we learned from cartoons that if you were to dig a hole in say, your backyard and kept on digging and digging, you'd pass through the centre of the Earth (where, according to most movies - like Journey To The Center Of The Earth which I saw on March 13 on television - timing, eh? - but, this version is BETTER), dinosaur-like monsters still exist, and then providing you survived that, you could keep digging and digging (up... you'd be digging up, now) until you broke on through to the other side... which was apparently always someplace in China.
After writing this BLOG a week ago (and the title by The Doors), I wondered aloud and to anyone who would listen (no one, actually, wanted to listen), just what was on the opposite side of Japan and Toronto.
So... even if you don't care about that, maybe you care about what's on the opposite side of wherever the heck you are right now. I'll be honest... while it takes a few moments to figure out just what the heck you are looking at... I was sort of disappointed with my results. Hopefully you won't be, and will be fascinated by this big ole crazy place we call Earth.
And, just so you know... Toronto, Canada's antipodal opposite is off the southwestern tip of Australia - in the Indian Ocean. Ohtawara-shi where I lived in Japan... it's east of Uruguay in the Atlantic Ocean.
UPSIDEDOWNMAP
To use the map... find your location on the top map... use the minus sign to pull back to show more of the continent... find your place and then look below. To see where the heck you are, use the minus sign on the lower map to pull out and see if opposites do attract. Have fun.
Somewhere under the sea,
Andrew "I can't swim" Joseph
Today's blog title is sung by Bobby Darin. He may not have been the first to sing it (think 1946 and the title La Mer), but his version from 1959 is the most well-known. Here's a nice version: SEA.
PS: I just realized that Aquaman's wife is named MERA... "Sea" in French with an "a" at the end.
PPS: And for crying out loud - read the Jules Verne book, Journey To The Center Of The Earth. The man was probably the most brilliant futurist writer ever.
