The far ends of the earth

-

Antipodes.

In geography, the antipodes (from Greek αντι- [anti-] "opposed" and πους [pous] "foot") of any place on Earth is that point which is diametrically opposite to it. These two antipodal points are connected to each other by a straight line which passes through the very center of the earth.

In Britain, "the Antipodes" is often used to refer to Australia and New Zealand (and "Antipodeans" for their inhabitants), despite the fact that neither Australia nor New Zealand actually overlap the antipodal points of Britain. However there are as far away from the London as any land mass on the earth can be.

So, for example, one can draw a line starting from Perth, Australia, through the center of the earth and burst through the crust in the middle of Hamilton, Bermuda.

Other antipodal points include:
Auckland, New Zealand and Gibraltar
Buenos Aires, Argentina and Shanghai, China
Madrid, Spain and Wellington, New Zealand

I've been to Shanghai, so I ought to go to Buenos Aires. I've transfered planes in Auckland (which is the further point south I've ever been on the globe) and I have always had the bug up to see Gibraltar. It's just another far flung dream I have to hit these stops.

If you want to know more about antipodes, see this antipodes calculator and wikipedia's antipodes map.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Care for an earth sandwich?
15:17
Anonymous said…
I'll go to Buenos Aires with you.
12:20
Casey said…
But which of us will fight to act out Evita there?
13:24
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The day we lost Pluto

-
or (And your little dog, Goofy, too!) It’s official, the International Astronomical Union (IAU), founded in 1919, has defined (I never had that much time in my life to define something -- most of my identify and define tests were given in the time frame of 40 minutes, slackers.) what a planet is: A planet is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit. According to this definition, Pluto has been demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet. A dwarf planet is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite. Pluto is a dwarf planet by the above definition and is ...
Read more

Isaac

-
On "Confessions on a Dance Floor," there's a song Isaac , which I have fallen in love with. There's a great Yemenite chant intermingled in the song, which is translated into "if all of the doors of all of the generous peoples' homes are closed to you, the gates of heaven will always be open." Of course, it's controversial. Some rabbis has called her blasphemous (Madonna blasphemous?) since they believed the song to be about a 15th century Kabbalist, Isaac Lurier. It is forbidden to invoke his name in order to make a profit. Madonna's response is that she named the song after the cantor, Yitzhak (Isaac in English) Sinwani, for lack of a better name. (Seriously, who cares, Madge is R.C. and she's known for blasphemy. Didn't she really give JPII a heartattack that finally did him in in April?) Madonna's lyrics are: Staring up into the heavens In this hell that binds your hands Will you sacrifice your comfort Make your way in a foreign la...
Read more

Braciole

-
While I had time off during the Christmas break, I spent it working on a braciole recipe for the slow cooker.   In Italian American cuisine, braciole (the word is commonly pronounced /ˌbrä-zhəl/ from the Sicilian dialect) is the name given to thin slices of meat, usually beef, that are prepared as a roulade, a meat slice rolled around a filling then browned and braised. When I first had braciole, they were small individual servings, like the German Rouladen.  However in my search for a slow cooker version, I discovered recipes that made a large roulade versus the individual portions.  If Giada can do it, then so can I. The effort that goes into crafting the individual braciole is intense. Therefore, I was excited that most of the recipes called for a big roast sized braciole.  Cutting down the directions to a comfortable level of simplicity makes for a delicious meal without the hours of toil and let's the cook enjoy the food. I played with these two recipes, Bo...
Read more