Re: The 3-D nature of the flow?

On Thu, 10 Jul 1997, Bryce Perry wrote:

> ---Jonathan Stevenson  wrote:
> >
> >      Something that I've been thinking about is that the flow is
> actually
> >      3-D.  I've been struggling with a way to represent this (and
> maybe
> >      even maintain the same orientation shown on the 2-D Phlogiston
> chart I
> >      already have).  It would be cool if it could be done, as then
> there
> >      would be a sort of "hidden" truth buried in the common
> knowledge of
> >      the players.  I reckon this would be sorta like the situation
> in
> >      Europe in the 14-15th century when most travellers had a pretty
> good
> >      idea about Europe but still thought in terms of a flat Earth.
>
> Why do you think that European sailors had this view?  The Romans
> didn't...why should their descendants?  Have you ever seen a statue of
> Atlas holding a pancake?  I didn't think so.

Sorry, but Jonathan is right here.  That is why Colombus' idea was so
revolutionary.  Get to India by sailing West instead of South and around
Africa?  The only problem was that Colombus underestimated the diameter
of the earth by a couple of thousand miles.  oops.

The Greeks and Romans did believe the world to be flat.  The Romans also
believed themselves to be the masters of the world because they did not
believe there were any other major land masses out there.  They did
colonize many islands, such as the canary islands.  But those statues of
Atlas you are refering to are MODERN statues of Atlas.  They are modern
depictions of the ancient myth.  Many old statues of Atlas show him
holding a bowl.  This is how many ancient philosophers viewed the earth.
A big bowl with water and land inside of it.  Although some revolutionary
scholars concluded that the world was round before Colombus' time,
generally accepted knowledge held a flat-world view.

--Grimwulf

> BP (I'm back!)

Welcome back.