Gerardus Mercator printed the first map of the
world that represented sailing courses of constant bearing as
straight lines.
This map featured orthogonal, evenly spaced
lines of longitude, and lines of latitude spaced farther apart as
they neared the poles
so that the north-south stretching exactly
matches the east-west stretching, making the projection conformal.
Exaggerating the sizes of land near the poles,
it caused generations of children to think Greenland was bigger
than Australia.
Projections
The world has always been larger
than the view from your window.
You might never go to Timbuctoo
except with a map in your mind. In your mind,
the world can assume the shape
of the angel or demon that possesses you.
The mountains her body, the rivers her voice,
the oceans her soul. But a map
pulls back the curtains and opens the window.
It makes the world larger and less personal,
more mysterious and more loving.
Loxodromes
One’s straight lines
are another’s slow curves. A soft ball
spins and weaves the distance
over and over from mound to home
until it is caught or hit. Here,
I would talk about art.
I would say how I feel
about appearing to spiral out of control.
It’s not bad in retrospect.
Even at the time, when the alternatives
were not imaginable, one wondered
whether loving oneself would be enough.
A pattern eventually fills the space
following a simple rule of thumb.
The thumb fits into a glove. The outfielder
makes the catch out in left field.
A loxodrome, also known as a rhumb line, maintains a
constant angle to the north pole so that on a globe it can trace a
spiral to the north pole, rather than taking the shortest
distance. This is sort of like life, at least for us lucky people.
A loxodrome, also known as a rhumb line, maintains a constant angle to the north pole so that on a globe it can trace a spiral to the north pole, rather than taking the shortest distance. This is sort of like life, at least for us lucky people.
See also in The book of science:
Readings on wikipedia: