Vega as ballistic missile?

Pat Flannery writes:

As far as pointless things (otherwise known as exciting tourist destinations)
there's this, off to my northwest:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11486

Well, Balta ND appearently also has a claim. Using MapQuest and zooming
out a bit, I feel they might be right. Next trip out west I'll take
photos using my GPS to find the actual spot....

http://tinyurl.com/yf7xk9a

Where one can feel very safe from tsunamis.
And of course, our buffalo's hated competitor in New Salem:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2716

I'll have to add this to the list to go with my photos of
Paul and Babe...

Note the exciting Native American insight:

The younger of whom was later contracted by the corrugated box mfg.
trade association and paid a handsome licensing fee to determine
proper labeling technique and retired to a semi-private beach
wigwam on the pacific ocean....

;-)

Dave

David Spain wrote:
Pat Flannery writes:

As far as pointless things (otherwise known as exciting tourist destinations)
there's this, off to my northwest:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11486

Well, Balta ND appearently also has a claim. Using MapQuest and zooming
out a bit, I feel they might be right. Next trip out west I'll take
photos using my GPS to find the actual spot....

It would be really trick to find the center because you would have to
measure the distance from the north to south shores and east to west
shores across the whole continent and see where the two meandering
half-point lines crossed. A small bay on one coast moves the center
point at that latitude or longitude half its depth toward the other coast.
Also, where does North America end on its south end? The Panama Canal?

Pat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...

Also, where does North America end on its south end? The Panama Canal?

Here's a question for you. What's the definition of an island? Is it
something less than a continent surrounded by water? Only natural, or what?

I mean is Cape Cod really Island Cod because of the Cap Code Canal? That's
all sea-level.

What about the DelMarVar peninsula?

What about everything east of Mississippi/Chicago River/St. Lawrence Seaway?

If you limit it to "must be at the same water level" does that knock out the
island at the top of Niagara Falls?




--
Greg Moore
Ask me about lily, an RPI based CMC.

Pat Flannery wrote:
David Spain wrote:

Pat Flannery writes:

As far as pointless things (otherwise known as exciting tourist
destinations)
there's this, off to my northwest:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11486


Well, Balta ND appearently also has a claim. Using MapQuest and zooming
out a bit, I feel they might be right. Next trip out west I'll take
photos using my GPS to find the actual spot....

It would be really trick to find the center because you would have to
measure the distance from the north to south shores and east to west
shores across the whole continent and see where the two meandering
half-point lines crossed. A small bay on one coast moves the center
point at that latitude or longitude half its depth toward the other coast.
Also, where does North America end on its south end? The Panama Canal?

The Panama Canal is a potential delimiter only if divide the Americas
into North and South without having Central America. The way I was
taught it (I'm not sure how to which point this is universally accepted)
North America is Canada, the US and most of Mexico, the part of Mexico
east of the isthmus of Tehuantepec (that is the thinnest part of Mexico)
is in Central America.

Even if you do accept the above as the definition of the southern
limit of North America finding the exact centre of North America
is a daunting task. There are some of the shores of the arctic which
are poorly mapped and for which it is not obvious what would really
be land and what is merely dirty ice that doesn't quite melt in the
summer.


Alain Fournier

Alain Fournier wrote:
The Panama Canal is a potential delimiter only if divide the Americas
into North and South without having Central America. The way I was
taught it (I'm not sure how to which point this is universally accepted)
North America is Canada, the US and most of Mexico, the part of Mexico
east of the isthmus of Tehuantepec (that is the thinnest part of Mexico)
is in Central America.

Yeah, but that's a artificial boundary that was put in as a arbitrary
division, like that between Europe and Asia.
Before the Suez canal, the same held true for Asia and Africa.
I don't consider a land mass you can walk to from another landmass to be
a true separate continent.
Which means that back in the ice age when Asia and North America were
joined by the land bridge, the Earth only had three true continents:
Australia, Antarctica, and this monster that was everything else.

Even if you do accept the above as the definition of the southern
limit of North America finding the exact centre of North America
is a daunting task. There are some of the shores of the arctic which
are poorly mapped and for which it is not obvious what would really
be land and what is merely dirty ice that doesn't quite melt in the
summer.

You could figure that out in detail via seismic explorations using
blasting and reflected shockwaves from under the ice (in fact, I'll bet
it's already been done).
The question as to whether ice that doesn't melt on its shoreline is
considered part of a continental landmass is a good one. I wouldn't
think it would be as long as it was floating and didn't go all the way
to the seabed.
If it did go all the way down to the seabed though, like a glacier that
terminated in the ocean, you could make a good argument that it was
indeed part of the continental landmass, as ice is technically a
mineral: http://www.galleries.com/Minerals/OXIDES/ice/ice.htm

Pat