Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Final Jeopardy

The answer was something like "Starting in Ohio, if you dug straight through the earth, you would emerge in this body of water."

The question: "What is the Indian Ocean?"

I knew it as a matter of course. Though I often know Jeopardy answers and will announce them to my living room and whoever happens to be in it at the time, for some reason, this struck my family as a "Why the hell would you know this?" situation.

I thought that anyone who knew me would think this to be a perfectly reasonable thing for me to have researched previously. Why?

Have you never thought "What is the furthest on this planet I could possibly get from this place?" and then immediately tracked down the nearest globe and tried to pick the exact location most diametrically opposed to where you were?

Or is it just me?

Though the blogging populace very likely represents a highly skewed sample of the public and this wouldn't qualify as a scientific poll, I just have to know.

AND PLEASE, I don't want to hear about how, if at all, the extended width of the earth at the Equator would skew my arbitrary "furthest place from here" definition.

Labels: , ,

posted by Jill at 12:00 AM

32 Comments:

  • For me right now...The Galapagos ~grin~

    By Blogger Indiana, At Wed May 24, 12:13:00 AM 2006  

  • I'm sure if I wanted to find the most distant spot around the globe from where I'm standing I would use Google Earth to find it. Unfortunately, I have yet to feel the need to find that out.

    The only problem that presents itself as a result of this is that if in fact the indian ocean is the furthest place from where I am now, I'd need a boat or some small island to reside on after such a trip. If I were independently wealthy of course this would not be as much of a problem.

    Don't know how well that assessment fits your polls but at least I was amused typing it. Unfortunately you'll probably never get the brain cells back that died as a result of reading my comment.

    By Blogger Anteros, At Wed May 24, 12:26:00 AM 2006  

  • Whenever I'm around a globe, I mostly just like to spin it, close my eyes, and hold my finger on it until it stops, thus leading me to the place I will one day live.

    Inevitably, I end up in the middle of the ocean.

    By Anonymous jenny, At Wed May 24, 12:32:00 AM 2006  

  • Why would I do that when I have Jill to make such determinations for me? :-) You also seem to be far more enthused with geography and derive much more pleasure from it than I likely would.

    By Blogger -J, At Wed May 24, 01:15:00 AM 2006  

  • Holy crap, I love that you know that. Want to go to Vegas and get married? ;)

    By Blogger Karl, At Wed May 24, 02:23:00 AM 2006  

  • if it makes you feel any better, i do that too. So now i'm curious, do you also stop for a second and think of whether you should really dig thru the middle (that is going to the exact opposite passing thru the center of the earth) or sometimes you think it's okay to just basically dig straight down and therefore technically making a shortcut? (it just seems easier to dig that way, i heard the earthcore is hot)

    By Blogger treespotter, At Wed May 24, 03:29:00 AM 2006  

  • Erm - no I've never done that. However I live less than a mile from where I was born and so far in my tracing of family history I'm back to the birth of my great Grandfather in 1836 - he was born.... less than a mile from where I live.

    I think the lack of wanderlust is in the genes.

    By Blogger Further on up the road, At Wed May 24, 04:18:00 AM 2006  

  • I'm more of a romantic... I look out towards the ocean and wonder who is looking back in my direction.

    By Blogger ChickyBabe, At Wed May 24, 04:32:00 AM 2006  

  • Given that you and I share the same basic geography (separated by what, about 30 miles?), I don't have much more I could add to this conversation from a practical standpoint.

    Metaphorically, the furthest place from me right now is a relaxed deserted beach somewhere in the Turks & Caicos, with some sort of coconut rum drink in one hand and a tropical breeze coming in off the turqoise water.

    By Blogger The Chronic Curmudgeon, At Wed May 24, 07:45:00 AM 2006  

  • Straight down would always take you through the center. If you dug a hole all the way through and jumped in (ignoring the heat an so forth), you'd fall halfway and then stop in the center, from which every direction would be up.

    I think the top of Mount Everest might be high enough above sea level to be farther away than the surface of the Indian Ocean in spite of the curvature of the Earth. I'm not sure about that, however.

    Oh yeah. I think about this stuff. I never stop.

    Hello, Jill.

    By Blogger scott, At Wed May 24, 08:07:00 AM 2006  

  • i've played a similar game: is there any way i could live farther away from X point and still stay in the contiguous 48?

    it's a surprisingly depressing game.

    By Blogger kat, At Wed May 24, 08:44:00 AM 2006  

  • Played the game and moved there.

    Wombat

    By Blogger Wombat & Aspen, At Wed May 24, 09:36:00 AM 2006  

  • I thought about it when I was younger - even started digging a hole until my dad found it and got mad - but I'd always just assumed I'd end up in China. It never occurred to me that I might end up somewhere else, so I never checked.

    By Blogger the Caitlinator, At Wed May 24, 10:05:00 AM 2006  

  • I can relate to the "anywhere but here attitude", though I never limited to the earth. I figure it this way, "if i where on another planet aliens would think I was the stereotypical human". On earth I feel like the oddball. ;)

    By Blogger Croaker, At Wed May 24, 10:52:00 AM 2006  

  • Well, that does sounds like something I would do. But also, that answer just makes sense....really I don't know what else it'd be.

    By Blogger Cheryl, At Wed May 24, 11:42:00 AM 2006  

  • Believe it or not, I was thinking about our antipodes a few days ago, because I had always heard that for Spain it was Australia. But as I live on the Canary Islands and we are a bit further down south, I was wondering where the place is.

    Now, Thank you for inspiring me to research, on the WWW for lack of a globe. Our antipodes are somewhere in the South Pacific, 900 km. off the east coast of Australia. The nearest inhabited land is Norfolk Island.

    By Blogger Magnetic Mary, At Wed May 24, 12:21:00 PM 2006  

  • Cool. Thanks magnetic mary.

    By Blogger scott, At Wed May 24, 12:29:00 PM 2006  

  • Indy, maybe you need to go hang out with the lizards and tortoises.

    Yes, Anteros, I know the problem of which you speak. Lack of funding has halted many adventures before they could even begin.

    Well, Jenny, the odds are skewed in that direction. I don't think I'd put my fate in the hands of a spinning globe, though. Heh. I'm sure that has some metaphorical significance or irony somehow.

    You don't love geography, -J?

    Thanks for the offer, Karl, but I am studiously avoiding the M word.

    Actually, Treespotter, at that point I start researching the prices of airplane tickets.

    Which leads me to wonder the origin of your screen name, Further on up the road... Care to share?

    Oh, CB, I do that, too. I do that so often I should list it on my tax returns under "Occupation." But it doesn't pay any money, so I suppose the federal government wouldn't care.

    So, CC, you're under some stress? How'd your move go?

    Scott, here's me trying to think of some way to respond to that.

    Kat, I suppose it could be depressing, depending on what is at point X.

    Womabat, this is just an estimation but, depending upon your city of origin in Australia, isn't it possible that the UK might actually have been a closer estimation of the point furthest away from you? God save the Queen. ;)

    Yes, folks do perpetrate that "dig a hole all the way to China" myth, don't they Caitlinator? I wonder where that came from.

    I've thought about other planets, Croaker, but I am rather fond of this one.

    Cheryl, I guess the trick answer might have been the Pacific Ocean.

    By Blogger Jill, At Wed May 24, 12:31:00 PM 2006  

  • And before the geography patrol starts correcting me, yes I know the antipodal points to Australia are in the Atlantic closer to the US side, but it was a joke.

    By Blogger Jill, At Wed May 24, 12:48:00 PM 2006  

  • I'm not sure where my "furthest point" would be, but I often do weird stuff like that. For example, I will perform basic math equations using the numbers and numerical values of letters I find on license plates as I drive. I try to make one set equal the other set or some such.

    Hope that makes you feel better.

    I feel worse.

    By Blogger kapgar, At Wed May 24, 12:55:00 PM 2006  

  • Hey kapgar, I do that too? Do you find that most of them add to 666? Watch yer back is all I'm sayin'. The end is near!

    By Blogger scott, At Wed May 24, 01:02:00 PM 2006  

  • I doubt I love it anywhere near as much as you do, Jill. :-)

    By Blogger -J, At Wed May 24, 01:40:00 PM 2006  

  • Scott, I hope you weren't joking, at least in the beginning... because I do stuff like that all the time.

    I also stare at irregular shapes and try to decide where best to cut them so it would be exactly in half.

    Do you do that, Kevin?

    Are you mocking me, -J?

    By Blogger Jill, At Wed May 24, 02:10:00 PM 2006  

  • For me right now, the furthest place i could be from myself is not writing, not dreaming, not blogging, and not day dreaming. But right, you wanted a location. How about the Red Sea - why would i go there?

    By Blogger Sass, At Wed May 24, 02:52:00 PM 2006  

  • This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Blogger -J, At Wed May 24, 03:11:00 PM 2006  

  • I would never mock you about something for which you seem to have such a passion, Jill. Besides, I think passionate Jill is the sexiest Jill I've encountered thus far. :-)

    By Blogger -J, At Wed May 24, 03:12:00 PM 2006  

  • Jill, I've been thinking about this since I saw it pop up in my blogwatcher. For me, getting farthest away is getting to the most inaccessable spot, so, I'm thinking a private island in the South Pacific stocked with plenty of rum, fresh fruit, fresh fish, and cool breezes. Add something wild, hard to catch, but harmless, for my dog to chase. If possible, something that's not even on a map, but completely unknown to modern mapping systems, GIS and my ex-wife.

    Ah, paradise....

    By Anonymous Network Geek, At Wed May 24, 03:15:00 PM 2006  

  • Sadly... yes. But it's all internal so nobody has to know what a freak I am.

    By Blogger kapgar, At Thu May 25, 10:01:00 AM 2006  

  • I don't think the earth is wider at the equator so much as it is flattened at the poles. In my book, your definition is accurate. P out.

    By Anonymous peefer, At Thu May 25, 12:52:00 PM 2006  

  • Getting as far away as possible isn't that big of a thrill for me. I just like the idea of being "anywhere but here", the spirit of wanderlust.

    Wanderlust. What a great word.

    By Blogger J, At Thu May 25, 12:56:00 PM 2006  

  • Sass, that sounds like a fine life! No reason to get away at all.

    Really, -J?

    That sounds divine, Geek.

    Then I'm a freak, too, Kapgar! Woo-hoo!

    "P out"? Oh Lord, have you turned into Ryan Seacrest? Do you iron your hair straight? EVIL DOPPELGANGER, I DEMAND YOU RETURN PEEFER... uhhhhhh... I mean, PEEFERS. ALL OF THEM! THE POWER OF JILL COMPELS YOU! JUST IN CASE THE CAPS AREN'T LOUD ENOUGH I'M ADDING EXCLAMATION POINTS!

    J, "wanderlust" is in fact my favorite word ever.

    By Blogger Jill, At Fri May 26, 12:08:00 AM 2006  

  • Jill - the origin of my screen name (sorry that is side splittingly funny as it is). The road I speak of is life's journey emotionally and spiritually. Not the physical one. At first I was going to call my blog “Further on down the road”. Then I heard someone talk about positivity in all things and thought up more appropriate – plus there is the song of the same name – which the lyrics of have no baring on what my blog is about at all…… Hey – I never promised any of it would make any bloody sense did I?

    By Blogger Further on up the road, At Fri May 26, 09:31:00 AM 2006  

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