I just dispelled another myth that I held true...

[Monstrous Mike]

I guess ever since I was a kid, I held the following to be true: "The Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from space".

It's really just a benign statement, something to throw around at the campfire. It seems to be common knowledge among most people, something we grew up with and never questioned. It is so common in fact that it even appears in children's textbooks. However, upon some investigation, it appears this statement is simply untrue.

Two sources of information to verify this claim are testimony from astronauts who have looked out of the window of a spacecraft in orbit and satellites which take pictures at 1x magnification. According to both sources, the Wall is actually very difficult to see since it is similar in color to the surroundings and not really that wide. Actually, the first Chinese man in space reported that he could not see it. And there are many other man-made objects that can be seen like airports, highways, etc.

Another myth that I held true for years was that water in a toilet or drain would rotate depending on which hemisphere you are in. The source for verifying this is more scientific that the man-made object from space myth. The Coreolis Effect is very real and well understood. If you have recently looked at a weather map showing hurricanes you can see that they are rotating and that they rotate in different directions depending on which side of the equator you are on. However, this force is so small on a bowl full of water that drains in less that a minute that it has no effect. The initial motion of the water has a thousand-fold more effect than the rotation of the earth. To get a toilet bowl to rotate down a drain according to the hemisphere you are in would require a special room which is completely vibration-free, the water to rest for several days and then drain over a 24 hour period. Then, you could constantly predict the direction of rotation.

So what is the point of this post? Well my point is that I don't care who you are or how much you think you know, you probably believe in some things that are not true. The above are two (simple) examples in my life where I had to change my thinking.

It's simply something to ponder the next time you say you are sure about something.

[trollgirl]

...the wakes of riverboats on rivers. Surely the design of a toilet has much more to do with the swirl of the water than the rotation of the Earth.
Here's another one, which I have been aware of for some time, but have been thinking about it again. Are you a home owner? Um, probably not. If your place is paid off, take a look at the deed you finally received. It names you as something like "tennant", or if you are married, "tennants in common". Isn't that true? But I say that it is more than just legal mumbo-jumbo. You are STILL a renter! You have merely paid thru the nose for twenty or thirty years to have your rent reduced to only property taxes. Yes, that's your bottom-line rent, and if you don't pay it, you are duly evicted, and the house goes to others who will pay the rent. It follows then, that the State/County owns the house you are paying for. Ditto for land, most of it.
Money is another illusion. Federal Reserve Notes look like money to most of us, they spend like money, but they are not money according to the Constitution. They are Bank Notes issued by the Federal Reserve Bank, a PRIVATE bank. Believe what you will, it is not a part of the Government. Many large, important organizations have a very intimate relationship with the federal government. Next time you see an American Red Cross vehicle, take a look at the license plates - they will be US Government plates. What's with that??
So much in this life is an illusion...

Laz

[markw]

Enough with this already. Waddaya gonna try to say next? There's no Santa Claus?

(wasn't this initially in the "Audio Lab" where it's true context was more obvious?)

[Monstrous Mike]

.. Are you a home owner? Um, probably not. If your place is paid off, take a look at the deed you finally received. It names you as something like "tennant", or if you are married, "tennants in common". Isn't that true?

You are correct on most counts, but I do own a house and live in Canada. It is true that nobody owns the property their house is on. You merely pay for the right to occupy that piece of land. This is due to the fact that the government needs to retain the right to expropriate the land if necessary for such things as building highways, etc.

However, I do own all of the structures on the land and if my property was expropriated by the government, I would have the option of moving those structures off the land somewhere else.

For markw.

You are correct in assuming that the point of my post was that science is used to dispell myth and this is very applicable in audio. I don't know why this was moved.

[Resident Loser]

...The abilitiy to discern subtlety escapes some of us...odd considering some of the "subtleties" recounted now and again as fact...

jimHJJ(...gives one pause, eh?...)