tyb
"In June 1792 - in the dying days of the French monarchy, […] two astronomers set out in opposite directions on an extraordinary quest. […]There mission was to measure the world, or at least that piece of the meridian arc which ran from Dunkerque through Paris to Barcelona. Their hope was that all the world's peoples would henceforth use the globe as their common standard of measure. Their task was to establish this new measure - "the meter" - as one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator."
The Measure of All Things
The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error that Transformed the world
by Ken Alder
>where you?
I here. Where you? In any case, Delambre and Mechain determined the distance from the curvature of the Earth, and they chose a circumpolar meridian such that anyone (with the proper measuring equipment) could verify it for themselves anywhere in the world, as long as they had sufficient land to recreate it.
>imagine being there and telling her
>i'd rather be paragliding
I'd rather be hang gliding. Tandem, at that.
>what the fuck are you doing?
Kek! I was wondering if there would ever be a point to it.
Held back on filtering out of curiosity.