...
First thing I got up this morning I was mulling my vexation over the pole thing, the clashes between all the things I've learned in my life about what constitutes the north pole. I was always told there is a "slight" difference between true north and magnetic north, but since it's so slight the north on a compass is good enough for government work. That was good enough information for a long time.
But then the notion that any spinning object in space has poles came my way.
Oh shit.
Which led me to question, of course, how there could be a difference in true north and magnetic north. Wouldn't that mean that magnetic north is true north? The bit about earth not being perfectly round, being slightly egg-shaped and wobbling on its axis, doesn't exactly account for this anymore when you take the physics of electromagnetism as controlling.
So I'm having my morning psychic grumble about this, putting on the coffee, taking my thyroid pill, groping for a smoke, admiring Putin out there on the ice with his fellow old farts, and putting my grumble on hold for a few while I express to you my admiration, thinking I'm going to bring it up right along with my piece about Putin, but by the time I got to it I couldn't remember what I was about anymore and just left it at my little nerve movie about short guys.
I was irked by my decrepit sieve brain as I went over to get another cup of coffee happening before I took in another bit on the intertubes. Once back at my post and sipping, the very first thing was Henrik interviewing someone about The Bock Saga and I decided to give it half a try, which is what I do always now, definitely no longer willing to squander my ears on his political leanings and promotions of books unless it really promises something worthy of learning. If I can't tell immediately, I give it half a listen until I find out whether I'll give it a whole one, skipping the introductory blather, and then skipping to approximately where any real discussion usually starts up.
Doing precisely this today, it immediately was mentioned about the north pole having moved off an island near Helsinki to where it is now, and the innerspace grumbling I'd already lost as one does a dream came barreling back like a thunderclap. So I went to investigate, and reading just this one page so far, it is making me laugh at our little clutch of starry-eyed social darwinists, of whom Henrik certainly is one. They'd faint when they got to:
In the pagan system we were not citizens with “democratic” rights that no one bothers about. In the pagan system you were the King’s minion. One had only to follow the country’s laws; in return the King and the Lordships were obligated to provide food, housing, and protection for everyone.No? Yes they would. They so damn would.
Anyway, this made me want to really listen, despite the impediment of not exactly smooth English at play. It was very, very interesting stuff, and I think it merits our attention in a big way.
