Useless Trivia - 1st one to answer gets to ask

Not entirely sure, but I think "the" is the definite article in English, and I think it's the only one. I think I understand what "the" is, but I don't think I can compose an explanation in grammatical terms.

 

Daniel, you are correct - "the" is the one and only definite article in English. Your question!

 

Congrats! I glossed right over the "definite" and was also thinking of "a" and "an". I have got to pay better attention.

 

What point on the surface of the Earth is the farthest from the center of the Earth? Hint: The place most people will immediately think of is not it.

 

the equator

 

I'd guess more specifically some tall mountain (or island) on the equator. My geography isn't good enough to get that one without google though

 

Mt. Everest:nerd:

 

"MoveOn.org" or "RightWingNews.com"?

 

I.e., Everest is not it.

 

Not sure how long I should wait. Should I give the answer, or wait another day? Maybe some folks don't look at this thread every day.

 

I think we're at the "first one to google it gets the prize" point. I'd give it another 24 hours.

EDIT: or actually, maybe you could provide a hint?

 

A big mountain near the equator sounds like Kilimanjaro. Or maybe something in the Andes. Peru? Ecuador? I'm sure I couldn't guess the name. Not Machu Picchu.

 

I think it must be either the North Pole, the South Pole, the Arctic or Antartica because the Earth is not perfectly round -- it bulges a little at the equator.

 

ok boo, if we use your logic, i guesssed the equator and that not right, so apparently it does not bulge enough in middle plus the equator is not a specific spot...so using the pole opitons, the north pole there is no land so its at sea level, meaning the south pole would be my 2nd wild guess

 

There is a bulge at the equator...it is peak of Ecuador's Mount Chimborazo

 

What is 1312ft below sea level and dry?

 

The Dead Sea -- but haven't you left the starting blocks a bit early?
Daniel hasn't said whether your answer to his question was correct.

Daniel?


**** OK I just looked it up, and at least one geography book supports perryma's answer


**** Uh, oh, my colleague in the office next door says the answer is Nevado Huascaran in Peru.
(but he Wikipediaed it ! :-(

**** 3rd edit * BTW, there is a really interesting Discussion of this claim on the Discussion tab for the Huascaran entry on Wikipedia, it involves whether Wikipedia should ever be a source for new information or always refer to external sources, cool.


Which one were you thinking of Daniel?

 

Chimborazo is correct. I did not give it to "the Equator" because that's a line, not a point, and I did not give it to "A big mountain near the equator sounds like Kilimanjaro. Or maybe something in the Andes. Peru? Ecuador?" because although that is right, it seemed far too vague and did not name the actual point.

And yes, it is because of the equatorial bulge that it is farther from the center of the Earth, even though Everest is the highest above sea level. The poles, of course, are closer to the center of the Earth than is the equator.

I stumbled upon this bit of trivia while reading Left for Dead by Beck Weathers, who had a near-fatal accident on Mt. Everest in 1996, the same disastrous expedition that Jon Krakauer writes about in Into Thin Air. (Beck says he actually died. Actually, he passed out from hypothermia in "the death zone," where it was assumed that nobody could survive extreme hypothermia.) He regained consciousness and made it back to high camp where he was able to recover enough to climb lower with considerable help, and was then flown out in the highest helicopter rescue ever attempted. The middle section of the book talks about his pre-Everest climbing obsession and experiences.

He had become temporarily blind on the mountain because a then-unknown side effect of radial keratotomy is that the eyes become distorted, and the vision blurred, when the atmospheric pressure is extremely low. Rob Hall, the lead guide, told him he could not continue climbing, but also could not descend alone, and he should wait for him to come back down. But Hall died on the mountain and never came back down, and by the time Weathers finally gave up on Hall and began down, he was too cold and exhausted, and a blizzard had set in. In the aftermath, his eyes recovered, but he lost both hands and his nose. The nose was rebuilt by plastic surgery.

The above trivia causes me to wonder if atmospheric pressure is less at the equator than at the temperate latitudes, and therefore if the death zone is lower there. I don't know the answer to this.

 

Lol, I had forgotten the question. I thought he asked for the point closest to the center of the Earth. That's why I said North Pole, South Pole, Arctic, Antartica.

 

so sam i guess its your turn