[Steve Okula]

I just learned how contour lines were invented while reading Bill Bryson's book, "A Short History of Nearly Everything".  In the chapter entitled, "The Size of the Earth", Bryson tells about early attempts to calculate the volume and mass of our planet.

The Schielhallion experiment was carried out on the mountain of that name in central Scotland. The following is from Wikipedia, because I could cut and paste this description and I'm too lazy to transcribe the more amusing version found in Bryson's book. The Mason referred to is the same surveyor who partnered with Dixon to create the Mason/Dixon line betwenn Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Schiehallion's isolated position and regular shape led it to be selected by Charles Mason for a ground-breaking experiment to estimate the mass of the Earth in 1774.[5] The deflection of a pendulum by the mass of the mountain provided an estimate of the mean density of the Earth, from which its mass and a value for Newton's Gravitational constant G could be deduced. Mason turned down a commission to carry out the work and it was instead coordinated by Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne. He was assisted in the task by mathematician Charles Hutton, who devised a graphical system to represent large volumes of surveyed heights, later known as contour lines.[6]

[Norbert P]

  Steve O.
   I read that book a few years ago and have since given it away twice. I wish I could remember more of it. Tons o' info. Bryson is one of those gifted writers that can make the mundane hilarious. (Not that topo lines are less than fascinating!)   His exposure of scientific bad behaviour (aka backstabbing, stealing, rug-pulling, plagiarizing, etc.), gives a timeless account on humanity's inhumanity. Religeons, governments, militaries, et al, don't have a monopoly on cretins. The smart guys are scandalous, too.

  I don't think he golfs but I wished he did because I'd love to get his slant on this pastime.    

************************************************************************************

   

Sailing To Philadelphia 


I am Jeremiah Dixon
I am a Geordie boy
A glass of wine with you, sir
And the ladies I'll enjoy
All Durham and Northumberland
Is measured up by my own hand
It was my fate from birth
To make my mark upon the earth...

He calls me Charlie Mason
A stargazer am I
It seems that I was born
To chart the evening sky
They'd cut me out for baking bread
But I had other dreams instead
This baker's boy from the west country
Would join the Royal Society...

We are sailing to Philadelphia
A world away from the coaly Tyne
Sailing to Philadelphia
To draw the line
A Mason-Dixon Line

Now you're a good surveyor, Dixon
But I swear you'll make me mad
The West will kill us both
You gullible Geordie lad
You talk of liberty
How can America be free
A Geordie and a baker's boy
In the forests of the Iroquois...

Now hold your head up, Mason
See America lies there
The morning tide has raised
The capes of Delaware
Come up and feel the sun
A new morning has begun
Another day will make it clear
Why your stars should guide us here...

We are sailing to Philadelphia
A world away from the coaly Tyne
Sailing to Philadelphia
To draw the line
A Mason-Dixon Line

   Mark Knopfler   Duet performed with James Taylor

[RJ_Daley]

Thanks gents, I'm sure glad I decided to read Golf Club Atlas today!

[Steve Lang]

  I guess I should be proud of being born south of the Mason-Dixon Line, or at least raise a toast..

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