Welcome to the 'ideas & philosophy' section.

Here you will experience some 'ideas and philosophy' from me and whichever others would care to post a bit of their own.
It's a pretty informal arrangement, intended to host some of those twilight inspirations that might otherwise be without a home.
So, don't hold back; the more variety we get here, the more interesting a place it will be for others to visit.


Here's what we have so far:


Maps

A Question:
Why in the world do we orient our maps so that up is North, down is South, and right and left are East and West?

A Proposed Answer:
Humans and other living things are oriented with horizontal symmetry -- left hand, right hand; left eye, right eye; left nostril, right nostril.
This makes a great deal of sense, since, for example, turning left or right as we walk brings us to similarly walkable terrain, whereas turning up or down brings us to our backs or our faces, a fall either way.
So, our present map orientation suits our natural perceptions: West and East become left and right since travelling West or East on the earth brings about minimal change in our environment. (Lines of longitude are lines of climate symmetry.)

A Proposition For Its Own Sake:
Let's realign all of our maps and globes.
This time, we'll consider the earth as a whole, with the equator as our reference line of symmetry.
North and South may then be our right and left, on the grounds that travelling North or South from the equator brings an equivalent change in our environment.
West will be up, so that the sun will rise across our maps rather than falling. (That seems the optimistic way to arrange things.)
Right; West is up, East is down, North is right and South is left. Let's figure out what that means.
Try to orient, say, the U.S. on a globe set up this way. California and an ocean top the country, with Hawaii and Alaska higher still. Canada and Mexico press in on either side, but neither sits above, weighing down on the U.S. (Am I the only one who suddenly finds Mexico much more noticeable?)
That's definitely disorienting on the first few tries.
But are there advantages that might justify a bit of transitional disorientation?
Let's see... relative climates and seasons in the Northern and Southern hemispheres: when you envision the sun following a vertical path across a map, or perhaps we'd best consider a globe, you automatically expect the symmetry in climate that results to either side.
Likewise, on a smaller map, climate may not be symmetrical to either side, but time of day is. To your left and to your right, the sun will be at exactly the same height on your map at any given point on your map.
How about considering some of the Earth's peculiarities -- back to a global view:
Why is there a large continent at the pole to your left, but none at the pole to your right?
Why is there so much more open ocean on your left than on your right?
Where do people congregate, relative to climate, in the Southern hemisphere, relative to the Northern?
So, how do you like it? Do some travelling...once around the world and wherever else you like.
What do you think? Practicality aside, would switching our maps be fun or forever uncomfortable?


Effort

There is no substitute for effort.
Natural talent, ingenuity, creativity... all of these improve the quality of whatever our efforts produce.
But without effort we accomplish nothing -- nothing.
Make the effort, and be proud of it.