we are ALL ONE family - POSTER

[dragonfly]

contact me if you would like a print of this 11 X 17 poster...

[Artofconfusion]

awesome! I love that pic, and you do have a valid point.. but isn't the earths axis ALWAYS going to be considered vertical since it will ALWAYS be perpendicular to the horizon? not that it really matters though, in a vacuum there is no up or down as up and down are nothing more than perspectives. Kind of like reality.

[dragonfly]

"...but isn't the earths axis ALWAYS going to be considered vertical since it will ALWAYS be perpendicular to the horizon?"

good thinking, but you didn't think it all the way through - you should read The Myth of a 'Vertical Axis' / 'North is Up' which i just added to the Earth section for the complete answers to the two issues below:

first of all Earth is a proper noun and the NAME of a planet and so should always be capitalized like you would capitalize the name of anything... would you say "but isn't the Jupiter's axis ALWAYS going to be considered vertical..."? proper nouns / names are generally never preceded by 'the' (although there are exceptions to this rule, but Earth is not one of them) - how does "The Jupiter is the largest planet" sound?

secondly, in a nutshell, 'vertical' defines UP / DOWN - i.e. every vertical line has a top and a bottom... if Earth's axis is truly 'vertical' - which 'end' (pole) is the top and which is the bottom??? if the South Pole is the 'bottom' of Earth's so-called 'vertical axis' as we've all been brainwashed to believe - when you drop something, does it drop towards the South Pole? only if you're standing on the North Pole! of course, if you're standing on the South Pole and you drop something, it drops towards the North Pole - so maybe the North Pole is the bottom of Earth... put on your anarchist thinking cap (and climb out of the 'vertical axis' / 'north is up' box they've put you in) and try to imagine where the BOTTOM of Earth is with all these things dropping...

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Earth's axis is actually composed of TWO separate, opposing, vertical lines connected at their common bottom (yes, that's right - the CENTER of Earth is the BOTTOM of Earth) to form a straight line, with the top of each vertical line at its respective axial pole. But two opposing, vertical lines forming the axis of a gravitational body do NOT make a ‘vertical’ axis - they just make an axis! it's so obvious and simple but try to find that in any book, university astonomy course or anywhere online...

[Artofconfusion]

"first of all Earth is a proper noun and the NAME of a planet and so should always be capitalized like you would capitalize the name of anything... would you say "but isn't the Jupiter's axis ALWAYS going to be considered vertical..."? proper nouns / names are generally never preceded by 'the' (although there are exceptions to this rule, but Earth is not one of them) - how does "The Jupiter is the largest planet" sound?

technically earth is also a standard ( non proper ) noun meaning planet or dirt. the earth is the planet we live on. I always thought of the earth's name as Gaia or Terra

secondly, in a nutshell, 'vertical' defines UP / DOWN - i.e. every vertical line has a top and a bottom... if Earth's axis is truly 'vertical' - which 'end' (pole) is the top and which is the bottom??? if the South Pole is the 'bottom' of Earth's so-called 'vertical axis' as we've all been brainwashed to believe - when you drop something, does it drop towards the South Pole? only if you're standing on the North Pole! of course, if you're standing on the South Pole and you drop something, it drops towards the North Pole - so maybe the North Pole is the bottom of Earth... put on your anarchist thinking cap (and climb out of the 'vertical axis' / 'north is up' box they've put you in) and try to imagine where the BOTTOM of Earth is with all these things dropping...

I said nothing of top or bottom, up or down. Up and down are relative to only one thing, the force of gravity. So technically down could be whatever direction the sun is from where you are standing.

Earth's axis is actually composed of TWO separate, opposing, vertical lines connected at their common bottom (yes, that's right - the CENTER of Earth is the BOTTOM of Earth) to form a straight line, with the top of each vertical line at its respective axial pole. But two opposing, vertical lines forming the axis of a gravitational body do NOT make a ‘vertical’ axis - they just make an axis! it's so obvious and simple but try to find that in any book, university astonomy course or anywhere online...

ver·ti·cal (vûrt-kl)
adj.
1. Being or situated at right angles to the horizon;

I stand corrected. According to the definition no matter what direction you look at the earth, by definition, the axis is horizontal. The equator is vertical. However I was thinking more along the lines of the Gaia's rotation around the sun, but in that case it only makes the axis perpendicular ( mostly ) to the orbit of the earth around the sun. it's all perspective.

I think really your entire point is the metaphorical connotations of UP and DOWN, eg master / servant, when viewing the globe as commonly depicted in pictures. In the southern hemisphere, do people turn their globes the other way around? I have one of the posters above my desk and am looking at it now. It says a lot of important things, I just don't think focusing on the direction of the depiction of Terra's axis is going to accomplish anything. As I look at it now, north is always to the left. By your reasoning this puts the south always to the right... see where that goes?

[dragonfly]

"technically earth is also a standard ( non proper ) noun meaning planet or dirt. the earth is the planet we live on. I always thought of the earth's name as Gaia or Terra"

you're correct in that Earth/earth has two meanings - but the standard (non-proper) noun 'earth' (non-capitalized) only means 'dirt' and does not mean the planet... Earth (capitalized) is the name (proper noun) of the planet we live on - and yes there have been many names for this planet - Earth, Gaia, Terra being only a few of them (notice how you capitalized Gaia and Terra)... and to confuse the issue even more - the 'sun' is not the name of the star/sun Earth revolves around... it IS a sun/star and one of its many names is Sol - Earth is one of many names of our planet and Sol is one of many names of our sun/star...

"...but isn't the earths axis ALWAYS going to be considered vertical..."

"I said nothing of top or bottom, up or down. Up and down are relative to only one thing, the force of gravity. So technically down could be whatever direction the sun is from where you are standing."

when you use the word 'vertical' you automatically imply a "top or bottom", and an "up or down" (and height/depth) whether you can see that or not... vertical defines 'top or bottom, up or down' and vice versa - i.e. a vertical line is a line that always goes UP and DOWN and always has a TOP and a BOTTOM... and yes, the 'down' part of 'vertical' is also connected to gravity - as gravity always pushes/pulls DOWN towards the center, or BOTTOM, of Earth along vertical lines that radiate out from the center/bottom of Earth (or you could say things are 'attracted' towards the centers of gravitational bodies)...

"So technically down could be whatever direction the sun is from where you are standing."

HUH ?!? if you're looking at the sun 'setting' (or 'rising') on the horizon - you believe 'down' is the direction towards the sun sitting on the horizon? or alternately, if the sun is high overhead at noon - you believe down is the direction towards the sun ABOVE you? if you drop a rock is it going to fall UP towards the sun above you - or DOWN towards the center of Earth (no matter where on Earth you happen to be standing)? only if the sun is on the completely opposite side of the planet from where you are standing will anything drop towards the sun, but of course that's just a coincidence - it's not really falling towards the sun, it's falling towards the center of Earth and the sun just happens to be in the same line... what does the sun have to do with gravity on Earth? things (on Earth) don't fall towards the sun - they fall towards the bottom (center) of Earth... they also fall at a right angle to the horizon - i.e. vertically...

"ver·ti·cal (vûrt-kl)
adj.
1. Being or situated at right angles to the horizon;

I stand corrected. According to the definition no matter what direction you look at the earth, by definition, the axis is horizontal. The equator is vertical."

you are somehow missing the WHOLE thing! by definition Earth's axis is definitely not horizontal ('horizon') because the axis is at right angles to the horizon - which defines VERTICAL... but it's NOT a vertical axis - the axis is actually composed of TWO vertical lines joined at a common bottom (all vertical lines have a top and bottom) which is the CENTER of Earth, and the tops of the two vertical lines (making up the non-vertical axis) are the two poles of the non-vertical axis... and trying to figure out if the equator is vertical or horizontal (which i've never given any thought to before now) has given me a pounding headache (thank you) - but i think it could be both and neither depending upon where you were situated on Earth...

"As I look at it now, north is always to the left. By your reasoning this puts the south always to the right... see where that goes?"

to show a still image of anything moving you have to freeze at some point in its movement - so showing a cat in mid air as it's jumping for a bird does not mean that cats are always hanging in mid air... same with showing images of planets - showing a still image of Earth on a 'horizontal' axis with, for example, Japan sitting on the top edge does not mean Japan is always on top because, just like the cat that falls down to the ground after its leap in mid air, Earth will rotate on that horizontal axis and 12 hours later Japan will be on the BOTTOM of Earth - so on a horizontal axis no one is ever PERMANENTLY ON TOP... not so with a vertical axis - the northern hemisphere will always be on the top half of Earth (or the southern hemisphere will always be on the top half)... so even though Earth's axis is truly neither vertical nor horizontal - if you are going to display a still image of Earth, the most BALANCED and FAIR way to display it is on a horizontal axis where no one is permanently on top...

"I am curious though, why did you put north on the left? Regardless of how you draw the planet you are, by your theory, drawing it wrong. Putting the north side to the left obviously means the north side is smarter and more forward thinking."

well, i had to put one of the poles on the left and i never thought of the left/right political context... good point, but only a brilliant anarchist like you would see that connotation and thank god there aren't many of those running around to trip me up on my once brilliant analysis, but, well, you've got me dammit - i should've put the north pole on the right...

i'm going to take my equatorial headache and go to bed now (i'm on call and they could call me at any time until 4 AM to take a run out) - but it's been fascinating...

[Artofconfusion]

you're correct in that Earth/earth has two meanings - but the standard (non-proper) noun 'earth' (non-capitalized) only means 'dirt' and does not mean the planet... Earth (capitalized) is the name (proper noun) of the planet we live on - and yes there have been many names for this planet - Earth, Gaia, Terra being only a few of them (notice how you capitalized Gaia and Terra)... and to confuse the issue even more - the 'sun' is not the name of the star/sun Earth revolves around... it IS a sun/star and one of its many names is Sol - Earth is one of many names of our planet and Sol is one of many names of our sun/star...

This is the same thing as with the whole 'vertical axis' rant. It is nothing but semantics. Do you really honestly think if everyone started capatalizing the word earth and orienting their maps differently that the world would miraculously become a better place? That is the inherent problem with 'activism' it's useless semantics. If you want to make a change, be an examplist.

I can guarantee you you will make much more of a difference if, instead of preaching the evils of map orientation and word capatalization, you went outside and picked up some trash or planted a tree.

Do you know what it's called when people mistake their opinions for fact? RELIGION.

[Artofconfusion]

you're correct in that Earth/earth has two meanings - but the standard (non-proper) noun 'earth' (non-capitalized) only means 'dirt' and does not mean the planet... Earth (capitalized) is the name (proper noun) of the planet we live on - and yes there have been many names for this planet - Earth, Gaia, Terra being only a few of them (notice how you capitalized Gaia and Terra)... and to confuse the issue even more - the 'sun' is not the name of the star/sun Earth revolves around... it IS a sun/star and one of its many names is Sol - Earth is one of many names of our planet and Sol is one of many names of our sun/star...[/qote]

Sol is a Spanish word meaning sun. The only time I have seen it capitalized is either on the beer or at the beginning of a sentence. Why don't you capitalize the word sun?

when you use the word 'vertical' you automatically imply a "top or bottom", and an "up or down" (and height/depth) whether you can see that or not... vertical defines 'top or bottom, up or down' and vice versa - i.e. a vertical line is a line that always goes UP and DOWN and always has a TOP and a BOTTOM... and yes, the 'down' part of 'vertical' is also connected to gravity - as gravity always pushes/pulls DOWN towards the center, or BOTTOM, of Earth along vertical lines that radiate out from the center/bottom of Earth (or you could say things are 'attracted' towards the centers of gravitational bodies)...

Imagine you are standing on the equator looking at the horizon. At this point you will be at a 90 degree angle to the horizon, but low and behold, you are also at a 90 degree angle to the earths axis. The earths axis is PARALLEL to the horizon. ALWAYS.

Somebody needs to read up on relativistic physics. It's all your point of view. The entire concept of Top, Bottom, Up, Down, Right, Left is 100% subjective. Try to remind yourself that your opinions are not facts.

well, i had to put one of the poles on the left and i never thought of the left/right political context... good point, but only a brilliant anarchist like you would see that connotation and thank god there aren't many of those running around to trip me up on my once brilliant analysis, but, well, you've got me dammit - i should've put the north pole on the right...

HUH ?!? if you're looking at the sun 'setting' (or 'rising') on the horizon - you believe 'down' is the direction towards the sun sitting on the horizon? or alternately, if the sun is high overhead at noon - you believe down is the direction towards the sun ABOVE you? if you drop a rock is it going to fall UP towards the sun above you - or DOWN towards the center of Earth (no matter where on Earth you happen to be standing)? only if the sun is on the completely opposite side of the planet from where you are standing will anything drop towards the sun, but of course that's just a coincidence - it's not really falling towards the sun, it's falling towards the center of Earth and the sun just happens to be in the same line... what does the sun have to do with gravity on Earth? things (on Earth) don't fall towards the sun - they fall towards the bottom (center) of Earth... they also fall at a right angle to the horizon - i.e. vertically...

Alas, dragonfly, you are truly missing my entire point. IT DOES NOT MATTER. All this reasoning is nothing but excuses for letting the brain control the mind. You are arguing with me over semantics and I am arguing about the uselessness of semantics. Up/Down/Right/Left are imaginary concepts. They are not part of any sort of bigger picture, period.

My point is thus: If every activist quit preaching and instead went outside, picked up some litter, planted a tree and built a wind turbine, THAT would make a difference. Hanging your maps different? Not so much.

[dragonfly]

Sol is a Spanish word meaning sun. The only time I have seen it capitalized is either on the beer or at the beginning of a sentence.

Sol is actually a Latin word (Spanish evolved from Latin) and is rooted in even more ancient languages such as Sanskrit and Greek, but originally was an Old Irish word that meant 'eye'... if you go to this etymology site --- http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=s&p=31 --- and scroll down to Sol it is tellingly CAPITALIZED as a proper noun/name...

Why don't you capitalize the word sun?

the reason you don't capitalize 'sun' is because it's a simple noun - not a proper noun/name... you don't capitalize 'human' - but you do capitalize Joshua, the name of a human... you don't capitalize 'dog' - but you do capitalize Fido, the name of a dog... you don't capitalize 'city' - but you do capitalize Long Beach, the name of a city... you don't capitalize 'sun'/'star' - but you do capitalize Sol, the name of a sun/star...

admittedly Spanish confuses the issue because 'sol' in Spanish is the generic noun for any sun/star - but using Sol as the name of our star would still be totally applicable in Mexico/Spain... and remember, just as there are many names for our planet besides Earth, Gaia and Terra - there are many other names for our star besides Sol...

[dragonfly]

Imagine you are standing on the equator looking at the horizon. At this point you will be at a 90 degree angle to the horizon, but low and behold, you are also at a 90 degree angle to the earths axis.

i totally agree that if you are standing at any point on the equator, you (if you are standing vertically) will be at a 90º angle (perpendicular) to the horizon (regardless which direction of the 360º horizon you choose to be facing) - but that simple truth unfortunately holds true for standing vertically at any spot on Earth, not just on the equator...

The earths axis is PARALLEL to the horizon. ALWAYS.

NOT always... imagine you are standing at one of the poles of the axis (north/south pole) and your body is aligned with the axis - you, and Earth's axis, are unarguably perpendicular (90º) to the horizon, not parallel... in fact, the only spots on Earth where the horizon is parallel with the axis is any point along the equator...

Somebody needs to read up on relativistic physics. It's all your point of view. The entire concept of Top, Bottom, Up, Down, Right, Left is 100% subjective. Try to remind yourself that your opinions are not facts.

EVERYTHING can be considered subjective - some people see me as a saint, others see me as a sinner... but if you take both of those groups of people who subjectively see me in completely contradictory ways and ask them to all look 'up' - i think it's safe to say they will all (except for you) look toward the sky, demonstrating 'up' is not subjective at all but completely OBJECTIVE... i.e., to make it a little easier to play in this illusion in the Mind of Creation we assign certain objective meanings to words... therefore when you tell pretty much anyone to look 'up' - i think it's safe to say that no one is going to subjectively look down at the ground (except someone who is too young to understand or mentally challenged)...

the same holds true for 'bottom' - if i ask anyone to point to the bottom of a tree, i don't think too many will point to the top of it - OBJECTIVE... the same holds for 'right' or 'left' - if you ask anyone which is their left hand, i don't think too many will hold up their right hand - totally OBJECTIVE... up, down, top, bottom, right, left, north, south, east, west all define directions which are objectively defined... granted if you ask me to look north/south/east/west - i may not know which direction north/south/east/west happens to be if it's high noon and i'm in an unfamiliar place... not so with up, down, bottom, top, left, right - we all objectively agree on what directions they are - with the obvious exception that if you and i are facing each other and we're both looking to the same side, one of us is looking to the right and one is looking to the left...

in space, east, west, south, north are obviously meaningless... however up/down and top/bottom of distant objects DO become subjectively dependent upon and relative to the viewer's orientation (similar to right/left when ON a planet) - but we're not hanging out in space yet so i think that subjectivity in space is somewhat irrelevant to this discussion...

“Ultimately, the entire Universe has to be understood as a single undivided WHOLE, in which analysis into separate and independent parts has
no fundamental status. The WHOLE is present in each part, in each level of existence. The Living Reality, which is total and unbroken and
undivided, is in [IS] every thing. The Universe is a Cosmic Hologram.” -David Bohm (Theoretical Physicist)