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westcal98 t1_j39m0ku wrote

Your secret is safe with me cuz I'll never repeat this.

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[deleted] t1_j39sah5 wrote

[deleted]

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Ezekiel2121 t1_j3ahut9 wrote

I went back to it three times.

Gave up three times.

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Natomiast t1_j3bhmqo wrote

you don't have to include 'kai' in -gon names, it should be: hexahectaenneacontaheptagon, it's way simpler to pronounce now, isn't?

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LanvinSean t1_j3c20il wrote

697-gon is way easier to pronounce, though.

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Bonesmash t1_j3citap wrote

This is how my high school geometry teacher told us to refer to any polygons where the number of sides is greater than 12. It’s easier to remember for sure!

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Natomiast t1_j3e1gza wrote

unless you're a greek person, then you have to name it pretty the same way anyway

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suzukigun4life t1_j39ntzh wrote

Yeah, I'll just continue to look at it as a rectangle instead.

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heynaldo88 t1_j3ahbp4 wrote

Just like the common name for a quadrilateral is a “rectangle”, the common name for a hexahectaenneacontakaiheptagon is a “Colorado”

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INTHEMIDSTOFLIONS t1_j3amb7q wrote

Idc what OP says, Colorado is a fucking rectangle. 4 sides.

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KatieCashew t1_j3aq4nr wrote

My elementary school project where we made 3d maps of Colorado using a box lid as a base agrees with you.

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AsH_mAiN_6 t1_j3azdsj wrote

Because of the curve of the earth the buttom is actually bigger then the top yes as a coloradian myself it a rectangle but with the slight bend on the top and bottom ig it gives it more sides

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-1KingKRool- t1_j3b2kk5 wrote

It’d be a trapezoid then.

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alexmikli t1_j3bvrv9 wrote

There's probably some bullshit rivers or rocks or cattle farms that slightly deform the rectangle in 693 places.

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gualdhar t1_j3e0cr8 wrote

It could have been surveying errors as well. Not like surveyors had GPS when the borders were finalized.

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LakeEarth t1_j39vlby wrote

Wait a minute. Colorado is a hexahectaenneacontakaiheptagon? I've been telling everyone it was a hexahectaenneacontakaioctogon! Why didn't someone tell me? Oh, I’ve been making an idiot out of myself!

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CanuckianOz t1_j3ada0z wrote

I’ve been calling her Krandle!

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MarioInOntario t1_j3add9o wrote

Pathetic. Don’t even bother showing up at this year’s geometrical shapes naming convention convention.

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GregorianShant t1_j39mpxh wrote

Motherfucker it has 4 sides.

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Nobody_Speshal t1_j3dpg75 wrote

It looks like that from high up but I’m guessing it means that it actually isn’t as straight as we think due to imprecise methods used when originally making the border

0

GregorianShant t1_j3dyj09 wrote

By that logic, basically every object in the world is a Hexadecainfintesimaloctogon, because if you zoom in far enough, you will find infinitesimal edges.

But pedantry aside, it has 4 fucking edges.

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starmartyr t1_j3f3bej wrote

That isn't what is happening here. Colorado's border was defined by congress as 37°N to 41°N latitude, and from 25°W to 32°W longitude. That is effectively a trapezoid or at least as close to one that can be drawn on a globe. That shape does have 4 edges as you say. However, when they went to survey the land errors were made. 19th-century surveyors would stray from the legal border by as much as half a mile in some places and would correct it by making a couple of near 90-degree turns to correct this. Congress then accepted the survey boundaries as the legal boundaries making it have more than 4 edges.

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MrDowntown t1_j3fdl0w wrote

> 25°W to 32°W longitude

from the Washington Meridian. An important note.

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[deleted] t1_j39wo3w wrote

[deleted]

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da90 t1_j3a00jb wrote

And not even that: the earth isn’t a Euclidean plane, not to mention surface topography!

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AnthillOmbudsman t1_j3a9tfl wrote

Also don't forget the curvature of spacetime due to gravitational forces.

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da90 t1_j3auzz9 wrote

Fun fact: the earth is a much closer to a flat plane in curved space time than it is in our Euclidean view

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AgoraiosBum t1_j3b34zt wrote

How am I even supposed to measure it if I don't know the right relative frame of reference?

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LetsTryScience t1_j3b7srz wrote

Don't worry, just as your brain crashes so will ArcGIS. Then you can stop thinking about it and grab some coffee.

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Suspicious-Cycle5967 t1_j3buma8 wrote

Yeah, magnify a ruler and it's not straight either. I feel like this is a scale / order of magnitude kind of thing

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slinger301 t1_j3e8g3g wrote

Researchers are close to developing a 4-dimensional hypercolorado.

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HG_Shurtugal t1_j39o6bh wrote

It's the same reason nobody really knows how long the coast is.

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sckego t1_j3au1ji wrote

No, it’s completely different. They aren’t the same in any way.

Colorado is supposed to have straight borders. When surveyors went and staked out the borders, they didn’t place them right on the theoretical straight line, sometimes they were off by thousands of feet. And once the markers are placed and everyone shook hands on it, those became the “ground truth” - not the theoretical straight line. That didn’t really matter (or was even discoverable) until the advent of GPS, when they figured out that their “straight” line really zigged and zagged all over the place, and fixing them is real PITA as described in the article. So, they got left as-is.

Coastlines are jagged, not straight. You can measure a coastline with a mile-long ruler and get a value, but you’ll have skipped a bunch of zigs and zags along the way, so the coastline is actually longer than what you measured. So you get a shorter ruler, maybe 100 yds long. Same problem. You can use a normal 1-ft ruler, but you’re still missing the zigs and zags of individual rocks at the waters edge. Etc, etc…

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2ndOfficerCHL t1_j3avxzm wrote

That's hair splitting. So human surveying errors caused Colorado to have a jagged border which appears straight from a distance. For practical purposes it can be drawn as a rectangle on maps, just like you don't need to account for the position of every grain of sand on the beach when measuring coasts.

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jeremykelly1 t1_j3axqvh wrote

The jagged edge of Colorado is still measurable though. Changing the scale of measurement as is done in the coastline problem doesn’t change the outcome of the measurement of Colorado.

You don’t have to account for every grain of sand when measuring coasts, but what grains of sand do you account for? Answering that question differently amounts to different measurements. Colorado is not arbitrary in that regard. It’s just not 4 straight lines. It’s 697.

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sckego t1_j3b04od wrote

If it could be drawn as a straight border, we wouldn’t be having this conversation—no one would care if it were off by a few feet one way or the other. It matters because it’s off by more than half a mile in places, and can’t be just hand-waved away as “straight enough”… which is the point of the article, that Colorado actually has 600whatever sides.

In measuring coastlines, there is no “straight enough.” It’s ALWAYS changing. You say you don’t need to account for every grain of sand. Fine, what about every large rock outcrop? Every small inlet? Every major bay? The length is 100% dependent on what measuring stick you use, and there is no right answer for which is the correct measuring stick.

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LetsTryScience t1_j3dxcqx wrote

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_snowflake

This idea applies. Area approaches 8/5 of original triangle while perimeter approaches infinity.

This has also come up with the length of hiking trails. Several people hiked the PCT using rotating wheels to measure and even they came up with different lengths.

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dandroid126 t1_j3b41jj wrote

Reddit LOVES splitting hairs. This whole thread is filled with people splitting thinner and thinner hairs.

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starmartyr t1_j3bk953 wrote

It kind of depends on which maps. Along the borders, you really need to know where the state line is for things like zoning regulations and legal jurisdiction. In some cases, these jagged edges are half a mile wide.

0

Silver-Toe4231 t1_j3axuvh wrote

I tried to pronounce that aloud, and a mummy came back to life.

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herbw t1_j3ewr3g wrote

well, in the Cairo Museum there are mummies who are daddies.

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NateinOregon t1_j39tz0k wrote

There are 697 sides to every problem.

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pm_me_gnus t1_j3ey5m8 wrote

Yours, mine, the truth, Steve's, Becky's, Kumal's...

1

Andagaintothegym t1_j3a3i98 wrote

I've found my new WiFi password

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AnthillOmbudsman t1_j3aa0uo wrote

Set your access point name to "Hexahectaenneacontakaioctogon Agency" to freak out your methhead neighbors.

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LilaJax22 t1_j3b0c92 wrote

I live in Colorado, I will take you up on this suggestion if the character number allows it.

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Hititwitharock t1_j3aeb7p wrote

Why do we even have a word for this.

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Macnaa t1_j3bczza wrote

There is a formula for constructing these words for every number. Like naming chemicals

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BrotherItsInTheDrum t1_j3cdzjf wrote

It's like saying why do we have a word for "six hundred ninety seven." The different components of the name just mean six hundred ninety seven, all smudged together.

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[deleted] t1_j3aim08 wrote

u/jaredpolis can confirm.

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sb_747 t1_j3b2p7e wrote

Well he is an expert on not being straight

0

Mondiaposa t1_j3angt9 wrote

I just glazed over. I don’t have the energy to try and pronounce it.

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TechnicalSymbiote t1_j39syv2 wrote

How the heck is that pronounced?

Hexa-hecta-ennea-conta-kai-hepta-gon?

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kingswing23 t1_j3amvzy wrote

This was my best gues.

Also conta-kai is fun to say

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TheCloudFestival t1_j3bxzg7 wrote

This article is the most clickbait nonsense I've ever seen.

TL;DR - Colorado is indeed a four sided state when represented on a globe, but when it's borders are applied to a flat map, the corrections to the projection distort the otherwise straight borders.

Well thanks Gerardus Mercator, but I heard you died in the C16th?

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herbw t1_j3etb22 wrote

Not really just SOS lack of verification. utube is not the case.

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starmartyr t1_j3f3p57 wrote

That's not correct. The borders aren't perfectly straight. This is due to 19th-century surveying errors rather than flat map distortion. You can see the jagged edges if you zoom in close enough on google earth.

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nautilator44 t1_j3b67bm wrote

No, it has four. Stop trying to make the shape of Colorado interesting. Focus more on the beautiful landscapes.

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drfsupercenter t1_j3awsyz wrote

Technically all shapes (besides a perfect circle) have a finite number of sides, the question is just when do you stop counting? All 50 states could be described this way.

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starmartyr t1_j3bkmak wrote

In the case of Colorado, it does not have any natural boundaries. Colorado and Wyoming are the only states that are like this. Every other state has at least one boundary defined by a coastline or river. All of Colorado's sides are straight lines (at least as straight as a line can be on a globe).

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herbw t1_j3ezs8c wrote

Natural boundaries such as river and lake sea coasts are not stable, set, nor precisely measurable.

Most competent map makers are aware of that. Not so 99% here.

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herbw t1_j3exbks wrote

Perfect circles do not exist. Idealisms are not real. That is another reason that Math , as Godel showed, is not complete, not always applicable, and occ. wrong.

Einstein a great empirical visual thinker said this. To the extent math is accurate it's useful. To the extent it's precise, it's not real. This einsteinian concept easily proves and is proven by the disparities between Maps and the features they pretend to show.

Mercator projections are not real. It distorts features. Either.

For instance if we look at 90 Deg map on the point directly below us, over a globe all the edges are distorted. If we move over 100 miles, worse. What we've mapped before is distorted and what we see 90 below us is NOT the same as 100 Miles East or west. Nor is the southern edge nor north edge.

So we do successive corrections and get an approximation. But it's never quite right. The flat map paper we lay down to read is Not exact either. Imposing that same 90 deg 2D flat map problem. See? Accurate, useful but assuming real goes too far.

As is said, what you measure depends by Einsteinian, true relativity, cannot be correct. There is NO absolute measure. There is NO absolute space/time. That space on the maps is a measure of that highly likely, by proven Relativity.

Thus ALL the flat maps we use are Wrongl! because they impose the Flat 2d, 90 deg but not spherical map on paper. National geo Maps are flat. The Earth is round, thus ALL OUR maps are not quite right.

So our maps' errors show the relativity of measuring methods. Missed that, dintcha!!

1

drfsupercenter t1_j3fm7tm wrote

O...kay, I'm just saying that all 50 states can be measured by X number of sides, not just Colorado.

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Omnus89 t1_j3cd3ty wrote

This is just a dramatic way of saying it's jagged.

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OptimusPhillip t1_j3cfv85 wrote

I think I've heard this one before. It was intended to be a rectangle, bounded by four specific lines of latitude and longitude, but the surveyors, due to limited technology, were a little off in where they placed the border markers, giving it way more (very small) corners than it was supposed to have.

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herbw t1_j3estdq wrote

Earth is spherical. Round not a rectangle which is 2D. There lies the disparity. Longitude is NOT 2D.

0

OptimusPhillip t1_j3fdntg wrote

Okay, fair enough. The shape bounded by four lines of latitude and longitude on one hemisphere of a circle is not a rectangle. Even in a non-Euclidean spherical plane, it's not a rectangle (since latitude lines aren't great circles). That said, OP described Colorado's true shape as a polygon, so they're quite clearly referring to the imperfect survey thing, and not the fact that Colorado can't be a Euclidean rectangle.

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Thin-Rip-3686 t1_j39q8yh wrote

Sure, but it’s an irregular one. All those poor constipated Coloradans.

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hazeleyedwolff t1_j3avss6 wrote

Changing my hotspot SSID to "shout hexahectaenneacontakaiheptagon for password" the next time I'm in the airport.

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Due_Platypus_3913 t1_j3b1tqg wrote

According to maps,and the globe I’m looking at,it’s what’s called a “rectangle “.

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starmartyr t1_j3bkvxg wrote

Trapezoid would be more accurate, but if you zoom in close enough you'll see that isn't quite true. Those lines have jagged edges.

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herbw t1_j3ewiyo wrote

nope. Those are implied micro corrections to a false 2D system imposed on a sphere. Beautiful curved, smooth spherical lines is what they can do. Rest is all SOThe Bull.

0

starmartyr t1_j3f46vh wrote

Nope. Those are errors and corrections made by 19th-century surveyors who didn't have the benefit of gps satellites or aerial photography.

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jewellman100 t1_j3bbb5i wrote

It's actually 698 sides, you missed one, check again

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herbw t1_j3ew09g wrote

The truest critique is the best one,

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Wendals87 t1_j3aqfz0 wrote

I guess there is more than one side to this story

1

GimpsterMcgee t1_j3arq84 wrote

Yeah but how far off is it? How much exists outside the rectangle?(and conversely, how much of neighboring states intrudes into it?) I can’t imagine it’s remotely significant except for the… 7 people who live in those areas.

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starmartyr t1_j3bkt5s wrote

Some of the dogleg turns in the border are as wide as half a mile. It's several thousand square miles across the entire state. That said, there are no major population centers on the borders.

1

herbw t1_j3f02iu wrote

BS, longitudinal lines are approximations. We cannot draw a spherical map on a 2 D flat surface. An Approx but still wrong.

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djdefenda t1_j3ay86v wrote

Check out Fort Blunder and the story behind those map lines :)

1

prjindigo t1_j3bdasj wrote

Uh, it has a lot more surfaces than that...

1

horsemagicians t1_j3beagc wrote

That may quite possibly be the stupidest description anybody has ever thought the need to create. Why the hell do we need a word for an object with 697 sides.

1

herbw t1_j3evvax wrote

why do dogs lick themselves? Because they can.

We call that egregious mental wanking.

1

ramriot t1_j3brxdi wrote

At that point, why not just admit that a rectangle drawn on a spheroid has curved sides.

1

EternamD t1_j3c3vi2 wrote

An irregular hexahectaenneacontakaiheptagon I might add

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herbw t1_j3et6jq wrote

heptagon is a polygon. 2D. CO and WY are spherical geometries.

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_Not_Not_Sag t1_j3c9zw1 wrote

I like your funny words, mister magic man.

1

MangoSea323 t1_j3cokoz wrote

This could be reposted every day and noone would remember.

1

Rig-check t1_j3d6a2s wrote

Such a one sided story

1

Dezpeche t1_j3dec61 wrote

That's a cool password if you can even remember it.

1

Jaspers47 t1_j3dztez wrote

Some time in the 19th century, some asshole mapmaker tried to draw the borders but didn't want to use a ruler

1

spookynovember t1_j3e7xok wrote

It's not any-gon, because it is wrapped onto a sphere.

1

herbw t1_j3es2p8 wrote

ANY polygon by strict geometric definition is 2 D planar; & imposing 2 D on a spherical, provably 3 D surface does Not have polygonal edges.

The typical print madia journo defects. Ignoring the Spherical shape of earth, thus concluding the facts that the EARTH is Round does not happen.

Facts are, there are NO proven evidences of that many sides. Show us the real, existing sides by photography. Those are not there. Imposed, illusions. Caca del toro Post SOS on the utube, which hasn't the slightest credibility. Credulous yes. Truth no.

Provably the Spherical quadrangle of CO is the case. There is no polygon because polygons are 2D.

I mean it's just so easy to show the post is wrong. 1900 upvotes mean 1900 were wrong.

Gee, that's a terrible outcome & measures utter ignorance.

Which means that without substantiation, nothin here is reliable but to the credulous. The lines on a 2 D quadrangle do NOT meet. In the 3D world the N/S lines meet at the poles.

Thus we can also, truly conclude the NE and NW corners are closer than the SE and SW corners of Both CO and Wyoming.

IT'S that simple and geometrical & the case. A polygon? BS. A spherical quadrangle, likely.

1

Slym12312425 t1_j3f8j5z wrote

My wife- you have no life. My son- gesundheit.

1

Common_Pickle1202 t1_j3fnhs5 wrote

Nope. Straight rectangle. Surveyed on foot, using chains.

1

arbivark t1_j3hrfmq wrote

hexahectaenneacontakaiheptagon, 24 letters.

1

DamnImAwesome t1_j3avqp1 wrote

I wanna see those smug spelling bee kids deal with this one

0

herbw t1_j3ezx1n wrote

worthless, not accurate quasi info. It's an approximation and as such not quite right.

1

triggerfish15 t1_j3b6lga wrote

Note to self: Colorado can never win something fair and square.

0

[deleted] t1_j3bw82n wrote

Greek is a beautiful language

I can't understand it for shit, but it is beautiful

0

viral_virus t1_j3c72l1 wrote

Now do Virginia

0

herbw t1_j3eszzx wrote

I did VA. But nothing happened. Still, best place to live and love east US. VA is for lovers.

1

osi_layer_one t1_j3ec7x9 wrote

the fact that we have a word for this shape just blows my mind...

0

Landlubber77 t1_j3a7ty7 wrote

And Kelly Clarkson once ordered all of them with her entrée.

−1

meiandus t1_j3addt1 wrote

I'm gonna just go ahead and assume that you order your ranch dressing with a straw.

4

Landlubber77 t1_j3b5ytt wrote

Crispy onion straws, more like.

0

meiandus t1_j3b6ygn wrote

Ok, so now I low key want this to be a thing...

0

Landlubber77 t1_j3b9y08 wrote

Brother, crispy onion straws are a thing, and a beautiful one at that. Sometimes they're an add-on to your steak at a fancy steak house, or an add-on to your burger at a non-fancy Applebee's. Either way they're delish, like yummy fried air. And you weren't far off on your initial impression of me, I definitely love me some ranch and/or blue cheese.

1

Lowfuji t1_j3ag9gj wrote

Aliens were able to build structures with stone blocks in south america that look like they were carved with lasers, leaving little to no space betwixt.

−1

[deleted] t1_j3bpgib wrote

Do we seriously have names for all the 696 other variants too?

−1

herbw t1_j3evp9a wrote

We can ignore errors & false comments any time we choose. Point them out and move back into reality.

0

[deleted] t1_j3g6ihu wrote

This doesn’t make any sense. And I got downvoted for asking this? Man, what’s wrong with some of you

1

SquirrelGirlSucks t1_j3c6wj2 wrote

Yeah no that’s a square. No stupid science or math bitches are convincing me otherwise.

−2

Timballist0 t1_j39whyj wrote

With coastline measuring, it's almost infinite.

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starmartyr t1_j3bkhd7 wrote

It's actually really easy to calculate the length of the coastline of Colorado.

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PM_ME_YOUR__INIT__ t1_j3cievr wrote

Not exactly on topic, but you're right. The more you measure the coastline on England, the longer it gets! Fractals are weird!

1

Tyrinnus t1_j3aoore wrote

TIL.... something completely un-memorable, and who gives a shit? Just regurgitate something uninteresting for click bait.

−7