Friday, February 15, 2008

Coordinated Conspiracies, Groundhogs, and Deja Vu


View Larger Map


View Larger Map

Went to class this morning expecting a substitute, but either
A: Pete hasn't headed to Mexico yet, or
B: He has genetically engineered a clone to teach his class while he basks in the Yucatan sun and drinks beverages with little umbrellas in them.

Got the tests back, (didn't flunk, thankfully) and had a lecture about x-y coordinate systems, scale, and such. Then we ran amock making Google maps. We created one on which we all conspired together online at the same time, and came up with a pretty good finished product. Nobody even got an eye put out. We are professionals. Do not try this at home.

On a sadder note (assuming that you have a fondness for fossorial rodents), I used my newly-acquired coordinating skills on the way out to determine that the expired groundhog in the middle of the campus entrance road is still located in the same exact x-y coordinates that he occupied last Friday, and still looks exactly the same after seven days on asphalt. Hmmm. I'm not sure whether he's in State_Plane_North_Carolina_FIPS_3200 or UTM_Zone_14_Transverse_Mercator, but I'm pretty sure he's still occupying the same coordinates. Either
A: This is an extremely resiliant expired groundhog, or
B: The campus staff removes the old expired groundhog every afternoon and replaces him with a fresh one each morning to extend the Groundhog Day celebrations from February 2nd to include the entire month. I don't know whether or not he saw his shadow.
Of course, in the Groundhog Day movie, Bill Murray keeps seeing things that look exactly like they did the day before. If I keep publishing this same post day after day, maybe it's happening again.