The Elite Forum

Nonsense Time => FFA => Topic started by: RWG on November 15, 2021, 02:50:54 am

Title: Fact About "Point Nemo" That Really Annoys Me....
Post by: RWG on November 15, 2021, 02:50:54 am
The oceanic pole of inaccessibility (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_of_inaccessibility#Oceanic_pole_of_inaccessibility), also known as Point Nemo is located at exactly (49.0273°S 123.4345°W).  This is the place in the ocean that is farthest from land.

Here's a map image showing where this spot is located:

(https://i.imgur.com/gb901Wi.jpeg)

It lies in the South Pacific Ocean, 2,704.8 km (1,680.7 mi) from the nearest lands: Ducie Island (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ducie_Island) (part of the Pitcairn Islands :nesquik:) to the north, Motu Nui (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motu_Nui) (part of the Easter Islands) to the northeast, and Maher Island (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maher_Island) (near the larger Siple Island, off the coast of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica) to the south.

Now that's all cool and dandy, right?  Geographic facts are interesting and knowledge of the strange & unusual world we live in, never ceases to amaze.  But here's the thing.  This fact about Point Nemo is almost always accompanied with the following, additional, "fact":

> The area is so remote that the closest human beings are astronauts aboard the International Space Station when it passes overhead.

Anytime you see Point Nemo mentioned on a typical, memey, social-media-like place, like Reddit, Imgur, Instagram, Twitter, Quora, etc, you will almost always see the additional "fact", that, "omg it's so far away, the closest people to you might be in the International Space Station (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station)!"

Here are some examples I found just by searching "Point Nemo" on Imgur, most of which included the additional fact:

Spoiler
(https://i.imgur.com/9Gf5rXL.jpeg)

Spoiler
(https://i.imgur.com/I74yMI2.jpeg)

Spoiler
(https://i.imgur.com/3VmaTiq.jpeg)

But here's where I get really annoyed, angry, upset, bothered, irked, irritated, peeved, vexed, troubled, and dare I even say, pissed right off.  Because, you see, the International Space Station orbits the Earth at roughly ~260 miles or ~420 kilometres (not a joke) above the surface of the Earth.

So here's the thing... Point Nemo is freaking 2700km (1680 miles) from land... and probably even further from humans than that (given the pieces of land it is closest to, are uninhabited).  Like, of fucking course astronauts that pass 260 miles overhead are gonna be the closest people to you.  In fact, there are probably way more areas on Earth where you can get 260+ miles away from any other human, which don't require you to visit fucking Point Nemo.  For example...

Here's a map of "uninhabited areas of the world", and while a greyed out area simply shows somewhere with less than an average of 2 people per square kilometre, in many of these regions, you would indeed be able to get over 260 miles away from the nearest people:

Spoiler
(https://i.imgur.com/v1sXmPJ.png)

Certainly if you travelled to the centre of Greenland, you would be able to find numerous points which are at least 260 miles away from any settlements.  Surely the same applies for deep Siberia, some parts of the Amazon Basin, the Sahara Desert, the Australian Outback or the numerous uninhabited islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Archipelago).

Hell, there's even a place in the Arabian Peninsula literally called "the empty quarter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rub%27_al_Khali)" where it's 650,000 square kilometres of... nothing but fucking sand dunes.

Spoiler
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Rub_al_Khali_002.JPG)

Seen: the Empty Quarter

And of course, this isn't to mention... all the other places in the fucking Ocean where you can easily get 260 miles away from any other piece of land, or human, or anything but the vast, blue yonder.

The Point

The point I'm trying to make about Point Nemo is that, mentioning how "the nearest humans are on the International Space Station, 260 miles away!" actually takes away from the true nature of the remoteness of Point Nemo.  It's not 260 miles away from anything... it's fucking 1680 miles away from anything.  It's at least *seven times* more insane than the International Space Station fact would imply.

It just really makes me mad that all these mindless zombies post away about how "the closest human beings are in the space station!" is what makes Point Nemo special, when this statement is not unique to Point Nemo at all.  Point Nemo stands on its own as being literally the point in the ocean furthest away from any piece of land, and tacking on an additional qualifier, which isn't even unique to Point Nemo, is fucking stupid.
Title: Re: Fact About "Point Nemo" That Really Annoys Me....
Post by: OHMSS on November 15, 2021, 07:18:02 am
Nice rant mate, I genuinely enjoyed it. Yeah, these fucking ISS lowballers should face defamation/misrepresentation lawsuits!
Title: Re: Fact About "Point Nemo" That Really Annoys Me....
Post by: Yendis on November 15, 2021, 07:46:01 am
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/COfi3EJWgAA62-9.jpg)

People really overestimate the distance satelities is from Earth.
Title: Re: Fact About "Point Nemo" That Really Annoys Me....
Post by: Cal on November 15, 2021, 07:12:46 pm
Certainly if you travelled to the centre of Greenland, you would be able to find numerous points which are at least 260 miles away from any settlements.  Surely the same applies for deep Siberia, some parts of the Amazon Basin, the Sahara Desert, the Australian Outback or the numerous uninhabited islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Archipelago).

Reasonably topical; a family from Perth that was travelling in the outback are so remote that they had to have emergency supplies air dropped to them when their vehicle got bogged in part of the desert so uninhabited that no one can get to them until floodwaters recede.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-13/family-campervan-stranded-in-simpson-desert-after-heavy-rain/100618224

However the wonderfully named Oodnadatta (population ~200) is only 150km away and they were travelling from Birdsville in the east, so they're in a relatively highly populated area.
Title: Re: Fact About "Point Nemo" That Really Annoys Me....
Post by: AZ on November 16, 2021, 02:02:19 pm
Entertaining read, thanks Goose.
Title: Re: Fact About "Point Nemo" That Really Annoys Me....
Post by: RWG on December 20, 2021, 08:06:55 pm
omg I found another Point Nemo bullshitpost in the wild today while taking a leak and browsing Instagram:

(https://i.imgur.com/U3oCdQl.png)