this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2026
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[–] ZpbkPEcaHhIveqdR@lemmy.world 29 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I don't think that's the true size. You'll find all those countries are actually a lot bigger than presented on that map and scaled down to fit on a screen

[–] MashedHobbits@lemy.lol 13 points 2 days ago

You don't know how big my screen is.

[–] jaennaet@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

What is this map, a territory for ants?

[–] rickywithanm@aussie.zone 4 points 2 days ago

It needs to be at least 3 times bigger then this

[–] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 18 points 2 days ago (3 children)

How much do you wanna bet Trump wouldn't be so gung ho on Greenland if he saw this map? He probably thinks he is going to double the size of America.

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Can they spot grrenland on the map tho?

[–] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago

Trump handlers want the resources. Trump wants it because his ego is inflated by mercator projection.

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[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 24 points 2 days ago

Yes, but blue (Mercator) preserves direction and shape, which were all that really mattered for navigation by sea, so Mercator was a fantastic projection for centuries.

And we still use it today for smaller scale areas, since it does a remarkably good job at preserving all 4 features (shape, area, distance, and direction) close to the map origin line. Universal Transverse Mercator is a system that has 60 zones of Mercator turned sideways.

The reason it's Transverse is because, unlike lattitude depending on a defined equator, longitude has an arbitrary meridian, so by turning the map sideways we can move the distortion point, and any map area that doesn't stray too far East or West will be very accurate.

Think of trying to map something like Chile or Florida, where the area of interest is pretty far North to South, but not East to West.

[–] Smart_Penicillin@lemmy.world 129 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Show this map to Trump. He will not want Greenland anymore.

[–] CannonFodder@lemmy.world 28 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Acquiring Greenland would move the USA up 2 places in the list of largest countries (past Canada and China). That's probably why he wants it.

[–] thejml@sh.itjust.works 25 points 3 days ago (1 children)

He just wants it ti deflect from the Epstein Files.

[–] Opisek@piefed.blahaj.zone 19 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

He wants to embed himself in the history as some kind of victor. It's his sick phantasy to be presented in history books as a hero. That's why he is doing everything he can to irreversibly leave his legacy wherever he can. That's why he's building the Epstein ballroom. That's why he renames buildings and places after himself. That's why he wants to create new colonies. He's a narcissist.

[–] tomiant@piefed.social 15 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

It is quick becoming a very important strategic hub in the Arctic due to shipping lanes opening up due to global heating. Greenland is also continuously opening up to natural resource extraction as ice disappears, and they have vast quantities of a lot of very valuable shit under the ground that keeps getting easier to access for the same reason, like rare earth elements, oil, natural gas, copper, gold, zinc, uranium, lithium, tungsten, the list goes on...

Controlling and exploiting that land is a major strategic interest for all the big (and small) powers. That's why he wants it, and everyone else too. Fuck his fat fucking ass though.

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[–] ZkhqrD5o@lemmy.world 30 points 3 days ago (1 children)
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[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 28 points 3 days ago (1 children)

This is why Trump wants Greenland so bad. He sees it, and says "It's big, I want it. Get it for me!" and gets all Veruca Salt about it.

All because he doesn't understand what a Mercator Projection is, on account of he beat up some nerd to do his homework that day, like every day.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago (3 children)

A lot of conservatives have wanted Greenland for a long time as some throwback to US imperialism and very outdated cold-war era defensive posturing.

Stephen Miller threw the idea at Trump and wormtongued it as some idea that claiming the country would be some monument to Trump's legacy that would outlive all the scandals, and that's all the old turd wants, he just wants adoration and cheering crowds, that's his entire ethical framework.

What does Miller want from it? No idea, he's utterly, inhumanly insane. He's just literally an Elliot Rodgers in a suit who managed to get way too much power.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The Dems need to make a major case out of PeeWee Himmler for the Midterms. Expose him, and add him to the list of horrors that we are running against.

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[–] observes_depths@aussie.zone 41 points 3 days ago (6 children)

I'll add that we use the mercator projection because it preserves shapes but not scale. There's other projections that preserve scale but not shapes.

[–] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 17 points 3 days ago

None of those preserve the shape of Antarctica!

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago

Not to start any shit, but the Robinson Projection looks pretty nice.

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[–] Tehdastehdas@piefed.social 33 points 3 days ago

This post didn't need to include an ad for x-dot-com.

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 53 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Greenland: I was in the pool!

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[–] DaddleDew@lemmy.world 46 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 25 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Map Men Map Men Map Map Map Men Men!

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[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 days ago (2 children)

If I have to shower in gym class I want the mercator-projection showers.

[–] WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (2 children)

But then everything near the equator will be smaller.

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[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Damn Indonesia is huge.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I need a Mercator Projection in my pants.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That close to your equator, wouldn't it have the opposite of the intended effect?

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I only know that it helicopters in the opposite direction when you cross the equator.

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[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 days ago

The oceans are huge.

[–] crank0271@lemmy.world 27 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Hmm, so the Mercator projection makes things look larger than they are? I think I've got an idea for another use for it... 😏

[–] Pwalabwa@quokk.au 36 points 3 days ago

Is that it?dfJl118agKWDRWS.png

[–] makyo@lemmy.world 18 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Your penis isn’t far enough north for it to help

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[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 15 points 3 days ago

Slightly enlarging something that is microscopic doesn't change much.

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[–] NaibofTabr 25 points 3 days ago (1 children)

This just in: projection requires distortion.

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[–] huppakee@piefed.social 22 points 3 days ago

There also an interactive version of this, also a bunch of copies (not sure if this is the original, but i believe so): https://thetruesize.com/

[–] doingthestuff@lemy.lol 4 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Brazil could be the world's superpower but they have other priorities.

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[–] Hackworth@piefed.ca 17 points 3 days ago
[–] marcos@lemmy.world 15 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Did it cut out the European portion of Russia?

[–] mEEGal@lemmy.world 46 points 3 days ago (1 children)

No, it just can't be scaled down and somehow kept in place at the tame time

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