Ron Dyck17h ago
Canadians think Canada should join the EU: poll https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/economics/2026/04/06/canada-in-the-european-union-poll-suggests-broad-openness-to-the-idea/
Canada in the European Union? Poll suggests broad openness to the idea

New polling suggests a majority of Canadians think Canada ought to explore joining the European Union at a fraught time for geopolitical relations.

BNN Bloomberg
Show threadRay McCarthy

@dyckron
Donegal in Ireland is maybe closer to Newfoundland than to Greece.

Check a globe. Canada isn't as far away as it looks. Greenland used to be in the EU and Iceland might join.
Vikings probably visited.

7:27pmWeb
Show threadmaya_b 🇨🇦12h ago

@raymaccarthy

we seriously need to bring back globes. so many people have no idea how things are related because of projection maps

@dyckron

Show threadRon Dyck12h ago
@maya_b @raymaccarthy the time has come to fix it! Whatever navigational purpose the Mercator projection had is surely long deprecated
Show threadChris Moorehead 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇬🇱12h ago
@dyckron @maya_b @raymaccarthy The Mercator projection is still the best for local navigation at the city or street level, because a straight line in Mercator corresponds to a straight line in reality (which is why it’s always been used for maritime navigation). Google Maps uses it, as do the other navigation apps. It’s only at the global level that it’s a monstrosity. But so is the Gall-Peters projection. (BTW, I did teach wayfinding and navigation at OCAD for 13 years.)
Show threadDarth Hideout 🏳️‍🌈11h ago

@cjmoorehead @dyckron @maya_b @raymaccarthy

All that is exacerbated by the fact that everyone consumes maps on 2-d screens these days.

Show threadChris Moorehead 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇬🇱10h ago
@darth_hideout @dyckron @maya_b @raymaccarthy Yup. There’s no way of accurately depicting a 3-D reality onto a 2-D surface. Every projection is a compromise of some sort.
Show threadLarge Format Projectionist11h ago

@cjmoorehead @dyckron @maya_b @raymaccarthy

I thought the digital purveyors all switched to a spherical representation once you zoomed out? Notice I didn’t name whatever that representation is, I’ve no idea.

Show threadChris Moorehead 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇬🇱10h ago
@BenHM3 @dyckron @maya_b @raymaccarthy I believe you are correct…again, because, at a global level, the Mercator projection is an abomination. The Gall-Peters projection displays size correctly, but the shapes of countries are wrong. There’s an entire series of what are known as “compromise” projections, that land somewhere in between accurate size and accurate shape. National Geographic uses one — the absurdly named “Winkel-Tripel” projection. Initially, I thought it was something made up by the xkcd guy.
Show threaddragonfrog10h ago

@cjmoorehead @dyckron @maya_b @raymaccarthy
For city navigation all projections are effectively the same IMO - no city covers enough of the globe for the differences between the distortion this projection produces and the distortion that other one produces to make much difference.

In my sprawling prairie city a fair number of "15 foot" lots are actually 14 foot 8 inches wide because two links in a surveying chain were twisted together - a 2% difference from one lot to the next.

Show threaddragonfrog10h ago

@cjmoorehead @dyckron @maya_b @raymaccarthy ... Meanwhile from the south to the north edge of the city is 17 miles - over which distance two north-south lines that start 1 mile apart, get closer together by 12 yards - a 1% difference over 17 miles.

If a 2% difference from one lot to the next is good enough for city planning, a 1% difference over the whole 17 mile span of the city doesn't make much difference to how a map should be printed.

Show threadChris Moorehead 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇬🇱10h ago
@dragonfrog @dyckron @maya_b @raymaccarthy Indeed. In theory, every city should have its own unique projection, but it really doesn’t make much difference to navigation at that level of detail.