Shocking: New Zealand and Australia are out of their place on the map

reply to post by demonseed


The problem is with westerners in schools we used Mercator maps and many maps now are moving away from this making many westerners think the map has changed!

The Mercator map has always been a poor projection for a world map yet due to its rectangular grid and shape, geographically illiterate publishers found it useful for wall maps, atlas maps, and maps in books and newspapers published by non-geographers. It became the standard map projection in the mental map of most westerners. The argument against the Mercator projection by the pro-Peters folks usually discusses its "advantage for colonial powers" by making Europe look a lot larger than it actually is on the globe.

As far back as 1902, a cartographer warned, "People's ideas of geography are not founded on actual facts but on Mercator's map." (Monmonier, 21) In 1947, a U.S. State Department geographer wrote in Scientific Monthly that the "use of the Mercator projection for world maps should be abjured [renounced] by authors and publishers for all purposes." Robinson further reiterated this position in his first edition of his Elements of Cartography textbook, issued in 1953, when he called the Mercator projection "of little use for purposes other than navigation." The Mercator map is still used for navigation but that's all it should be used for.

I have a brand new question for those who remember New Zealand to the North-west...

Was New Zealand the same shape it is now?

I've got an idea, and you're all gonna really love it

reply to post by Solasis


I remember New Zealand as being to the North East of Australia and the islands appear to be the same shape but if you just caught hold of the tip of New Zealand near to Aukland and towed it to the top of Australia to the North East of Papua New Guinea and rotated it by120 degrees that would be about right.

reply to post by keldas


right sol
this is what caught me to
never thought NZ was to the west of OZ

but if you rotated it norward for a while it would be to the- well more east of Australia, instead of south-east.
lived in Australia for 2 years, so I studied maps of this region a lot more than most north americans- and that is where my memory had NZ

Damn. If it's roughly the same shape, that kind of wrecks my theory.

The theory I was going to present is the one I shall now present.

I've been reading this book called The Cult of Alien Gods: H.P. Lovecraft and Extraterrestrial Pop Culture. The thesis of the book is that, along with alternative archaeologists' claimed facts about Atlantis and Lemuria and Mu and so forth, Lovecraft's fiction is largely responsible for the existence of the Ancient Astronaut theory. So to start off with, the author (Jason Colavito) describes early theories about Atlantis and Lemuria and their ilk. Included is a map of the theoretical continents...

Showing Lemuria basically exactly where y'all claim New Zealand was.

So my theory was that for some reason that isn't as devastating as the landmass being in a totally different space, it was in fact a different landmass that you had experienced; in your universe, New Zealand had sunk instead of Lemuria.

but this doesn't work if New Zealand was the same basic shape. Perhaps we could account with partial sinking, but...

[edit on 29-3-2010 by Solasis]

Okay,i need to know if my mind is playing tricks with me or not. I'm a night guard at an office building. About once an hour i step outside for a smoke and some stargazing. Tonight I notice the moon rose significantly further east than the previous night. If I had to guess I would say roughly about 15, maybe 20 degrees left from where it rose last night.

Now I know that the moon's orbit isn't perfect, that it shifts from day to day, but I can't recall it ever shifting to that degree in a single day. So, did anyone else notice this or is my mind playing tricks on me?

reply to post by dethduck


That happened to me a few months ago, for a few nights I was like "what the #$% is the moon doing so far south when it rose, then the next night it was back to normal.
Dunno what the explaination is for that but nope you're not nuts, or if you are we both are

.

Originally posted by bryan2006
This is before, I just did a quick edit, did not feel like making it perfect, but you get the idea

[URL=http://img180.imageshack.us/i/beforeaus.jpg/]

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Yes, I must say, that this is how I remember it too. This is so strange and I´m not saying for sure it has changed location, but that´s how I remember it. If different realities merge, then it might be, that some of us remeber some detailes from another parallel reality, but since now this has changed for us, all old maps show world in THIS reality... or something like this. It sounds crazy, but who knows?
In summer 2009 there were several strange changes in my life and relationships what made me think that maybe I have jumped to another parallel reality or something, but I didn´t take this seriously. It was just humorous idea, but now I´m in ATS and read, that many people have similar experiences!

Wait a minute

The rest of the world was the same, and everythign is as it has always been EXCEPT New Zealand?? And your edit has the entire city of Sydney missing (as well as everything up to Wagga Wagga) This just is really odd. If one thing was out of place, you would think that more things would be out of place.

Something isn't adding up, 2+2 is not equaling 4 in this instance...

oh wow i was learning just about 6 yrs ago about the continents and all that and clearly remember nz being west of australia and australia was definately farther south i even dug out an old paper i did on that region and it has changed this is crazy

I think you're confusing New Zealand's position with New Guinea.
Two.

Originally posted by bre98531
oh wow i was learning just about 6 yrs ago about the continents and all that and clearly remember nz being west of australia and australia was definately farther south i even dug out an old paper i did on that region and it has changed this is crazy

Scan and post it please.

reply to post by bre98531


is that all ?

if you really did study this - and produce a paper on it

why are the blindingly obvious ` knock on effects ` of such monumental geographical changes also readily apparent to you ?

Ijust want to add to the discussion by saying i have never been to new zealand or australia but I remember the location incorrectly also.Very strong incorrect memories and I am very good with geography(or so I thought)For all the locals and others who disagree calling the thread crazy atleast give credence to the strange coincendence that many people have the same "incorrect" memories. If someone can point out another location and bring about the same debate then I will chalk it up to bad geography amoung many. Otherwise it seems to be a strange occurence specific to this location.

also just wish to point out on the map above that there is no such thing as the "Southern" ocean.

There are the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic (and if you wish to get really technical the African Rift Ocean is forming and the Tethys (now the Mediterranean) is shrinking)

Originally posted by vkey08
also just wish to point out on the map above that there is no such thing as the "Southern" ocean.

There are the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic (and if you wish to get really technical the African Rift Ocean is forming and the Tethys (now the Mediterranean) is shrinking)

What makes you think that? Just because you are unaware of it?

en.wikipedia.org...

www.southernocean.org...

www.eoearth.org...





[edit on 13-4-2010 by tdatreefrog]

I remember New Zealand as NE of Australia and Australia located very far South with none of the other islands near it. I have been to both New Zealand and Australia. The Great Barrier Reef is my favorite place on this planet. Prior to and during my trip, I had looked at maps and globes. I remember the location of the land masses being different. I recall when I realized that my recollection of this had changed, when I was discussing having visited the country with an older New Zealander who was in the States. Yes, I am American, therefore some will insist it's simple ignorance. I was quite embarassed that I had said it was in the wrong area to a New Zealander AND a native Maori. In my mind, I was totally sure of myself, but I apologized and later looked it up. The map I checked later showed me that I was wrong.

I have no way of explaining my memory of it. I am surprised to find others have this same memory. I understand all the logical reasons put forward against it such as ignorance, but I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one. I usually read this site because the conversation is silly, hilarious and useless. I however made an account today and posted this because of the feeling my memory was correct. I don't have the advanced education to study this phenomena. If I had to guess and ignore the more reasonable arguements like simply being mistaken then the majority are in their correct reality, while a few people have shifted over for unknown reasons. I seem fine though, so I haven't ever stressed over the incongruities in my recollection of events.

I live with a person who has a doctorate in geology, and I intend to ask if there's any geological change in the distant past (like billions of years) which would have caused Australia to move further from the other islands. If they ask why, then I will probably drop it. The disheartening aspect of reading this thread is how many people will bully or ridicule others. I know my friend wouldn't do either of those things, but there's a general sense that if you have something paranormal or unusual happen to you that you should keep your mouth shut about it.

My uncle once told me that he saw his grandfather after he was dead. It was on the day of his grandfather's death, and he was in another State. My uncle was driving and had to suddenly stop for this old man crossing the street, and the old man turned, looked and waved to my uncle. He swears it was his grandfather, who he found out later had died thousands of miles away. I never ridiculed or bullied him into thinking he was somehow mistaken, although I did privately assume that he had just seen another old man. I am sure he considered all the other possibilities too, but how would I make him believe that he had mistaken a different face for the man he knew since childhood as his grandfather?

I like to consider myself a logical person. I get annoyed by religion. I have openly challenged my religious friends, like my close Catholic friends (the Pedo thing is irksome), about their support of irrationality but I somehow feel that is different than my uncle's situation. One is a memory, a point in time, that only he witnessed, while the others are people blindly believing dogma while lacking even a spiritual experience to support their belief-- let alone any hard evidence.

I doubt many here possess the requisite knowledge (doctorate in related field) to explain reality, or physics or time. I don't expect any knowledge gained from this thread, but I wanted to defend the people who are being ridiculed, because I have a different memory too, and maybe we're all wrong, and maybe my uncle is mistaken. The simplest explaination is that we are mistaken. I don't know if that's the correct explaination. One thing, I might do, from having read this thread is I will be nicer to religious people. I will make less fun of their imaginary god, when I keep in mind my imaginary recollection of this world's events and geography.

[edit on 13-4-2010 by otters]

Originally posted by otters

I live with a person who has a doctorate in geology, and I intend to ask if there's any geological change in the distant past (like billions of years) which would have caused Australia to move further from the other islands.

Um, no!

Billions of years ago you wouldn't recognise any configurations of the landmasses.
Australia, New Zealand and India 'broke off' from the Gondwanan Continent reasonably recently in geological history, with New Zealand 'breaking off' from Australia to form the Tasman Sea.
Without New Zealand to the East of Australia you wouldn't have the Tasman Sea.

I'm trying really hard not to scoff at this whole contestation at the moment as I, personally, think it is due to geographical ignorance and watching too much 'Lost'.

Yes. I understand that the Earth moves, which is why I was just going to ask them out of curiousity if an event earlier in time could cause a difference in the present layout of the landmasses. I wasn't suggesting that the geography is static over billions of years. It would mostly be to humor me. I know it sounds crazy.

And my experience with visiting the region was roughly 20 years ago, and my conversation with the New Zealander was a decade ago. I understand it's cheeky or humorous to make correlations with Lost or the Matrix. I remember when the Matrix came out, and I was in the theater and I thought "damn it, now if I tell anyone X or Z is different, they're going to reference this movie." To make it clear, I have never thought I was in a computer program either. It's a good movie though. With the right script, the right CGI and directing, the power of movie magic can make Keanu Reeves appear to be a competent actor.

Anyways, I'm going to go do something else and not think about any of this. I know it sounds weird. I just don't tell anyone about it. I think it's what most reasonable people would do if their understanding of things suddenly was out of sync with everyone else. I had never considered trying to find a rational explaination for it because it seemed utterly futile. Even if I can get someone to argue that if some geological changes occured different for Australia to be farther South, it really wouldn't answer a thing. For me, the location of Australia isn't the only difference either.

I think that's why I brought up the story of my uncle. Imagine the number of things that would have to be proven to make his story true. He was there, he knows it is true while I doubt his story. I think that's how a lot of weird situations are dealt with by people. If you aren't in any danger, and it's just weird, you make note of it, and move on.

I really don't know what anyone gets out of ATS either. I have read it for a while for amusement. I guess this thread made me want to post something, but in retrospect, I can't add anything to this conversation. Has anything truly been resolved on ATS? It's just an amusement. If you want answers, or real understanding, you need to go read a lot of dry material. None of the political dramas on here are accurate, nor are the science or psuedoscience areas. It's a rare thread (and probably an unpopular one) which will contain much useful information. ATS is basically a community organized Weekly World News.

I'm out.
-Otters

Its not just Australia and NZ that have changed. Africa has shifted itself North and is almost touching Spain. Many other countries have changed. I guess the Hadron collider really did destroy the World (my World) and has shifted me into this one. I'm not joking either. People that were dead in my World are now alive. Very scary stuff.