Wall of Nessus

Jeff Wilson · 14 Jun 2010, 15:16 · from 2010-June.txt.gz

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From: jwilson at io.com (Jeff Wilson)
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:16:36 -0500
Subject: (urth) Wall of Nessus
In-Reply-To: <4C16302C.1070907 at gmail.com>
References: <000901cb080c$a24bd6a0$3dd14a0c@rclackey><AANLkTimNF_7phiZuvwCMYZObOBCVpmbPVbROd7kc1Hq4 at mail.gmail.com><006601cb0879$4ddd39c0$59cc4a0c@rclackey><AANLkTilLT4407kUNfZU4wY0V73RjJAk-UllkDYkyuiHT at mail.gmail.com>	<00b101cb0b91$16331100$bacf4a0c@rclackey>	<C04E9C844995425CA3A67B647E6007B8@jill>
	<4C16302C.1070907 at gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4C1647D4.3040005 at io.com>

On 6/14/2010 8:35 AM, James Wynn wrote:
> Someone recently mentioned this quote by Severian:
>
> "No. I've spent my life so near the middle of the city that the Wall was
> no more than a dark line on the northern horizon when we looked from the
> glass-roofed room at the top of our tower. I am astounded, I admit."
> SHADOW XXXV
>
> What would the radius of the city need to be for a wall of that height
> to disappear beyond the horizon at ground level?

There's a distance-to-horizon calculator here:

	http://boatsafe.com/tools/horizon.htm

a 1-mile Wall would be visible for 97.8 statute miles.  Perhaps league 
has an ambiguous meaning similar to chiliad; if young Severian had been 
up late the night before units class, perhaps he misheard a league as 
three furlongs instead of three miles?  A Wall 3/8 mile tall would be 
visible for 59.9 statute miles...still too long to walk in a day.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
IEEE Student Chapter Blog at
< http://ieeetamut.org >

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