Bizarre Perspective - 51123
Shifting an angle is the basis of magic.
Let’s jump in to today …
The Daily Rabbit Hole: r/confusing_perspective
“The place for puzzling perspectives, confusing angles, and missing context.”
The globe map you have learned is wrong. The true size of countries is WILDLY distorted. I learned this way too late in life, and this is something you have likely come across before (or not - no judgement here), but thetruesize.com might suck a few minutes out of your day today regardless of your understanding entering into today’s newsletter.
On the map, Indonesia looks like this tiny little island country near the equator. In reality, it’s wider than Europe. India? Go to the website yourself and move it up over Russia - the population size starts to make more sense all of a sudden. The tool is almost unnerving, shifting your perspective entirely on the world as it exists. Pro tip: go grab Chile and move it around the map, if you thought it was a weird shape before … you’re in for a treat.
The ‘Wait, What?’ Vortex: Fool Us
“Penn & Teller Don’t Actually Care if You Fool Them”
I actually dig this show, but I prefer to carry the illusion that the magicians do care to be fooled.
Magical realism …
About a month ago, TikTok creators blew audiences minds with physics you learn in the first four weeks of the high school version of the course. Hiding an object behind a piece of paper or a towel, users were astounded that you could still see the object behind it when looking at a mirror from its side. This is just light and angles working as they do, but nonetheless, people were mesmerized.
We want to relive the discovery that Darth Vader is Luke’s father, we want to see the obscured version of a magic trick, we seek out the same skewed vantage point of those we admire; we desire to be fooled. The difference between a fully functioning adult and a child in this case, is that the adult desire is to relive the discovery moment, not remain fooled.
Yet, sometimes - I prefer being fooled with the wrong perspective because … it’s easier.
So consider this a gentle nudge: go face a tough perspective today, because we all know we’ll be better for it.