this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2026
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Mildly Interesting
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This is for strictly mildly interesting material. If it's too interesting, it doesn't belong. If it's not interesting, it doesn't belong.
This is obviously an objective criteria, so the mods are always right. Or maybe mildly right? Ahh.. what do we know?
Just post some stuff and don't spam.
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"Nooo, don't change the mirror to one that reflects things accurately! I like this one better because it makes me look taller, more muscular, and better-endowed!"
It isn't more accurate than Mercator, it just preserves different features.
When flattening a map, there are 4 competing aspects of the globe you can try to preserve: shape, direction, area, and distance. You can't preserve all 4 at once. You can try to min-max on 1 or 2 (e.g. Mercator preserves direction and shape since that's what's needed for sailing), or you can accept some distortions of all 4 in a compromise projection.
It all depends on the purpose of the map.