(urth) Ansible Interview

[James Wynn]

>> But the axis of mountains are not perpendicular to the Long
>> Sun.
>
> How not? The pseudogravity gradient caused by the Whorl's rotation is
> perpendicular to the Long Sun at all points.


And why does that require that mountains which were not formed by natural 
forces (such as rain and wind) to be perpendicular to the Long Sun as well? 
Why assume that when much of the Whorl's topography was built, the Whorl had 
even been started spinning?

The mountains point generally "up". Since there are valleys in shadow, 
clearly no care was expended to ensure that they pointed precisely up...at 
least not in all cases. Large tracts of the Whorl --containing mountains, 
valleys, lakes, and cities-- were evened out, but not made "flat" relative 
to the curvature of the Whorl's spin or to other tracts in the Whorl. It 
would greatly increase the difficulty of the hollowing out process to make 
that a priority in the construction, and it would provide zero value-add.

J