(urth) Ansible Interview

[Jeff Wilson]

James Wynn wrote:
> 
>>> 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.

Are you privy to the particular "hollowing-out" process used? There are 
several, even now.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >