this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

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due to the curvature of the Earth a really long building can't have walls that are both parallel and level. (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by linearchaos@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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Aparently, I've conflated Level with Plumb, the walls cannot be parallel and plumb. Due to the curve, the center of gravity for the walls would require them to angle in slightly together or not be plumb.

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[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah I realized that before I submitted it but it still sounded cool.

Also I’m not entirely convinced that the fact we can model and real-world gravitational mass as a point is entirely independent of the fact that gravity curves spacetime.

Like, we don’t have infinite sheets of gravitational material out in space. Gravity tends to clump material together into spheres and, for quickly-rotating masses, discs. What are those shapes other than equipotent shells drawn around that curved space?