Thursday 1 November 2007

GEOGRAPHY OF MODERN GONDWANA

I've been away in Gondwana for some time now, chiefly because we have been worried about Miguel Errazu who has given no news since he set out to explore the Hortus a few months ago. Readers will find out all about the Hortus (or Garden) in the Third Episode of the Chronicles, but I should explain that it's a vast territory that has never been systematically explored.

At the time I left the country, two days ago, there was still no news, but we all hope to have some in the coming weeks.

I did however see our dear professors (Herbert and Wilhelmina) in Levana, and they kindly gave me an excerpt from the article they will be devoting to the Geography of Gondwana in the Encyhclopaedia Gonduanensis. It contains the sort of information they had already promised to post a few weeks ago... Here it is.

The Geography of Gondwana

As we said earlier on this Blog, cosmographic speculation about Gondwana has been particularly difficult in the past. But all this has recently changed. Spectacular progress in the field of satellite photography now allows pictures to be taken from unprecedented altitudes by using MRI (Mental Resonance Imagery - see below). This innovative technique has produced the startling view of the entire continent of Gondwana shown above. Although its landmass is equal to that of Asia, very little is presently known about the country. Certainly the most striking images that have been sent back from space are those shown in animation of the home page of the Greater Dream Project Website (www.greaterdream.com).

The above picture, based on the first thorough sattelite survey of the land has been modified to bring out the coastline and simplify the task of geographers working on navigational maps. The Venture Islands appear in the Northwest corner of the map. The Far Furlew Islands lie at some distance to the North. Some have pointed out that the outline of the continent somewhat resembles a cross-cut of the human brain. We have no significant comment to make about that!

Based on the preceding document, this hypothetical view shows the continent as it presumably was about 1.5 million years ago, prior to the fusion of its two halves, which finally met after having drifted aimlessly across the earth’s mantle for several millions of years. This tremendous tectonic collision gradually raised the great Mahakalpa mountain range (on the eastern landmass) and turned the former Midland Sea into the fearful central desert known today as the Mahashunya, often called the Anvil of the Sun. Both topographical features have come to play a fundamental role in the philosophy of the land. And here's one last picture for today... It shows the area surrounding the bay of winds.


lThis sattelite photo shows part of North central Gondwana in the springtime. The Bay of Winds, with its many islands, appears top centre. Eburnea is at the southernmost end of the bay. Cornea and its great port, a little further up its eastern coast. It is reproduced here with kind permission of Jean-Paul Agosti, Chairman of the National Geographic Society, University of Levana, Gondwana.

And here, finally is something about MRI
The technique of Mental Resonance Imagery (MRI) has existed much longer than the universally familiar Magnetic Resonance Imagery now used to such excellent effect in medicine and other disciplines. Mental Resonance Imagery is comparable to the sonar used by bats and submarines, which maps out the environment by gauging the sound that bounces off an obstacle or a prey.
Mental Resonance Imagery (hereafter MRI) emits messages of every kind which bounce off the thoughts and emotions of others and allows the person emitting them to map the other person’s mind and personality with a fair degree of accuracy. In former times, this was known as conversation.
Appreciations based on MRI are inevitably as subjective as is the appreciation of the bat when it pursues a gnat. But the fact that the bat more often than not manages to swallow the gnat should encourage us to assume that the creature’s subjective perceptions somehow produce valid and reliable data. This appears to provide an interesting argument in favour of MRI in general, although its uses in mapping apply a somewhat different technique, which cannot be fully discussed here.








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