Discussion:
[boundarypointpoint] center of what
Aletheia Kallos aletheiak@gmail.com [boundarypointpoint]
2017-05-19 14:18:53 UTC
Permalink
as i sit here high above the lost coast overlooking centerville beach
the only thing that bothers me at all is that i cant figure out what it is
the center of

for otherwise this particular corner of this particular balcony parking lot
is so totally heaven on earth that it is one of the few places i have kept
coming back to over the decades & yet always have pretty much to myself
most of the time i am here

i have a few other staggeringly beautiful but relatively deserted places of
the same national park caliber which i regularly revisit too
probably comprising all together the 7 wonders of assburger america if i
added them all up
about which more later perhaps

but just to be scrupulous about boundary pointing & trypointing & such
because we are in this forum
i am pleased to report i have found that centerville lies both roughly at
the center or midpoint of the lost coast
or the coast of humboldt county
which are probably pretty much the same thing
& likewise roughly at the center or midpoint of the pacific coast between
mexico & canada
or say as far north as the tip of the olympic peninsula
just to pick a moderate boundary among several possibilities
but again all pretty much boiling down to roughly the same thing anyway

so my question becomes
given the well known difficulty if not impossibility of measuring the
lengths of coasts with any objective accuracy
what among all the above possibilities is centerville beach actually the
center or midpoint of

or should i not assume center & midpoint are even the same thing
since the question doesnt involve a normal geographical center at all

& for purposes of computation
would comparing total degminsecs of latitude & longitude differentials work
better than comparing unknowable coastal lengths
& or amount to about the same thing anyway
or would such a simplified calculus actually present a less punctilious &
thus sloppier & less reliable method

anyway
it doesnt disturb my centering meditation very much
but i would still like to know the answer
while it may be that the historical answer & the mathematical answer are 2
entirely different things

no trace of centerville itself remains but for the name of the beach & the
name of the road leading to it
'David Phillips' dfp18@columbia.edu [boundarypointpoint]
2017-05-19 17:35:44 UTC
Permalink
Centerville (Humboldt County) was the midpoint on the 19th century oil
shipping route between Petrolia and Eureka. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centerville,_Humboldt_County,_California.
Maybe that helps?





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Sent: Friday, May 19, 2017 10:19 AM
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Subject: [boundarypointpoint] center of what





as i sit here high above the lost coast overlooking centerville beach

the only thing that bothers me at all is that i cant figure out what it is
the center of



for otherwise this particular corner of this particular balcony parking lot
is so totally heaven on earth that it is one of the few places i have kept
coming back to over the decades & yet always have pretty much to myself most
of the time i am here



i have a few other staggeringly beautiful but relatively deserted places of
the same national park caliber which i regularly revisit too

probably comprising all together the 7 wonders of assburger america if i
added them all up

about which more later perhaps



but just to be scrupulous about boundary pointing & trypointing & such
because we are in this forum

i am pleased to report i have found that centerville lies both roughly at
the center or midpoint of the lost coast

or the coast of humboldt county

which are probably pretty much the same thing

& likewise roughly at the center or midpoint of the pacific coast between
mexico & canada

or say as far north as the tip of the olympic peninsula

just to pick a moderate boundary among several possibilities

but again all pretty much boiling down to roughly the same thing anyway



so my question becomes

given the well known difficulty if not impossibility of measuring the
lengths of coasts with any objective accuracy

what among all the above possibilities is centerville beach actually the
center or midpoint of



or should i not assume center & midpoint are even the same thing

since the question doesnt involve a normal geographical center at all



& for purposes of computation

would comparing total degminsecs of latitude & longitude differentials work
better than comparing unknowable coastal lengths

& or amount to about the same thing anyway

or would such a simplified calculus actually present a less punctilious &
thus sloppier & less reliable method



anyway

it doesnt disturb my centering meditation very much

but i would still like to know the answer

while it may be that the historical answer & the mathematical answer are 2
entirely different things



no trace of centerville itself remains but for the name of the beach & the
name of the road leading to it
Aletheia Kallos aletheiak@gmail.com [boundarypointpoint]
2017-05-20 13:53:38 UTC
Permalink
wow david that sounds like the etymological smoking gun my centering
meditation needed
even tho your wikipedia source does not actually support your inference
so great thanx & congrats for at least creating yet another thing to
consider

but frankly these lost coast oilmen must have remained lost & oiled til
they actually found eureka
because the drive from centerville today is much greater to petrolia than
to eureka in all regards but road condition
so subjectively anyway petrolia seems at least twice as far as eureka since
it takes me so much longer to get there
whatever the actual coasting or road mileage or crowfly distance
yet that is actually quite fortunate because the scenery is so spectacular
& i tend to slow down even more than necessary just to prolong the fun of it

in fact i have spotted & recognized the petrolia ferndale drive in several
luxury car commercials
not that that is necessarily any standard of beauty but just to give you an
idea
Aletheia Kallos aletheiak@gmail.com [boundarypointpoint]
2017-05-23 13:38:33 UTC
Permalink
for a while i was wondering if centerville might have been named for some
sort of a central point in the public land survey system
& even studied all the pertinent usgs topos for any clues or leads to that
effect
but to make a long story short this proved to be a dead end

the story is not without interest tho
for the map study introduced me to the humboldt meridian
& to its actual center or initial point or base line intersection at the
summit of nearby mount pierce

& if the road isnt too bad i may attempt to visit it soon
as i have already done to the first fifth sixth & st stephens meridian
initial points as well as the one near phoenix whose name i forget
gila perhaps
each of which turned out to be an interesting trypointing adventure in its
own right
tho the st stephens meridian initial point near mobile was the most
rewarding of all
as it is marked by an oft forgotten little 1799 esus rock
http://news.asce.org/ellicotts-stone-still-used-by-surveyors-today/
which plays mutt & jeff with the tall 1841 txus rock that texans like to
boast is the only international boundary stone within america
http://www.texasescapes.com/AllThingsHistorical/Unique-Historical-Landmark-Only-International-Boundary-in-US-205BB.htm
however mistakenly & foolishly
as they insist on ignoring & or overlooking the senior partner however
minuscule in that illustrious duo

but anyway centerville does turn out to be situated smack on the boundary
line between the second & third ranges west of the humboldt meridian
& not far from the boundary line between the second & third townships north
of the base line
for which however no cigar
even if it were a direct hit that way too
because the only things that might be called center points in the pls
system other than the base line meridian intersections or initial points
themselves
are the center points of the individual 36 square mile townships that occur
only at the quadrijunctions of the 15th 16th 21st & 22nd sections
which are important locations that are often reserved for schoolhouses or
other municipal focal points

& centerville is situated by chance in a place that almost couldnt be
farther from such a center point

in fact by that reckoning it should rather be called edgeville or
cornerville
oops
Post by Aletheia Kallos ***@gmail.com [boundarypointpoint]
wow david that sounds like the etymological smoking gun my centering
meditation needed
even tho your wikipedia source does not actually support your inference
so great thanx & congrats for at least creating yet another thing to
consider
but frankly these lost coast oilmen must have remained lost & oiled til
they actually found eureka
because the drive from centerville today is much greater to petrolia than
to eureka in all regards but road condition
so subjectively anyway petrolia seems at least twice as far as eureka
since it takes me so much longer to get there
whatever the actual coasting or road mileage or crowfly distance
yet that is actually quite fortunate because the scenery is so spectacular
& i tend to slow down even more than necessary just to prolong the fun of it
in fact i have spotted & recognized the petrolia ferndale drive in several
luxury car commercials
not that that is necessarily any standard of beauty but just to give you
an idea
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