2007/07/17

Bad Geography

Clearly Americans are not the only ones with problems with geography:
On a clear day: The tip of the spire can be seen by a person 95 km (60 miles) away.
A person in the Observation Deck can see as far away as 80 km (50 miles), which is more than twice the distance from Dubai to Al Ain.
(The above viewing distances are based on calculations that include the earth’s curvature)


Actually the distance from Dubai to Al Ain is closer to 120 kms. This is just a mistake in a press release, since the phrase "A person in the Observation Deck can see as far away as 80 km (50 miles), which is more than twice the distance from Dubai to Al Ain" appears more than 70 times if you search Google (including once in Spanish!).

5 comments:

Aussie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Aussie said...

I figured that 2+2 don't make 4 in UAE. I've gleaned three pieces of information recently that just don't add up.
1. It is 120 kms from Dubai to Al Ain.
2. Most people drive well above the 120 kms per hour speed limit.
3. It takes 1.5 - 2 hours to drive from Dubai to Al Ain.

This trip should take an hour or less. The only explanation I can think of, apart from Alien intervention, is that there's an almighty traffic jam at one or both ends of the trip.

Anonymous said...

>> is that there's an almighty traffic jam at one or both ends of the trip<<

That's a pretty safe bet!

Someone in Al Ain said...

i agree with you Aussie and Brn.

Anonymous said...

(Sorry if my blathering led to reconsideration of some posts. Appopleggies.)