Okay, possibly this is the stupidest question ever posed, but…

Imagine the land between San Francisco is completely flat. No hills, no Grapevine, nothing. Both SF and LA are at sea level. Now imagine you’re going to ride your bike from SF to LA and back again.

Here’s my question:

1. The ride from SF to LA is harder.
2. The ride from LA to SF is harder.
3. The two legs of the ride are equally difficult.

My mental model is that the ride from LA to SF is harder. Darin says I’m wrong, that maps of the world are purely by convention.

As I drove yesterday I thought about why I imagine going from LA to SF is harder. Was I somehow applying the law of gravity to a north-south axis? Then I realized I had a mental model that rivers like the Mississippi go north to south (though that’s probably because they get such a good headstart coming off the Canadian mountains). Except, of course, the Nile, which goes south to north…and in my mental model of the world, the Nile is below the Equator. (I know this is wrong. I knew the second I vocalized it. But I had never thought about it explicitly before.)

More data: it takes about a tank of gas to go from our house to LA. I filled up right before leaving both times and the gas light came on toward the end of both trips. But I had to stop to refuel on the way home yesterday because the indicator dipped below the E mark—but on the way to LA it didn’t get that low. Did I use more gas coming home because I was coming north or because I drove, um, speedier?

Can anyone help me out here?

This entry #100 of the new NKA. I don’t have much to say in it though—not in the mood. There’s stuff going on around here I’ll be talking about soon and that’s where my head is right now. Darin’s come back from a whirlwind business trip—yay.

We’re getting ready for Sophia’s birthday party—an undertaking scary and overwhelming enough to send Darin on another business trip. Sophia likes to punctuate a lot of conversations these days with, “It’s time for my birthday party!” I keep trying to explain to her that she has to wait for her party. Sophia thinks I’m trippin’ and can we get the party on already?

I’m just glad that rain is no longer scheduled for party day. Would have really harshed the buzz on the petting zoo, let me tell you.

The silver lining to all this Michael Jackson nonsense (none of which I’ve actually seen, mind you, though it seems like everywhere I turn I hear about it):

What seems to be lost in the concern for Mr. Jackson’s children and underage friends or disgust over television’s excesses is that the more we see of Mr. Jackson right now, the healthier we are as a nation: at least it indicates we are not at war.