h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Does anybody know where in the world this is?

http://www.desktopbackground.org/wallpaper/coffee-wallpapers-windows-10-wallpapers-971290

Lake Quill, New Zealand. Turns out.

http://www.google.com/search?num=20&newwindow=1&biw=1280&bih=876&ei=1DZ1Wt2dLcHcjAO87aawCQ&q=Lake+Quill%2C+New+Zealand&oq=Lake+Quill%2C+New+Zealand&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i67k1j0j0i67k1j0j0i30k1j0i5i30k1.238408.238408.0.239103.1.1.0.0.0.0.222.222.2-1.1.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.1.221....0.v1tNSbmdMvg

I think they must have filmed parts of "The Hobbit" there.

If you're in the UK and want a similar view, I can recommend Stickle Tarn in Langdale, in the Lake District.

Echo lake in North Conway, New Hampshire, is one of my favorite vacation spots. I can float on my back and look up at Cathedral Ledge, being careful not to let the sun in my eyes. The deerflies can be a nuisance, too.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g46186-d105603-i76077180-Cathedral_Ledge-North_Conway_Conway_New_Hampshire.html

Since the actual answer has been given, are we now free to wander off topic? The paternoster lakes on Mount Brandon in Kerry in southwest Ireland have a somewhat similar view. One of my favourite photos of myself was taken there, by my dad.

TRiG.

Hi, TRIG. I know that the question posed in the first post has been answered. What I'm reacting to is the implication in the subject line: that we are free to add examples of pretty mountain lakes wherever they may be found. I love mountain lakes.

I'd love to visit this one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B8rv%C3%A1gsvatn

Very close to the sea but at an elevation of 40 meters.

PP.

I hadn't heard of the Faroe islands before. Despite being north of Scotland, the average January temperature there is 37 degrees Fahrenheit. But July averages about 52. The Gulf Stream evens out the temperature volatility. Lets hope the Gulf Stream keeps going, then

Paul, you should listen to the Shipping Forecast. You'd hear about the Faroes every night!

I think the first time I heard of the Faroe Islands, it was regarding a recreation of a Viking long ship to test both their solar compass and whether they actually hauled the ships over the island rather than sail around. They got local volunteers to help out but they learned that just running a rope through a hole cut in the front keel wouldn't work. I believe they ended up determining that while you can haul a long ship over an island, it's probably not that practical. (Now hauling a ship over the Andes...)

The solar compass worked much better. Even dealing with changing winds, heavy cloud cover and some changing seas, they still managed to hit the coast of Scotland missing their intended destination by only a few dozen miles, IIRC.

"missing their intended destination by only a few dozen miles"

That's fine if you're aiming at something the size of Scotland. If you're aiming at something the size of the Faroes... not so much. Which only makes the navigational achievements of the Polynesians that much more amazing. Or was it luck and large numbers? (i.e. did a LOT of people set out and the populations descended from a relatively tiny number who made it?)

No doubt, navigation was extremely sketchy for much of human history. And I can't recall if these historians missed their target by 4 miles or 40. But any device that could help narrow that margin of error was better than using simply the winds and prevailing seas. And they likely used other methods and tools with this solar compass. http://www.livescience.com/44366-vikings-sun-compass-after-sunset.html

" did a LOT of people set out and the populations descended from a relatively tiny number who made it?" [Hoovooloo]

It's a good question. Be careful not to ask it in the presence of people who believe what they've read in"Chariots of the gods" or "The 12th Planet." And for the record, I do know someone who believes the Middle East was visited by advanced aliens thousands of years ago...

And if the Middle east was visited by aliens, perhaps some of the world's islands were, too.

I'm currently reading the second Science of Discworld book, and in it it explains some aspects of human migration that changed how I think about it. In particular, I always thought of humans trekking by foot across vast expanses to settle in new lands, spreading out from Africa in many directions, crossing ice/land bridges to flow into and through the Americas. But that's not what typically happened. These migrations took thousands of years. They didn't "trek" so much as the kids would set up their yurt at the edge of the village. Then their kids would set up a little further outside the village.

And some of the sea voyages may have just been fishing expeditions blown off course and being fortunate enough to hit land somewhere.


I also still think it's plausible that the humans in the Americas may not have all come down from the north. Different groups may have met in the middle. Some may have started at the southern tip, Tierra del Fuego, after a sea migration via Australia and various south Pacific island chains.


By the way, there are some absolutely stunning mountain lakes near Tierra del Fuego.

http://www.google.com/search?q=tierra+del+fuego+mountain+lake&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS751US751&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj4oaG2pKjZAhVuc98KHepSA6QQsAQIXA&biw=2258&bih=1298

I once saw a documentary showing various forms of evidence that different Japanese and Polynesian groups had landed in Central and South America sometime in the last thousand years. (Before Columbus got there.)

Plus everyone knows the Vikings made it to Canada via Greenland. Some of them may have intermarried with the natives before their colonies were abandoned.

I'm still stunned by the mountain lakes.

Do folks who grew up by the mountain lakes find concrete and puddles beautiful?