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I would say the time-zone of the North- or South Pole is either
night or day. Being further a theoretical point on a grid we can
step beyond time-boundaries, that is when can make ourselves a
virtual entity having neither substance.
 
I get the feeling I'm answering a virtual question without any
substance!
When the Dutch Cartographic Society existed 25 years in 1983 its
commemorative quarterly publication (Kartografisch Tijdschrift)
was issued with mostly fiction stories concerning cartography.
One of them was by Harry Mulisch (at the moment the best known
Dutch writer) called 'The boundary' in which a someone has a
car-accident on the boundary between two municipalities. Because
medical assistance personell is using a map to define their
jurisdiction the victim is left to itself to her own detriment!
For those interested. It contained, among others, also a story by
J.M.A. Biesheuvel concerning two Norwegian cartographers who
created a miniature replica of the globe wherein everything is
reproduced, including humans. Also a story concerning Piri Reis
by Hubert Lampo.
And last, but not least, see my earlier e-mail on Umberto Eco's
'The Island of the day before'.
 
The danger for the uninformed of course is where does fiction
cross the border into non-fiction or where is the boundary
between virtuality and reality. Some people would classify plans
which are not realized under imaginairy maps instead of the real
area and embellished unknown areas under real headings instead of
under imaginairy areas.
 
Jan Smits
Map Curator Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of The
Netherlands
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