It points towards Mecca (Flight 93 memorial)

Politicalities ^ | Sept 11,2005 | Jonathan Haas

[spycatcher]

It points towards Mecca

Today is September 11.

Michelle Malkin and other bloggers are buzzing about the proposed Flight 93 memorial, which bears a striking resemblance to an Islamic crescent. Zombie produces an animated image consisting of the memorial (rotated so the arms of the crescent point to the right) overlapped with the crescent of the Tunisian flag. The juxtaposition is nearly perfect.

Zombie also links to this image credited to "Etaoin Shrdlu". What you're seeing is an azimuthal equidistant projection of the globe centered on the Flight 93 crash site. On such a projection, the concentric circles represent a fixed distance from the center, and the angle of a straight line from the center to any point represents the azimuth between the two points. Etaoin's image shows that a line perpendicular to the endpoints of the crescent (that is, the direction the crescent faces) appears to pass very close to Mecca. Mecca sits near Saudi Arabia's western coast with the Red Sea, and as Etaoin's image shows, the crescent points right at it.

But I've always been one to go for cold calculations over pretty pictures, so I set to find out if indeed the crescent points towards Mecca. Here's what I came up with:

According to this site, the latitude/longitude coordinates of Mecca are 21.4234, 39.8262 and the coordinates of the Flight 93 crash site are 40.052, -78.8963. Using the calculator from this site, I determined that the azimuth between the two points is 124.80°.

Next I went to the Flight 93 National Memorial website and found the biggest overhead view of the memorial I could find with north oriented up. I measured the distance from tip-to-tip of the crescent and came up with 64px east-west and 90px north-south. The arctangent of 64/90 is the angle between north and a line drawn between the tips, which works out to 35.42°. Adding 90° to this angle gives the direction the crescent faces as 125.42°.

Conclusion: the crescent points towards Mecca with an error of 0.62°, or 0.17%. If you take a circle and divide its circumference into 580 equal arcs, the angle subtended by one of those arcs is the error. (Bear in mind that any error in my figures could change this value; the figure most open to interpretation is the distance in pixels between the tips of the crescent.)

I don't know if the architect deliberately made his design look like an Islamic crescent, or if it's coincidental. I don't know if the architect deliberately made his crescent point almost directly towards Mecca, or if it's coincidental. What I do know is that a memorial in the shape of a swastika would never be permitted, whether the resemblance was intentional or a coincidence. Nor would a memorial resembling a Confederate battle flag.

The strong resemblance of this memorial to an Islamic symbol, whether intentional or accidental, is grossly insensitive to those of us who find it offensive. The commission needs to go back to the drawing board.

[F16Fighter]

Thanks for making it easy for us.

I've sent a voice mail to Ms Joanne Hanley -- Superintendent, Flight 93 National Memorial, asking just who they thought they were "honoring" when they came up with this disgusting POS.

[F16Fighter]

"The premiss of this thread is a bit silly. Some people just have too much time on their hands."

You know what's "silly"?

Apparently not enough time on your hands is a problem -- take two seconds to use 'spell-check' next time...

That's "premise," friend.

[F16Fighter]

"Wouldn't you think that since Islamic Jhadists were responsible for the deaths of those brave heroes of Flight 93...he might have hesitated to use that shape in this memorial?"

Agreed.

Seems suspiciously "in-your-face" to plenty of us...

[D-fendr]

since you're playing so dumb. Artists and architects almost never create exact duplicates of what they're supposed to represent. To think that they would build an actual Muslim minaret to represent a minaret is foolish.

No need to get snippy about it. It looks more like the Washington monument than it does a minaret. That was the poster's point and my point in reply.

[concretebob]

No Mercy

No Quarter

[okie01]

According to my Garmin unit, the azimuth to Mecca is 55 degrees, and the distance 6622 miles.

Note that the map displays an azimuth in keeping with your calculations.

Note also that the author's "azimuth" (124.8) and yours (55) add to 180 degrees -- suggesting that the author had it exactly backwards.

[concretebob]

If this piece of crap gets builty the way its shown, someone will have to issue a restraining order on me, cause I'll do the midnight landscaping myself.

[spycatcher]

I agree. I just tire of all the people who do say it's crazy to see symbolic representation because they're demanding literal interpretation. So the star has to be an exact star or it doesn't count. Artists and architects don't work that way, especially if it's a potential political problem and they really want to get their concept past the jury.

It seems like the intent here was to envelop the area an a peaceful embrace of Islam, one that the architects thought was sufficiently abstract and secularized as to not be offensive, to heal the differences between America and Mecca.

[ladyinred]

I don't like this at all, and in fact, I think it is a slap in the face to the victims. However, are any of the families complaining? The freeper whose dad died on flight 93 isn't upset about it.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Butt ugly, if you ask me.

[StAnDeliver]

Think of the immediate and overwhelming negative reaction if Lebeskind proposed a crescent building of glass for the Ground Zero Memorial Gardens. But somehow it's ok for Paul Murdoch to build a red crescent in Shankesville?

[HiJinx]

Time for some good ol' FR activism...

Check out what they're planning in Pennsylvania, then let the National Park Service know how you feel.

Let's also get this out to our local papers so that more Americans are aware of this travesty.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[BIGLOOK]

Saw this earlier. Just to whom is this monument meant for? I hope the good folks of Pennsylvania make good use of the government funded firewood this winter.

It's gotta go.

[potlatch]

Good graphics devolve.

[D-fendr]

Thanks for your reply. I understand how you feel I think. It's an emotional subject. Like I said, I would prefer "Let's Roll!" in hundred-foot-high stone.

So it's not the effect I would go for, were it up to me.

We're gonna disagree in how it can be interpreted. And ultimately:

It seems like the intent here was…

It is going to come down to designer intent. And I don't know how we determine that. If we read the memorial site, your view of intent is not there. Again, it's still not my preferred intent. But they're not saying it's purpose is to try to "to heal the differences between America and Mecca" either.

Can we believe them? I dunno. In the end, perhaps the intent will be determined more by Americans who visit the memorial and who carry forth the spirit of those heroes, such as Todd Beamer, than by the shape of the memorial.

I can hope so anyway...

[antiunion person]

(and the Clinton Legacy continues: like Herpes, it is a gift that keeps on giving.)

Hey King, your tag line is incorrect. Clinton keeps on taking, not giving.

[sheik yerbouty]

Crescents belong on outhouses, not memorials to murdered Americans!

[Clemenza]

Allah Akbar!

[PARodrig]

Another "wonderful" monument in the fine tradition of the International Freedom Center. Makes me sick...