No it doesn't. Not at all, except insofar as that basic sketch is depicted in a zillion trigonometry textbooks and has been for well longer than you've been alive.
The basic idea is pretty obvious. People have been computing "astounding facts" attributable to the Earth's curvature for thousands of years. Golden Gate Bridge is a pretty obvious choice for computing the tangible spread of two apparently parallel towers: WTC towers were too close for a dramatic spread, and other than GGB there isn't any other pair of towers so universally known (at least to an American audience) which are identical and far enough apart for a spreading of inches. If I think about it long enough, I'll probably recall seeing the same computation & example in trigonometry class decades ago.
Just because you thought of it doesn't mean you're first - by a long shot.
Oh, and your sketch is wrong. The two lines labeled "R" aren't the same length.
> Oh, and your sketch is wrong. The two lines labeled "R" aren't the same length.
lutusp's diagram is the arachnoid one. His labels are correct, it's the datagenetics one that has apparently incorrect labeling. The dashed red line is not R in length, but R + h, which is not clearly indicated though the apparent intent. The dashed line should stop at the circle and change color or something to indicate a second line segment.
That said, you're correct. Ignoring the person another similar diagram is here:
The basic idea is pretty obvious. People have been computing "astounding facts" attributable to the Earth's curvature for thousands of years. Golden Gate Bridge is a pretty obvious choice for computing the tangible spread of two apparently parallel towers: WTC towers were too close for a dramatic spread, and other than GGB there isn't any other pair of towers so universally known (at least to an American audience) which are identical and far enough apart for a spreading of inches. If I think about it long enough, I'll probably recall seeing the same computation & example in trigonometry class decades ago.
Just because you thought of it doesn't mean you're first - by a long shot.
Oh, and your sketch is wrong. The two lines labeled "R" aren't the same length.