thanks for the input. i think the main point of it was: normalize the data so that it is easier to sort and go from there - don't try to reinvent the wheel, but make sure you allow it to rotate as smoothly as possible.

@BrowserUk - i think @tchrist did point to edge cases. however, it did more thoroughly present the point - i don't know that i would have understood what he was getting at if he would have just presented his point in the first sentence (which was his point).

so, i will go and see how to best accomodate sort with my hash data :)