DocAndersen
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. The reality of that line is a mountain may be between you and the point. There was a time, based on that we would unfurl or unfold the map of the area from the glovebox of our car. Or, we would go to the camping supply store and head to the back where the lonely person stood, selling TopoMaps. Few came to the camping store to buy Topo maps. It was a skill they had to have, but not one that did much business. Our camping store, when I was little, was an old building on the Town Square of Bloomington Indiana. It was the land of magical product names (Puma Knives, Northface jackets, and backpacks).
You could have conversations with knowledgeable people on the thermal qualities of down versus synthetic fabric sleeping bags. You could talk about propane tanks for cooking. Which knife was best to have on long hikes. Canteens and how much water you would need. Finally, you could, and my father and I did a couple of times, go back to the lonely person in the back of the store, past the Grizzly bear stuffed at the edge of the hunting section of the store. Past the glass counters with guns and compares past the rife sight section and the bows and arrows. Past the section where they had Boy Scout uniforms and Boy Scout gear. To the counter, with a huge cabinet with large flat drawers.
You told the person the Latitude and Longitude you needed. He or she, mostly back then he’s, but let’s are fair, would pause considering your request for a moment and then, Those were the days of yore. Now you simply type in your Latitude and Longitude into Google Maps, and it shows you exactly what you are looking for. Can you imagine the reality of treasure hunting if the treasure had a GPS tag! The GPS III Satellites have been launched and are fully in operation now. GPS III gives you plus or minus less than 2 feet. In the past due to restrictions GPS’ were plus or minus around 12 feet. 12 feet doesn’t seem like much but it can be more than you realize. GPS III moves us forward into a much closer world.
I still miss Topo Maps and the Topo Map counter…
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Question of
Do you remember going to a special store years ago?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Have you ever slept in a sleeping bag?
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Yes
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No
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I have seen those maps but for the lakes, to see structure, what is under the water.
Its been ages since I went camping.
I pinned this too.
There is a company called Deeper, that is capturing sonar scans of lakes and sharing them so you can see, not what the topomap shows (which often changes underwater) but what is really there!!!!
In the 138 years that I lived, the closest thing to camping I did was sleeping on the beach shore at night time. Never experienced camping on a mountain. The reality of the wild always intimidate me from dusk till dawn.
And hey, I still like to use a physical map in conjunction with Google map. In Vietnam, I took a GrabBike, driver does not speak English, I relied on the GrabApp to take me to the right address. I ended up a long block away from it ????. Always happens. So, what I usually do is since the driver is relying on GrabApp, I kept my Google map open to monitor if we are heading in the same direction. Google map works better but sometimes not very updated and the resto you might be looking for must have been gone a long time and replaced by a different one.
Noting the past tense in your sentence, I am sorry to hear that you are no longer among the living. (you lived 138 years until today?)
Lol! Yeah, why not? A politician here who is hated by everyone seems to live forever. Still very sharp, mind you. So why not a pixie? ????. The past tense was because most of which happened during my solo travel in November and December last year.
My trip, now 10 years ago to Vietnam did not make me past tense. My last trip to Portugal nearly did.
I suspect the past tense was more a Pixie error 🙂
Oh, you meant the word “lived” ????. I cannot exactly remember where I was when I read this post. Prolly I was in the pharmacy. If I was then it is understandable as I do several things at the same time. I am bound to slip one way or another.
Still, hey, what is wrong if I stop existing now? ???? I would consider that a big favor from above. Better early than late ??
well many would miss you!
And I was just as they say giving you crap.
Actually, I did not notice because I did not reread my comment. But the second time you call my attention, I started to wonder what and go back to my first comment and realized aha ??? who knows? Maybe that is a good thing to start practicing as if I no longer exist ?
I am honored to have made the pixie reread a comment! COnsider my day a success!!!!
Lol! ?? I guess, pixies should learn to reread comment before hitting the post button ?
I was once informed by a pixie, that tweaking people was fun. The pixie was right, it is a lot of fun!
GPS, Google map is worse I was brought in a middle of nowhere. haha
I suspect there are errors, the question I would ask is before GPS did you always arrive exactly at your destination? 🙂
before GPS meaning if i use GPS before if i arrive to where I want to go? some places yes, some places nope.
Actually no I was referring to the days when there was no GPS.
ahhhh .. nope, but we can always ask directions. now the use of GPS made us rely on the technology.
Well now you bring up the many dystopian novels where the dependence on the technology exacerbates the fall of humanity.
true, but sometimes it is inevitable specially here.
way to lead with Euclid’s first postulate
Math is an expression of the world in numbers. 🙂
and arguably the most accurate representation…
We are but numbers in the machine.
but can we be expressed as formula?
That waits upon the convergence. But your answer lies within the code.
If I can be expressed as code, then I can have multiple instances of myself running at the same time!
Multiple Alex’s running. The Alexosity. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
depends on your metrics I suppose. it would be great for me!
I would bet you would either be 3, 4 and even 5 times more productive. Or (and I am just saying) 1/4 as productive as the 3, 4 or 5 of you stood there arguing about which way to go! 🙂
I expect we’d all try the individual ways and then see which one worked best
I occasionally use GPS, but sometimes I’m a little disappointed with its operation
I suspect as more and more devices can connect to the GPS III satellites, you will see improvement!
Yes, I don’t have much trouble finding where I want to go without a GPS because I know Auckland well.
However, if I don’t know I use computer maps now and generally remember it.
My eldest sister has a TomTom and it seems to lead her often astray
It can be problematic. That is the different 12 feet makes! Thanks Pam, I can honestly say I know Germantown well, but it isn’t very big.
You remind me of friends or people looking for my address with GPS, some of them end up on a wall that borders the road or valley that is located a few meters from my yard in a straight line, while I am several meters above it…
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is arrive in a place without being lost.
And GPS should increase certainty about that, right?
One would hope, the issue, of course, the natural human instinct to argue with the machine.