RE: Compass

["Bob Morris" <bobmorris@rmci.net>]

WHITE!!!!

Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: guest@endurance.net [mailto:guest@endurance.net]
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2001 4:41 PM
To: ridecamp@endurance.net
Subject: RC: Compass


K S SWIGART   katswig@earthlink.net


Terre said:

> At 06:49 PM 22/05/2001 -0600, Bob Morris wrote:
>>Standard time or daylight saving time. And which time zone and what part
of
>>the time zone? Does this work at the south pole?
>>
> Bob
> 	I don't know..to tell the truth, that is why I started it with "how about
> this"?  Every time I have tried it, it seems to work.  I think it works
> regardless of time zones (the different 'position of the sun' is why we
> have time zones)--perhaps the DST/ST difference is such a small piece of
> the circumference of the watch that it doesn't make a significant
> difference....dunno!

You need to use standard time, not daylight savings time, but
the reality is that it is only accurate enough to point south-ish
not due south (because if you wanted it to point due south you
would have to know where in the time zone--they are 15 degrees
wide--you are, and you would have to be a lot more exact that
"halfway between").  It is a way to get you in the "right general
direction"  but knowing that the sun rises in the east and sets
in the west and having a good idea of about what time of day it
is is also sufficient to point you in the "right general direction"

This, of course, only works if you can actually see the sun. :)

> 	I suspect it won't work in the Southern hemisphere

No, in the southern hemisphere the same technique would get you
north-ish rather than south-ish.

> --but at the South Pole,
> heck--you only HAVE the sun for half of the year.

Except at the South Pole, in which case, it would get you due north, even in
the dark--Bob was making a joke.

Reminds me of a riddle that my dad asked us when we were kids.

"A man walks one mile due south, one mile due east, shoots a bear,
walks one mile due north, and ends up back where he started.

What color was the bear?"

kat
Orange County, Calif.



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