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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 07/16/2010 : 02:17:31
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I look at Google Earth, locate my home, then step out onto the street and point in a just-established cardinal direction and call it "west" or "north." But my brain just doesn't believe it.
Since I was a kid, I've had an almost perfect sense of direction. Wherever I wandered in Southern California's chaparral-covered hills, I always knew my directions, and at any point could get back to my starting point in a direct line. I once honestly thought I was psychic that way. Now I realize that I was navigating by unconsciously using my inner clock, and the position of the sun.
I realized my non-psychic status as an adult, when I noticed my sense of direction was useless at night or in a heavy overcast. Now again, I suffer from a lack of direction, but for the first time I do so even when the sun is out.
The noon sun here in Baguio during July is to the north of the zenith. That's a simple enough concept for my mind to handle, but my temperate-zone-reared brain refuses to make the logical leap and incorporate this fact into its navigation system. So I may "know" which direction north is, but this just doesn't convince my brain, which has well over half a century of experience in accurate navigation.
So I have a continuing vague sense of unease, feeling directionless. I wonder if this is something I will somehow adjust to.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
Edited by - HalfMooner on 07/16/2010 02:48:20
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 07/16/2010 : 03:53:06 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by HalfMooner
I look at Google Earth, locate my home, then step out onto the street and point in a just-established cardinal direction and call it "west" or "north." But my brain just doesn't believe it.
Since I was a kid, I've had an almost perfect sense of direction. Wherever I wandered in Southern California's chaparral-covered hills, I always knew my directions, and at any point could get back to my starting point in a direct line. I once honestly thought I was psychic that way. Now I realize that I was navigating by unconsciously using my inner clock, and the position of the sun.
I realized my non-psychic status as an adult, when I noticed my sense of direction was useless at night or in a heavy overcast. Now again, I suffer from a lack of direction, but for the first time I do so even when the sun is out.
The noon sun here in Baguio during July is to the north of the zenith. That's a simple enough concept for my mind to handle, but my temperate-zone-reared brain refuses to make the logical leap and incorporate this fact into its navigation system. So I may "know" which direction north is, but this just doesn't convince my brain, which has well over half a century of experience in accurate navigation.
So I have a continuing vague sense of unease, feeling directionless. I wonder if this is something I will somehow adjust to.
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Brains are stupid things....
My advice:
And carry them with you at all times. 
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2010 : 04:27:27 [Permalink]
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Those are all good things, Fil, but I am not sailor enough to know how to operate a sextant.
I do have a Garmin GPS, but as yet I've been unable to find data for a good Philippine map to use in it. And besides, my bitch isn't that I can't get about (instructions to a cabbie will suffice, day to day) but merely that my brain is bitching about the mixed signals it's getting. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Ebone4rock
SFN Regular
USA
894 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2010 : 05:16:47 [Permalink]
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Halfmooner,
Now that you are an island dweller you can forget all about N,S,E,W. You only need to know two directions, mauka (toward the mountains) and makai (towards the sea). |
Haole with heart, thats all I'll ever be. I'm not a part of the North Shore society. Stuck on the shoulder, that's where you'll find me. Digging for scraps with the kooks in line. -Offspring |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2010 : 09:14:08 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Ebone4rock
Halfmooner,
Now that you are an island dweller you can forget all about N,S,E,W. You only need to know two directions, mauka (toward the mountains) and makai (towards the sea). |
Ah-ha! In other words, uphill and downhill? That much I can handle, maybe. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2010 : 19:48:57 [Permalink]
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Thanks, Mab! What an elegant and stylish solution!
To paraphrase Homer by memory (Simpson, not the great epic author), "Ah, technology!: The solution to, and cause of, all of life's problems." |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2010 : 05:25:06 [Permalink]
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| Isn't that the true definition of Extra Sensory Perception? ;) |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Without direction in Baguio
