Re: Newbie Needs GPS Selection Advice

From: Gymmy Bob (nospamming_at_bite.me)
Date: 09/22/04 

Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 22:32:22 -0400

OK I will throw my GPS in the garbage becaue it should never be used for
that purpose.

Your morals are impecable. Please keep them to yourself in the GPS group.

"Peter" <prathman@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:ZpydnXltHOajXs3cRVn-jQ@comcast.com...
> Gymmy Bob wrote:
>
> > Let me make an analogy to clarify this non-exageration: If you look up
into
> > the sky at night between any stars or other heavenly bodies...how far
can
> > you see?
>
> Billions of light-years. Now if I want to actually get some details of
> what I'm looking at I'll check out the Hubble "Deep Sky Field" which did
> what you specify, i.e. picked a piece of sky without any nearby objects.
>
> Here's what was there:
> http://store3.yimg.com/I/skyimage_1796_2423909
>
> But of course when looking at the sky I judge how far I can see by what
> I can observe rather than by what I can't. So on a clear night I
> observe that I can see planets out to 10s of astronomical units,
> bright stars out to hundreds of light-years, large galaxies out to a
> few million light-years. So looking at an apparently blank piece of sky
> tells me that none of those types of objects out to their respective
> distances are present in that direction. But if all the visible objects
> disappeared then I'd have no good way of judging what I could see at
> what distance.
>
> Similarly, if I'm in fog so dense that I can't see past
> the hood of my car, then I have no data to go on as to what
> obstacles might be out there beyond that distance. And even
> if I'm able to dimly make out a headlight, it doesn't
> give me any assurance that there might not be a pedestrian
> or other unlit obstacle in my path.
>
> Such dense fog doesn't last long and is not life-threatening.
> Trying to drive through it is illegal, unsafe, and ill-advised
> with or without a GPS.
>

Relevant Pages