h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The circumference of the Earth is 24,901.55 miles. Before satellite navigation became possible the longitude (east or west) position of a ship or other object was obtained by measuring the angle of the Sun above the horizon, the moment that the angle of the Sun begins to diminish it is local noon. By comparing the exact time difference in local noon to the current time in Greenwich, England, the longitude could be calculated. An hour's difference equals a little over a thousand miles. An error of 1 minute would put you about 17 1/4 miles from your true position and a single second produces an error of over a quarter mile. The next time you look at a pre 20th century map you will understand why the widths appear a bit off.

F S

PS The 18 hour error in the New Year is not the time of midnight, but rather the time the orbit around the sun is complete.

CZ,

>Time is indeed an illusion and a rather arbitrary one at that.<

Lunchtime even more.

Doubly so.

Here's a useless fact. I didn't ring in the New Year. Does that make me more correct than people who did? And what time was it anyway, then? There's a useless fact worth knowing.
I also want to call an umpire's decision on the usefulness of the contribution about calculating your position by the angle of the sun while glancing at your watch. There's not many facts more USEFUL than that, surely!

Well, my watch tells me it´s 7 divided by 46. Definitely useless.

Vestboy





Maybe before G.P.S.
If anybody reading this thread actually uses my post to cross an ocean I will plead guilty and suffer the fate I deserve.

On the other hand isn't the very definition of a useless fact something you know is true but never use for a practical result.

F S

*puts down hammer and saw that is being used for making Kontiki style floating thingy*
Will the GPS be waterproof and run on solar power even if it's cloudy? Then I won't need to take my home made angle judger wassaname and my Mickey Mouse watches. One set to GMT and the other set to tea time.

That's pronounced "Tey AH tih meh".

Is that a fact?

Nope. It's a literary reference.

*licks tip of pencil to alter plans for Kontiki to have book shelving*
I'll need somewhere to keep the watches.

CZ, shaddup. In dis dere forum we don´t be used to peple what read and write too good.

But it's just Pratchett.

You can see Blackpool Tower from the top of Mt Snowdon.

The word 'murder' originates from the 'murdum fine' imposed on Anglo-Saxon society whenever someone killed a Norman after the conquest.

Hmm, the word also exists in both the Scandinavian and Germanic languages. That makes your claim seem unlikely.

Ok, here's another. All of the castles Edward I built in Wales are one day's march apart.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=murder&searchmode=none

What's so funny?