NavList:

Bill Noyce wrote:
> Peter Fogg wrote:
> > Why would there be more sunlight at the north pole than at the south?
>
> Because the Earth's orbit around the sun is not a perfect circle, it is closer
> to the sun during Northern Hemisphere winter and thus moves faster.  Count
> the days between the equinoxes -- if we say they're on March 21 and
> September 21, then Northern summer has 184 days, while Oz's has 181 or 182.
>
>     -- Bill

What a wonderfully imperfect universe we inhabit. Nothing is quite
straight or round; everything is at least slightly asymmetric. Only
imaginary concepts like lines and spheres manage to be perfect, yet it
is those concepts that we use as tools to serve practical purposes in
the real wonky world, such as navigation.

My advice to all those in the process of learning nav is to put aside
concern about what are mostly the minor practical effects of these
imperfections, for the good reason that they can lead to confusion with
the big picture. These small effects get endlessly worried over in
forums such as this one, but there is generally no need to worry about
them at all. The simple story is mostly all that is needed for quite
successful practical navigation.

I guess that this is one downside of learning more about nav through
Lists like this one, although there are certainly many advantages as
well.


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