NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: The circumnavigator's paradox. was: Benetnasch and Alkaid revisited
From: Bill B
Date: 2005 Apr 6, 16:45 -0500
From: Bill B
Date: 2005 Apr 6, 16:45 -0500
> Thanks to Bill for a really interesting posting about "the > circumnavigator's paradox". George I think I liked this article as it was the one that caused the little bulb over my head to light up. I had read a half dozen articles on the date line, from grade school level up, complete with colorful diagrams, but never really grasped the concept. Just plug and chug based on a set of rules. My problem, as usual, frame of reference. I kept thinking of it in 20th century terms, calendar and watch. With this article, the frame of reference shifted to Sun time. Bingo, unification theory for the terminally slow. I hop on an aircraft at LAN, head west and circle the globe at 15d per hour, and I arrive back at LAN. Sun time, no time passed. Digital watch shows the same time as when I left, but a day later despite the fact it had been LAN for me the whole flight. Going west, I would see two "Sun days," but only one would pass on my watch. Now I don't need to remember any rules, I understand the concept. Bill