OpenStreetMap compatible GPS?

[Jerry Feldman]

On 04/28/2010 01:19 PM, Ken D'Ambrosio wrote:
> In '76, my grandfather -- a mathematician -- bought me my first
> calculator.  (A 7-digit red LED Commodore, no less.  And, yes, that's the
> same Commodore.)  My next-door-neighbor predicted the demise of all
> abilities to compute when our brains went soft because of calculators. 
> Fast-forward to high-school physics, and our teacher decided to force logs
> on us... by way of a sliderule.  I was the fastest in my class -- but it
> still made me wonder if similarly-dire Luddite-esque predictions hadn't
> been made when they'd come along.
>
>   
Commodore was founded by Jack Tramiel initially as a typewriter company.
I too had a cheap commodore calculator,, probably in graduate school in
1972. While I am considerably younger than Maddog :-), pocket electronic
calculators were not available when I was in high school (where I used a
slide rule in Physics) or undergraduate, or while flying. In aviation we
used a flight computer which was essentially a slide rule with azimuths.
Flying is similar to sailing as maps are based on true north, and
compasses work on magnetic north. Both boats and aircraft are dependent
on wind speed and direction. One flight I had in a Cessna 172 the
crosswind was so strong I was nearly flying sideways with respect to the
road I was following. However, that works out nicely in a helicopter
after lunch when your Korean guide smelled so bad I flew out of trim so
I was upwind of him. Of course that does not work near US firebases
where they burn their latrines.

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB  CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846


-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 253 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
Url : http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/private/gnhlug-discuss/attachments/20100428/246eebfd/attachment.bin