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I thought about building something like this about 20 years ago, but decided not to.This is actually a skill you can teach yourself if you just start paying att

I thought about building something like this about 20 years ago, but decided not to.This is actually a skill you can teach yourself if you just start paying attention. It works pretty much everywhere except for in labyrinth-like buildings. The last time I couldn't figure out which Way North was was in Lord Leicester hotel in warwick 5 years ago.

ok_dad 4y ago
You can teach yourself a lot of "sixth senses" if you try hard enough! When I was in the Navy as an Officer of the Deck (OOD), I used to be able to visually measure distances on flat water in the range of ~500 yards to a mile within a few tens of yards because I had an internal sense of how big objects were and how they would look at those ranges. This was because I constantly had to measure ranges on radars and via moboards[0] when I was a OOD-in-training and so I learned quickly how to measure distances visually. I also learned how to estimate how a ship was moving in ports and transit canals and how to adjust that using engines simply by looking around, much like you can adjust how you walk on a surface depending on senses from your whole body about what type of surface it is, how stable it is, etc. On gravel, most people can sense a bit of slippage as they walk from their feet, they might sense their body alignment from feet to head moving slightly due to that slippage, etc. and all those senses are used to tell "I need to slow down here" or whatever. For ships, you get an idea for what direction the bow and stern are moving, how they relate to your control angles, how that relates to what you see around you, and also integrates your body senses, because your body is a finely-tuned acceleration sensing machine. Anyways, I wish I were still an OOD today, because I would try and create some tools like this that would help me there. Even this anklet itself would have been helpful when I was on duty, to tell me when the helmsman was asleep! [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneuvering_board https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneuvering_board
- kelnos 4y ago
  Whoa, this is really cool! > For ships, you get an idea for what direction the bow and stern are moving I wouldn't've thought of this, but of course that's critical to know on a ship. And it's certainly something outside of standard human experience, since we're small enough in that dimension to not have to worry about the difference in movement between our front and rear sides. The fact that you were able to gain an intuitive feel for this highlights how adaptable the human brain is.
tokamak-teapot 4y ago
I’m not sure if I have an intuition for which way the compass directions are due to nature or nurture. I was encouraged to think about it from an early age, but that doesn’t prove I wouldn’t have just had that kind of intuition anyway. It’s a useful nano superpower, though. It’s quite often that I use it to pick the right direction to head without having to get out a map on my phone, or other such cheat. As the parent comment mentions, there are times when it is tricky. I often emerge from one of several exits from an unfamiliar London Underground station and have to spend a few minutes orientating myself. Often the fastest way is to just look for one of those maps they put in glass cabinets and figure it out from the shape of the road junctions.
xcskier56 4y ago
I have always had a very strong internal sense of direction and I've found that it relies strongly on knowing which way is north. This means that when I'm in a mall or other large building (malls are the worst) I get very lost and have to think hard about which way is which. I usually have to paint a birds eye view and know which stores are on which corner of the mall and orient myself that way. This also means that occasionally when I'm in a new city, I get north/south mixed up and am hopelessly lost
roughly 4y ago
During the daytime, if you know roughly what time it is and roughly where the sun is, that’s good enough to give you close enough to the cardinal directions for most purposes not involving a 10mi trek out of the woods.
aleken 4y ago
Agree with this guy. Never tried Lord Leicester hotel in Warwick though, but looks like it's too late. Shut down.
- googlryas 4y ago
  Yeah, it's condos now:( very interesting building though - built around 1650 and was expanded/modified every 50 years or so for the past 450 years. Absolute maze to navigate, especially because "perpendicular" hallways might actually be at 80 degrees or so.
  - omnibrain 4y ago
    That‘s exactly what f**s you up when you try to navigate Karlsruhe in Germany. It‘s a planned city, but not with a grid, instead it’s fan-shaped, even more pronounced than Versailles.

ok_dad 4y ago

You can teach yourself a lot of "sixth senses" if you try hard enough! When I was in the Navy as an Officer of the Deck (OOD), I used to be able to visually measure distances on flat water in the range of ~500 yards to a mile within a few tens of yards because I had an internal sense of how big objects were and how they would look at those ranges. This was because I constantly had to measure ranges on radars and via moboards[0] when I was a OOD-in-training and so I learned quickly how to measure distances visually. I also learned how to estimate how a ship was moving in ports and transit canals and how to adjust that using engines simply by looking around, much like you can adjust how you walk on a surface depending on senses from your whole body about what type of surface it is, how stable it is, etc. On gravel, most people can sense a bit of slippage as they walk from their feet, they might sense their body alignment from feet to head moving slightly due to that slippage, etc. and all those senses are used to tell "I need to slow down here" or whatever. For ships, you get an idea for what direction the bow and stern are moving, how they relate to your control angles, how that relates to what you see around you, and also integrates your body senses, because your body is a finely-tuned acceleration sensing machine. Anyways, I wish I were still an OOD today, because I would try and create some tools like this that would help me there. Even this anklet itself would have been helpful when I was on duty, to tell me when the helmsman was asleep! [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneuvering_board https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneuvering_board

kelnos 4y ago
Whoa, this is really cool! > For ships, you get an idea for what direction the bow and stern are moving I wouldn't've thought of this, but of course that's critical to know on a ship. And it's certainly something outside of standard human experience, since we're small enough in that dimension to not have to worry about the difference in movement between our front and rear sides. The fact that you were able to gain an intuitive feel for this highlights how adaptable the human brain is.

tokamak-teapot 4y ago

I’m not sure if I have an intuition for which way the compass directions are due to nature or nurture. I was encouraged to think about it from an early age, but that doesn’t prove I wouldn’t have just had that kind of intuition anyway. It’s a useful nano superpower, though. It’s quite often that I use it to pick the right direction to head without having to get out a map on my phone, or other such cheat. As the parent comment mentions, there are times when it is tricky. I often emerge from one of several exits from an unfamiliar London Underground station and have to spend a few minutes orientating myself. Often the fastest way is to just look for one of those maps they put in glass cabinets and figure it out from the shape of the road junctions.

xcskier56 4y ago

I have always had a very strong internal sense of direction and I've found that it relies strongly on knowing which way is north. This means that when I'm in a mall or other large building (malls are the worst) I get very lost and have to think hard about which way is which. I usually have to paint a birds eye view and know which stores are on which corner of the mall and orient myself that way. This also means that occasionally when I'm in a new city, I get north/south mixed up and am hopelessly lost

roughly 4y ago

During the daytime, if you know roughly what time it is and roughly where the sun is, that’s good enough to give you close enough to the cardinal directions for most purposes not involving a 10mi trek out of the woods.

aleken 4y ago

Agree with this guy. Never tried Lord Leicester hotel in Warwick though, but looks like it's too late. Shut down.

googlryas 4y ago
Yeah, it's condos now:( very interesting building though - built around 1650 and was expanded/modified every 50 years or so for the past 450 years. Absolute maze to navigate, especially because "perpendicular" hallways might actually be at 80 degrees or so.
- omnibrain 4y ago
  That‘s exactly what f**s you up when you try to navigate Karlsruhe in Germany. It‘s a planned city, but not with a grid, instead it’s fan-shaped, even more pronounced than Versailles.