Our most recent philosophical debate is the value of the GPS (global positioning system) Mark bought a few months ago. In Mark's view, the correct pronunciation of this navigation technology is "G-P-Yes!" – based on his use of the gadget for finding routes for bike rides and coffee shops when he is on business trips.
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| From Move2008 |
I refer to it as "G-P-I-don't-know" – based on the response I get when I ask "Where are we? Should I turn now?" and Mark informs me that he isn't sure because the GPS (instantly calculating our position using 4 orbiting satellites and complex math calculations) is "confused" about our location. At that point we are forced to go really high tech and get out the map and read road signs – or, as we did tonight, stop in a parking lot and call the hotel to ask a human being for directions.
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| From Move2008 |
Mark doesn't like it when I criticize the GPS and insists that I am judging it too harshly. I must admit that my sense of direction is well – really bad. Now that I think of it, I did once drive an entire loop of the Capitol Beltway in search of Ocean City. But how hard could it be to drive to Colorado really? We can follow the sunset.
2 comments:
Just wanted to let you guys know we're thinking of you. Hope you don't hit many more GPS road bumps.
Cassie I'm inclined to agree with you on GPS...despite having never used it much at all, my old-fogyness gives me authority to say that it's a bunch of newfangled hogwash that don't work any better than looking at the sun combined with good old intuition. Satellites...pfft. Prove to me that these "satellites" even exist and THEN we can have a conversation about how they may or may not be useful.
There was an amusing story recently in the Post, I believe, about GPS mistakes and how people's adherence to their GPS in the face of contrary obvious knowledge has put them in bad situations. In fact, here's a funny scene from "The Office" of just such an event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yyKrS8jwSY
"The machine knows!"
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