The mind, she boggles

[+GeoGeeBee]

I can't tell if this is supposed to be funny, or if it's a serious explanation of how GPS works:

 

GC27PFW

 

I'm hoping there's a joke in here that I'm missing...

[+NeecesandNephews]

I can't tell if this is supposed to be funny, or if it's a serious explanation of how GPS works:

 

GC27PFW

 

I'm hoping there's a joke in here that I'm missing...

 

 

I find the joke to be "Why would you encrypt something as a hint when it is not one?"

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

I can't tell if this is supposed to be funny, or if it's a serious explanation of how GPS works:

 

GC27PFW

 

I'm hoping there's a joke in here that I'm missing...

 

 

I find the joke to be "Why would you encrypt something as a hint when it is not one?"

Why woodn't you see the hint where there clearly is one...note the spelling of Wood vs Would.

 

Edit to add that I don't see a joke in that write up, just someone trying to explain the function of the GPS as simply as they can. It seems accurate to me. The GPS rereive various signals from fixed points and calculates your distance from those positions.

Edited May 3, 2010 by WRITE SHOP ROBERT

[+Vater_Araignee]

I can't tell if this is supposed to be funny, or if it's a serious explanation of how GPS works:

 

GC27PFW

 

I'm hoping there's a joke in here that I'm missing...

 

 

I find the joke to be "Why would you encrypt something as a hint when it is not one?"

Why woodn't you see the hint where there clearly is one...note the spelling of Wood vs Would.

 

Edit to add that I don't see a joke in that write up, just someone trying to explain the function of the GPS as simply as they can. It seems accurate to me. The GPS rereive various signals from fixed points and calculates your distance from those positions.

I couldn't get past the first paragraph. The only fixed points I know of are the WAAS birds and the sats don't send pings as this implies single tone they send time and location data and your receiver checks it's time vs time it is receiving to calculate it's own.

If you can, try changing the time in your receiver and have a look at how bad it skews your location.

[+NeecesandNephews]

I can't tell if this is supposed to be funny, or if it's a serious explanation of how GPS works:

 

GC27PFW

 

I'm hoping there's a joke in here that I'm missing...

 

 

I find the joke to be "Why would you encrypt something as a hint when it is not one?"

Why woodn't you see the hint where there clearly is one...note the spelling of Wood vs Would.

 

Edit to add that I don't see a joke in that write up, just someone trying to explain the function of the GPS as simply as they can. It seems accurate to me. The GPS rereive various signals from fixed points and calculates your distance from those positions.

 

Guess I should have included an emoticon that implied I was being sarcastic. The hint did not go over my head. I did not want to point it out but did note that it was "clever" i.e. funny.

[+GeoGeeBee]

 

Edit to add that I don't see a joke in that write up, just someone trying to explain the function of the GPS as simply as they can. It seems accurate to me. The GPS rereive various signals from fixed points and calculates your distance from those positions.

 

FIXED positions? "satellites stay in the exact same place at all times?"

 

"100 meters 95 percent of the time" was true before the military turned off Selective Availability... which was a few days more than ten years ago, if I'm not mistaken.

 

Does any consumer GPS receiver actually take several hundred positions per second and average them together, on the fly?

 

Using satellite pictures on the web to "hone-in" on the "true coordinates?" Didn't we just have a thread about how the google images were hundreds of feet off in some areas?

 

What about the idea of encouraging finders to replace the cache at ground zero as indicated by their receiver? How long before the log is full and the CO can't find his own cache because it's been moved?

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

 

Edit to add that I don't see a joke in that write up, just someone trying to explain the function of the GPS as simply as they can. It seems accurate to me. The GPS rereive various signals from fixed points and calculates your distance from those positions.

 

FIXED positions? "satellites stay in the exact same place at all times?"

 

"100 meters 95 percent of the time" was true before the military turned off Selective Availability... which was a few days more than ten years ago, if I'm not mistaken.

 

Does any consumer GPS receiver actually take several hundred positions per second and average them together, on the fly?

 

Using satellite pictures on the web to "hone-in" on the "true coordinates?" Didn't we just have a thread about how the google images were hundreds of feet off in some areas?

 

What about the idea of encouraging finders to replace the cache at ground zero as indicated by their receiver? How long before the log is full and the CO can't find his own cache because it's been moved?

I'd have to read the page again, but the way I read it there was a 30ish foot circle of strawbed, and the Cache is hidden in a piece of wood. In keeping with the ideas in the other thread, if you record the location each time someone moves it, you can create an interesting record of the variance. As far as the exact technical way that GPS works...OK maybe the details are off a bit, but the idea is correct.

Edited May 4, 2010 by WRITE SHOP ROBERT

[+fizzymagic]

I couldn't get past the first paragraph. The only fixed points I know of are the WAAS birds and the sats don't send pings as this implies single tone they send time and location data and your receiver checks it's time vs time it is receiving to calculate it's own.

If you can, try changing the time in your receiver and have a look at how bad it skews your location.

Oh, wow.

 

I'm speechless.

 

Almost. Congratulation! I thought it was impossible to give a worse "explanation" of how GPS works than the original page, but you did it!

[+Vater_Araignee]

I couldn't get past the first paragraph. The only fixed points I know of are the WAAS birds and the sats don't send pings as this implies single tone they send time and location data and your receiver checks it's time vs time it is receiving to calculate it's own.

If you can, try changing the time in your receiver and have a look at how bad it skews your location.

Oh, wow.

 

I'm speechless.

 

Almost. Congratulation! I thought it was impossible to give a worse "explanation" of how GPS works than the original page, but you did it!

Is this better?

Using messages received from a minimum of four visible satellites, a GPS receiver is able to determine the times sent and then the satellite positions corresponding to these times sent. No pings involved, more like data bursts at regular intervals.

Every place I have gone to for better understanding, agree that the only sats in geosynchronous orbit are the WAAS and they can be used for triangulation but most receivers don't.

If a sat only had to send time data then it would be in a geosynchronous orbit.

 

Oh wow I just said the same thing but made it longer.

Edited May 3, 2010 by Vater_Araignee

[+fizzymagic]

Oh wow I just said the same thing but made it longer.

No, you didn't. There is a big difference between "the GPS receiver is able to determine the timing of the signals" and "the satellite sends the time." Also, the GPS signals are not sent as bursts. In any case, the GPS unit does not determine the position from the absolute times of the signals, but from the differences in time between multiple signals.

 

Aside from that, you were right.

[+dfx]

yeah this also doesn't seem like a joke to me. part of that write-up is accurate but explained in simple terms, other parts are just plain wrong while not being funny in any way. seems to be the outcome of some serious misunderstandings, we call it "dangerous half-knowledge".

[4wheelin_fool]

While the explanation of GPS is not completely on the mark, it is well within the range of being reasonably accurate.

 

I'm sure that anyone who feels that their explanation is more concise, will add it to their find log..

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I can't tell if this is supposed to be funny, or if it's a serious explanation of how GPS works:

 

GC27PFW

 

I'm hoping there's a joke in here that I'm missing...

 

 

I find the joke to be "Why would you encrypt something as a hint when it is not one?"

Why woodn't you see the hint where there clearly is one...note the spelling of Wood vs Would.

 

Edit to add that I don't see a joke in that write up, just someone trying to explain the function of the GPS as simply as they can. It seems accurate to me. The GPS rereive various signals from fixed points and calculates your distance from those positions.

I couldn't get past the first paragraph. The only fixed points I know of are the WAAS birds and the sats don't send pings as this implies single tone they send time and location data and your receiver checks it's time vs time it is receiving to calculate it's own.

If you can, try changing the time in your receiver and have a look at how bad it skews your location.

 

"Ping" in the context of data transmissions has a meaning other than as an audible tone. Ping is the name of an application that uses a simple data format (Internet Control Message Protocol or ICMP) to determine if there is basic internet connectivity between two nodes. Higher level protocols such as HTTP (the protocol used between web browsers and web servers) may often use ICMP to send/receive control or error messages. Ping is also used as a verb, as in "I'm going to ping the server" to check if basic connectivity between two end points is possible. Some geekier types may even include it in their general vocabulary as in, "I'm going to ping my boss" to mean "I'm going to communicate with my boss."

 

That said, although a satellite "may" (I don't really know) have one or more IP addresses associated with it, GPS receivers, at least currently, do not. Since the ICMP protocol requires both a sending and receiving IP address as part of the message it could not be used as a message format between a GPS receiver and GPS satellites. In the context of this thread saying "A GPS pings the satellite" may just be a geeky way of saying that a GPS establishes communication with a satellite.

[+9Key]

Apart from the GPS description isn't this a moving cache? They not allowed any more, or so I thought.

[+dfx]

since we're already in nitpicking mode...

 

Higher level protocols such as HTTP (the protocol used between web browsers and web servers) may often use ICMP to send/receive control or error messages.

HTTP is a protocol that sits on top of any protocol which provides data streams and therefore is not aware of ICMP. TCP and UDP may use ICMP to communicate, but in the internet world, HTTP sits on top of TCP and therefore doesn't know about details of the underlying protocols (such as ICMP).

 

also, the ICMP messages used by TCP and UDP are not pings, pings are merely another, seperate type of ICMP messages (one that's not used by any other protocol).

 

Ping is also used as a verb, as in "I'm going to ping the server" to check if basic connectivity between two end points is possible. Some geekier types may even include it in their general vocabulary as in, "I'm going to ping my boss" to mean "I'm going to communicate with my boss."

as you say yourself, pings don't only apply to IP networks, but can be used in many other scenarios (in which case it won't be ICMP messages of course). usually a ping is any kind of message from A to B which doesn't carry any real information, but is only meant to trigger a similar response message on B (usually called a pong) which is sent back to A. entity A can therefore use the ping to determine if entity B is alive, and can also time the whole process to determine the RTT (round-trip time).

 

in other cases, mostly where there's only unidirectional communication available (as is the case with GPS), a ping refers to a simple keep-alive message, sent from A to B in regular intervals to tell B that A is still alive. if B doesn't receive this kind of ping from A within a certain time, then B can assume that A is gone. now i don't know if GPS actually facilitates such a kind of ping, but in some ways it would make sense, and in other ways it wouldn't (GPS sats send data all the time anyway, so there's no need for a dedicated keep-alive message really).

[+ras_oscar]

To the OP:

 

Some pages describe the historical significance of a particular location and are cribbed off of a nearby historical marker. Thsi CO has merely used the opportunity to provide similar general info about how GPSrs work. No joke or punchline that I can see.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

since we're already in nitpicking mode...

 

Higher level protocols such as HTTP (the protocol used between web browsers and web servers) may often use ICMP to send/receive control or error messages.

HTTP is a protocol that sits on top of any protocol which provides data streams and therefore is not aware of ICMP. TCP and UDP may use ICMP to communicate, but in the internet world, HTTP sits on top of TCP and therefore doesn't know about details of the underlying protocols (such as ICMP).

 

also, the ICMP messages used by TCP and UDP are not pings, pings are merely another, seperate type of ICMP messages (one that's not used by any other protocol).

 

 

You are, of course correct. I really did know that HTTP didn't use ICMP directly and like most Internet Protocols sits on top of TCP or UDP. It's probably been 20 years since I did any work with low level protocols and forgot that ping was just a type of ICMP message.

 

Ping is also used as a verb, as in "I'm going to ping the server" to check if basic connectivity between two end points is possible. Some geekier types may even include it in their general vocabulary as in, "I'm going to ping my boss" to mean "I'm going to communicate with my boss."

 

as you say yourself, pings don't only apply to IP networks, but can be used in many other scenarios (in which case it won't be ICMP messages of course). usually a ping is any kind of message from A to B which doesn't carry any real information, but is only meant to trigger a similar response message on B (usually called a pong) which is sent back to A. entity A can therefore use the ping to determine if entity B is alive, and can also time the whole process to determine the RTT (round-trip time).

 

in other cases, mostly where there's only unidirectional communication available (as is the case with GPS), a ping refers to a simple keep-alive message, sent from A to B in regular intervals to tell B that A is still alive. if B doesn't receive this kind of ping from A within a certain time, then B can assume that A is gone. now i don't know if GPS actually facilitates such a kind of ping, but in some ways it would make sense, and in other ways it wouldn't (GPS sats send data all the time anyway, so there's no need for a dedicated keep-alive message really).

 

I guess the gist of my message is that "ping" is a term that's been around long enough that it's original meaning has evolved to a general term for bouncing a message from entity A to entity B with a response

back to entity A. The term is used whether those entities are two computers (or some other devices with an IP address) or some other kinds of entity. In any case, depending on the term was intended on the web page under scrutiny the use of the term "Ping" actually makes some sense.

[+thedeadpirate]

Apart from the GPS description isn't this a moving cache? They not allowed any more, or so I thought.

Not really. From the description, you will always find the cache within the straw bed. The cache does not move any further than it would possibly due to normal drift.

 

*** This post is the opinion of a regular cacher. For an official answer, you may want to contact a reviewer or Groundspeak directly.

[+fizzymagic]

While the explanation of GPS is not completely on the mark, it is well within the range of being reasonably accurate.

No, it is not. It's not even close.

[Mushtang]

According to Garmin:

 

GPS satellites circle the earth twice a day in a very precise orbit and transmit signal information to earth. GPS receivers take this information and use triangulation to calculate the user's exact location. Essentially, the GPS receiver compares the time a signal was transmitted by a satellite with the time it was received. The time difference tells the GPS receiver how far away the satellite is. Now, with distance measurements from a few more satellites, the receiver can determine the user's position and display it on the unit's electronic map.

[Andronicus]

I like the idea. His description was rather funny, but regardless of the details, it will help un-educated GPS users understand the basic consepts better. As for the stationary and timeing issue, I guess a statment like this would be more accuriate. "Based on the timing data received from the GPS satallites, the receiver can determin where each satallite is at any moment in time. Now that the receiver knows were each satallite is, it can triangulate its own possision from this data." Now as for the WAAS, that is just to help your GPSr adjust for atmospheric distortion in the signal.

 

I don't think that this would be classified as a moving cache as it doesn't move enough as to need new coordinates. It is always hidden at the same location (by location I mean coordinates). The only thing that changes is who's GPSr is locating the coordinates.

[+Prime Suspect]

"Based on the timing data received from the GPS satallites, the receiver can determin where each satallite is at any moment in time. Now that the receiver knows were each satallite is, it can triangulate its own possision from this data."

That makes it sound like the clock signals are used to determine the satellite positions, which is incorrect. The unit determines a satellite's position from the almanac and ephemeris data.

[+Borst68]

Wow. That was a tough read. I think my eyes are bleeding...

[+mrbort]

So... the description of the way GPS works is completely off mechanically, physically and historically. I'd say that those who are defending it probably have a different level of physical acceptability than a professional physicist. However, I think that regardless of the discrepancies of the physical functionality of the GPS system contained in the writeup, if designed for someone for whom these devices are essentially opaque black boxes, it moves in the direction towards vague understanding of the system rather than away from it. I'd prefer a magic schoolbus type inaccuracy but I guess I can't get too worked up over it. Accuracy is important but sometimes if it's even remotely in the right direction, inaccurate becomes a relative term

 

Edited to add:

 

I actually like the idea behind the "move it to where your GPS says is ground zero" in a spot that could presumably accept indiscriminate camouflage. It would be interesting to watch this as it moves around... I don't think it would be a moving cache as the posted coordinates would not change and instead the cache would (in a sanctioned manner as opposed to the unintended cache drift that we sometimes see in other places) move around the WGS-84 theoretical point on the surface that corresponds to the numbers Fun, I say!

Edited May 5, 2010 by mrbort

[+Too Tall John]

I guess the gist of my message is that "ping" is a term that's been around long enough that it's original meaning has evolved to a general term for bouncing a message from entity A to entity B with a response back to entity A.

Actually, "Ping" has been around longer than the internet. According to Wikipedia:

Mike Muuss wrote the program in December 1983, as a tool to troubleshoot problems in an IP network. He named it after the pulses of sound made by a sonar, since its operation is analogous to active sonar in submarines, in which an operator issues a pulse of sound toward the target, which then bounces from the target and is received by the operator.

It isn't so much that the term has "evolved to a general term for bouncing a message from entity A to entity B with a response back to entity A" as the term originally meant that, at least for sonar.

 

In any case, it isn't an accurate description of how a GPS works.

Edited May 5, 2010 by Too Tall John

[+Chrysalides]

Actually, "Ping" has been around longer than the internet. According to Wikipedia:

Mike Muuss wrote the program in December 1983, as a tool to troubleshoot problems in an IP network. He named it after the pulses of sound made by a sonar, since its operation is analogous to active sonar in submarines, in which an operator issues a pulse of sound toward the target, which then bounces from the target and is received by the operator.

You can get the story about Ping here

 

 

 

 

[+sbell111]

Who cares?

[Mushtang]

Who cares?

Are you looking for something other than, all of the people that are in this post discussing it and keep coming back to read what others have written?

[+Prime Suspect]

[knowschad]

Actually, "Ping" has been around longer than the internet. According to Wikipedia:

Mike Muuss wrote the program in December 1983, as a tool to troubleshoot problems in an IP network. He named it after the pulses of sound made by a sonar, since its operation is analogous to active sonar in submarines, in which an operator issues a pulse of sound toward the target, which then bounces from the target and is received by the operator.

You can get the story about Ping here

 

If it walks like a duck, and it talks like a duck...

[+sbell111]

Who cares?

Are you looking for something other than, all of the people that are in this post discussing it and keep coming back to read what others have written?

I was referring to the silly arguments over the minutia of how GPS works. Beyond feeding a few posters' superiority complexes, who really gives a care? Edited May 5, 2010 by sbell111

[+dfx]

I was referring to the silly arguments over the minutia of how GPS works. Beyond feeding a few posters' superiority complexes, who really gives a care?

i do for once.

[+Prime Suspect]

Who cares?

Are you looking for something other than, all of the people that are in this post discussing it and keep coming back to read what others have written?

I was referring to the silly arguments over the minutia of how GPS works. Beyond feeding a few posters' superiority complexes, who really gives a care?

Whether or not the satellites are in geosynchronous orbit isn't minutia. It's one of the reasons we get different accuracy readings at the same location. The better people understand how the system works, the better they can make use of their receivers.

[+brslk]

Who cares?

Are you looking for something other than, all of the people that are in this post discussing it and keep coming back to read what others have written?

I was referring to the silly arguments over the minutia of how GPS works. Beyond feeding a few posters' superiority complexes, who really gives a care?

Whether or not the satellites are in geosynchronous orbit isn't minutia. It's one of the reasons we get different accuracy readings at the same location. The better people understand how the system works, the better they can make use of their receivers.

 

I'm reading this thread and interested in the subject. I know very little of how GPS works and am always looking to learn more about the things I use and am interested in.

I see nothing wrong with learning more about anything. Sure, there are things I have no interest in learning about but if that's the case, I just avoid those threads/books/programs..etc...

 

For instance, I do not belong to any Justin Beiber Internet forums.

[+cx1]

Who cares?

Are you looking for something other than, all of the people that are in this post discussing it and keep coming back to read what others have written?

I was referring to the silly arguments over the minutia of how GPS works. Beyond feeding a few posters' superiority complexes, who really gives a care?

 

Many people probably do. A perhaps better question would be if you don't care then why participate in the thread at all?

[+Proud Soccer Mom]

Oh wow I just said the same thing but made it longer.

No, you didn't. There is a big difference between "the GPS receiver is able to determine the timing of the signals" and "the satellite sends the time." Also, the GPS signals are not sent as bursts. In any case, the GPS unit does not determine the position from the absolute times of the signals, but from the differences in time between multiple signals.

 

Aside from that, you were right.

 

How GPS Works by RNPH

 

Push the button on the right of the little yellow thing. Watch the little guy zig zag up to the top of the screen and plant the little flag. Watch the little lines hook up to the satellites. When you've got four, you can go geocaching. Follow the direction arrow until you have to get out of the car. Then follow on foot. When you almost get to Ground Zero, the distance gauge will go nuts and say you're 8... no, 10... no, 4... no, 6 feet away. Start looking around for the cache at this point.

 

The End.

[+cx1]

 

How GPS Works by RNPH

 

Push the button on the right of the little yellow thing. Watch the little guy zig zag up to the top of the screen and plant the little flag. Watch the little lines hook up to the satellites. When you've got four, you can go geocaching. Follow the direction arrow until you have to get out of the car. Then follow on foot. When you almost get to Ground Zero, the distance gauge will go nuts and say you're 8... no, 10... no, 4... no, 6 feet away. Start looking around for the cache at this point.

 

The End.

 

Utoh, I don't have a yellow one. Mine is orange. And there is no little guy with a flag.

[4wheelin_fool]

Actually, the units are equipped with a radioactive IC chip which automatically uploads your location to a base station on the moon. The government uses this info along with your cookies to watch everyone constantly on billions of computer monitors since many government jobs are just so boring. Using a tin foil hat usually will prevent the GPS units from sucking most the info out of your head, but if used outside they will be easily picked up as shiny dots on Google Earth. The satellites are really used as space docking pods for alien greys. A few ounces of Bacardi 151 mixed with Coke will usually calm any anxieties about most issues.

[+Chrysalides]

Wrong. It's pixies. Lots of them. My unit's specifications say 240x400 pixies. That's a whole army of them, big magic.

[+cx1]

Wrong. It's pixies. Lots of them. My unit's specifications say 240x400 pixies. That's a whole army of them, big magic.

But are they holding flags?

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Who cares?

Are you looking for something other than, all of the people that are in this post discussing it and keep coming back to read what others have written?

I was referring to the silly arguments over the minutia of how GPS works. Beyond feeding a few posters' superiority complexes, who really gives a care?

Whether or not the satellites are in geosynchronous orbit isn't minutia. It's one of the reasons we get different accuracy readings at the same location. The better people understand how the system works, the better they can make use of their receivers.

 

I'm reading this thread and interested in the subject. I know very little of how GPS works and am always looking to learn more about the things I use and am interested in.

I see nothing wrong with learning more about anything. Sure, there are things I have no interest in learning about but if that's the case, I just avoid those threads/books/programs..etc...

 

For instance, I do not belong to any Justin Beiber Internet forums.

 

A few years ago I came across a puzzle cache that basically required a bit of research to answer a few multiple choice questions about how the GPS works. I thought it was pretty clever and educational.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

How GPS Works by RNPH

 

Push the button on the right of the little yellow thing. Watch the little guy zig zag up to the top of the screen and plant the little flag. Watch the little lines hook up to the satellites. When you've got four, you can go geocaching. Follow the direction arrow until you have to get out of the car. Then follow on foot. When you almost get to Ground Zero, the distance gauge will go nuts and say you're 8... no, 10... no, 4... no, 6 feet away. Start looking around for the cache at this point.

 

The End.

That's as good an explanation as most here, and better than some!

 

When my kids were little and trying to understand computers I mentioned writing files to the hard drive. I had them convinced that there were little guys called scribes inside the box who were writing everything down. They're in their 30s now and I'm not sure that to this day they understand how things get written to a hard drive if there's no such thing as scribes in there.

[Mushtang]

Who cares?

Are you looking for something other than, all of the people that are in this post discussing it and keep coming back to read what others have written?

I was referring to the silly arguments over the minutia of how GPS works. Beyond feeding a few posters' superiority complexes, who really gives a care?

It always surprises me to see someone come into a thread where several people are actively discussing something and say things like, "Who really cares about this topic?", when it's obvious that the people IN the thread care.

 

When I read your question, what I actually heard you saying was, "This is a silly topic to ME, therefore why should anyone else bother discussing it?"

 

And when I saw your little insult in this reply, I had to check twice to make sure it wasn't some other CRanky poster asking the question instead of you.

[+Chrysalides]

It always surprises me to see someone come into a thread where several people are actively discussing something and say things like, "Who really cares about this topic?", when it's obvious that the people IN the thread care.

You've been here long enough - you shouldn't be surprised any more when the poster is sbell

[+sbell111]

Who cares?

Are you looking for something other than, all of the people that are in this post discussing it and keep coming back to read what others have written?

I was referring to the silly arguments over the minutia of how GPS works. Beyond feeding a few posters' superiority complexes, who really gives a care?

It always surprises me to see someone come into a thread where several people are actively discussing something and say things like, "Who really cares about this topic?", when it's obvious that the people IN the thread care.

Again, it's not whether someone cares about the topic that I have an issue with. It's that someone wants to argue over the minutia so voraciously that they actually insult those that don't explain it exactly to their level of precision. This boorish behavior should be mocked at every opportunity.

 

Regarding those who keep coming back with something similar to "if you are not interested, why did you bother with this thread", I refer you back to the thread's title. If one would properly identify a thread's topic in it's title, people wouldn't wander in when they are not interested in the topic.

[+DragonsWest]

I can't tell if this is supposed to be funny, or if it's a serious explanation of how GPS works:

 

GC27PFW

 

I'm hoping there's a joke in here that I'm missing...

 

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

--Arthur C. Clarke

[Clan Riffster]

Wrong. It's pixies. Lots of them.

You couldn't be farther from the truth. In reality, what Microsoft and Apple doesn't want the rest of the world to know is that all computers, from the Cray to the little dinger on your car door, run on magic smoke. Don't believe me? It's a simple test: Turn on your laptop, (or better yet your friend's laptop), then toss it in the pool. (You can claim it was an accident. He's your friend. He'll believe you!) When all the magic smoke comes out, it won't work any more.

[jholly]

Wrong. It's pixies. Lots of them.

You couldn't be farther from the truth. In reality, what Microsoft and Apple doesn't want the rest of the world to know is that all computers, from the Cray to the little dinger on your car door, run on magic smoke. Don't believe me? It's a simple test: Turn on your laptop, (or better yet your friend's laptop), then toss it in the pool. (You can claim it was an accident. He's your friend. He'll believe you!) When all the magic smoke comes out, it won't work any more.

 

No, you got it wrong. If one the black square thingies crack all the smoke leaks out and then your friends laptop stops working. Don't need any water at all. I have long experience in the valley of silicon with this phenomena.

[Mushtang]

Again, it's not whether someone cares about the topic that I have an issue with.

No, your first post was simply, "Who cares?" So from that post I took that you were curious who cared about the topic, and by that post you were also insinuating that the thread wasn't necessary.

 

It's that someone wants to argue over the minutia so voraciously that they actually insult those that don't explain it exactly to their level of precision. This boorish behavior should be mocked at every opportunity.

Again, I'm going to call a BS on this. When I asked you what you meant by your first post, you replied that you were talking about the "silly arguments" people were having about how the GPS system worked. Not that it was wrong to insult each other in the process.

 

You just didn't like the fact that people were talking about it over and over and over, something you and I (and KBI and a few others) have done more times than I can count. And in THOSE threads, often we'd be asked by someone that didn't want to join in the discussion why we were bothering to keep posting to something that obviously didn't interest them.

 

And then you added a little insult of your own to let us know that you thought anyone in the thread discussing how the system works must have a superiority complex. I was honestly surprised this comment didn't come from a few of the other folks that share certain initials, or their supporters.

 

Regarding those who keep coming back with something similar to "if you are not interested, why did you bother with this thread", I refer you back to the thread's title. If one would properly identify a thread's topic in it's title, people wouldn't wander in when they are not interested in the topic.

But surely once you know the conversation in a thread that has a title that doesn't exactly match, you're able to not click on it? Or maybe if you do click on it by mistake because you didn't remember, you're able to realize where you are and click back out without reading all the comments. Right? Is it really necessary to flame those that are having the discussion, insult them, and then leave?

[+Prime Suspect]

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

--Arthur C. Clarke

Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.

--Larry Niven