On the submarine, we got a satellite fix by coming to periscope depth every so often and used a ship's inertial navigation system, as well as dead reckoning, to track our position between satellite fixes. And the surface ships used LORAN. But every single one of us who went through the Naval Academy back then learned and perfected our ability to to fix our position using a sextant, a watch and sight reduction tables, even though it had become unnecessary. I think they stopped teaching that skill about 10 years after I graduated.
www.militarytimes.com
DW sent over 150 last Dec. Easily that many cards during the year for BDs, get well, thinking-of-you, etc.
Except for two paper cards I still send, I only send electronic cards now.
Day planners sell very well on eBay. A lot of people who do field work like construction managers and such prefer them to electronic devices. No internet access needed. Battery can’t die. No issue reading it in bright sunlight.
We were taught celestial navigation when I was in Officer Candidate School in the late 1980s - partly. We learned how to take satellite measurements that were given to us and determine a position on a chart. This was mostly just looking up numbers in tables and doing some math.
You don't need copper lines to your house to use an old phone. The VOIP (Voice over IP) adapter boxes connect through the internet to a phone provider (like Ooma), and provide a port that 'looks' (physically and electrically) just like the old copper wire interface of old. So your rotary or touch tone phone will work into the internet age, and you can mix/match with a more modern cordless 'landline' phone.
You can get touch-tone phones to work with those adapters, but most VOIP systems wouldn't know what to do with the rotary pulses. And even if I did invest in a pulse-to-tone converter, I would still have to get some kind of a power supply to provide the power to the ringers, and have to figure out wiring that power into my phone system for all four of them.
I always wondered about that when I heard about the tractors more or less tracking by themselves in the field. What if the GPS system ever goes down. Do we starve??
Not too bright to not charge your phone before a trip and also to not carry a portable charger when traveling. He could have just walked over and bought a Fuel Rod at the airport kiosk.
Ahh, I forgot about rotary/pulse dialing. But I found that there are VOIP adapters that support pulse w/o another adapter, here's one that has two lines and you can set either to pulse/tone:You can get touch-tone phones to work with those adapters, but most VOIP systems wouldn't know what to do with the rotary pulses. And even if I did invest in a pulse-to-tone converter, I would still have to get some kind of a power supply to provide the power to the ringers, and have to figure out wiring that power into my phone system for all four of them.
Source: Rotary Phone-to-VOIP project link
When we upgraded our Internet from DSL to fiber a few years back, the technician told us that we would need to keep the copper phone lines to the house in order to still use the rotary phones, but that they were not planning on abandoning those lines any time soon.
So we have a Fiber-Optic line to the house for our Internet and a copper line for our phones.
Works for us.
I haven't done farm work since the 70's, so never worked with the GPS systems.
Same here. I don't print my own boarding pass. Until this past week, I haven't had a functioning printer for a long time. Also, I want to get the boarding pass as close to boarding time as possible. That way I know if there is some last minute issue.
Interesting. I never saw a Kiosk for "Fuel Rod." I carry a back-up power source when I travel. It can run my phone and/or my lap top.
Allegiant Air charges $5 for every boarding pass printed at the airport. I can print them from home, but trying to print them while travelling can be a hassle. Luckily, the last time I tried to print them at a Hotel, the Allegiant Air boarding pass printing site was having technical difficulties. I captured a screenshot of the "Oops" page. When I got to the check in line without a boarding pass and they tried to charge me the $5 per pass, I opened my laptop and showed them the screenshot. So they reluctantly waived the fees.
Most airports have them. You can buy a new charger or swap out one you already have if it's dead and you need power right away as they are fully charged in the kiosk. My daughter just bought a new one a couple of weeks ago in Philly. They also have kiosks at many tourist attractions. I know they have them in Disney World (or at least they did last time we were there).
I have a policy of costing businesses such as this MORE than the charge they place on "helping" me - especially when it's such an insignificant amount of w*rk on their part. I understand that they are trying to change their customers' behaviors but I remind them that "oh, by the way I AM the customer." I remind them too that not everyone always has ready access to a printer or even a smart phone (I finally have both - at least when I'm home) but I don't add apps for THEIR convenience.
My good friend is a 69 year old farmer. We grew up together farming and raising livestock. He raised livestock and at his age his body is worn out. Full of injuries and used up. He stopped operating his equipment the day I spoke of when the GPS went down because he can't turn his neck to see where his tillage equipment is. I asked him why he didn't have his son take over and he told me "I never taught him how" "He can't steer a tractor without GPS"
