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Could the world cope if GPS stopped working?
What would happen if GPS - the Global Positioning System - stopped working?
For a start, we would all have to engage our brains and pay attention to the world around us when getting from A to B. Perhaps this would be no bad thing: we'd be less likely to drive into rivers or over cliffs through misplaced trust in our navigation devices.
Pick your own favourite story about the kind of idiocy only GPS can enable. Mine is the Swedish couple who misspelled the Italian island of Capri and turned up hundreds of miles away in Carpi, asking where the sea was.
But these are the exceptions.
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Could the World Cope If GPS Stopped Working?
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The hardware's, of course.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by edIII on Saturday November 09 2019, @11:25PM (5 children)
There is one other time honored method too: Smell. McDonald's has a rather distinct flavor in the air, especially during morning hours when sausage egg McMuffins are emerging into existence like the great blessings they are. A trained nasal navigator can easily tell the difference between Del Taco, Taco Bell, and a taqeuria. Wet your finger, stick it in the air, and it's like a compass. Deep down, most can people navigate by landmarks like fast food restaurants.
You can have great navigational skills and still fuck up. In the middle of the night where everything looks the same, all it takes is a single fuck up on a round about and you've added 8 hours to trip by going 4 hours in the wrong direction. I figured that out because I saw a 1-mile-away-from-a-Cracker-Barrel sign and naturally reoriented myself.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 10 2019, @03:48AM (4 children)
I think that's the reason few American cities have roundabouts. I can't think of any outside of Mass and Texas - and only a couple in Texas.
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Sunday November 10 2019, @07:58PM (3 children)
Some parts of Indiana have gone roundabout crazy. Last I heard, in some parts they are trying replace all stop lights with roundabouts.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday November 11 2019, @02:38AM (2 children)
I'll be perfectly honest. Roundabouts always take me by surprise the first time I come to it. It's not a daily thing, they are unexpected, and they require something "different" on my part. Instead of stopping, then making a turn, I have to merge into traffic, while maintaining some minimal speed, then merge back out of traffic. It's not complicated, just unexpected. As a result, I can, and have, looked like a fool trying to figure out where I should be, and what I need to do. Those roundabouts with six (or more!) exit points are even worse. To make matters worse, some of them have statues and other decorations in them, obstructing your view across the roundabout. If you can just look across, and spot the sign you need to follow before you're in the roundabout, then it's not so bad.
Actually putting up a roundabout sign 1/2 mile before reaching it would be a great help. The driver's brain has an opportunity to process the information BEFORE he ̶g̶e̶t̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ disrupts the flow of traffic.
(Score: 2) by Webweasel on Monday November 11 2019, @02:58PM (1 child)
Laughs at you in British.
Come to Swindon and try this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon) [wikipedia.org]
Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday November 11 2019, @04:36PM
First, I have always declined driving anyplace where people drive on the wrong side of the road. Second, that thing could only have been dreamed up by a sadistic monster. And, only masochistic nutcases would venture into it. But, you'll have to upload a recording of you laughing in British. We could all use a chuckle. ;^)