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AP Fake News
There’s no comment section for this article, so I’ll vent here. My comments are in bold.
Why do men have a reputation for never asking for directions, even when they’re lost? Is it because they’re macho, or just don’t like maps? Why do we enjoy the hunt over finding the prize?
Technology has made that debate moot with the invention of GPS — the Global Positioning System.
The history of GPS isn’t that old, but it is fascinating.
In 1973, the U.S. Department of Defense launched the first of a fleet of 31 satellites circling 12,550 miles above the globe.
No – GPS was initially formulated in 1973. The first satellite carrying a rubidium atomic clock, NTS-1 (for Navigation Technology Satellite), was launched in 1974. The first satellite carrying a cesium atomic clock, NTS-2, was launched in 1977. GPS Block 1 (test) satellites were launched from 1978-85. The first operational, Block 2, satellite was launched in 1989.
Each satellite has a built-in atomic clock, synchronized with the ground station and the other satellites. The satellites constantly transmit data about their time and location and GPS “receivers” (in your car and phone) pick up the signals from at least four satellites to compute your location.
The GPS system was initially only for military use. But after Korean Airlines flight 007 was shot down for straying into Russian airspace, President Ronald Reagan issued an order making the system available for civilians.
No, GPS was always intended for both civilian and military use. But only the military was willing to fund the early development. TI was selling the civilian 4100 receiver beginning in 1981, two years before KAL 007 was shot down.
The MSM wonders why we don’t trust them when they can’t get the simplest facts correct.
Published in Science & Technology
Interestingly, other countries and cultures have also made the “why can’t men ask for directions?” thing an overdone cliche, but the French give it a droll twist: there, the phenomenon is called “why can’t women read maps?”
It’s almost a truism that the more one knows about a topic, the more one is disappointed by MSM coverage of that topic. That’s clearly the case here with you and GPS, but any of our resident attorneys will no doubt attest to how bad much MSM coverage of major judicial decision also can be.
I don’t have GPS and I can’t find maps anymore (or pay phones), but I do ask directions, to my wife’s chagrin. I ask at least three people and take the most thoughtful answer that I can understand. And I go through this process three times, and by then I usually find the out-of-the-way hole-in-the-wall rent-a-car return place and make my flight.
And I meet a lot of people that way, too. Most people are happy to give directions.
Well, “we” aren’t as smart as you, Richard. I’d have read that…wait…no I wouldn’t have.
Maybe that’s why they don’t have a comments section…
BTW, this woman reads maps. I love maps. The GoogleMaps app on my phone is my absolute favorite, but before there were smart phones, there was always a Rand McNally maps atlas in the car. We never use GPS–it offends me, as long as I have a map for navigation. I can understand it being useful when traveling alone, but even then, I map out the trip and transfer it to a list of simple hand-written directions. If something goes wrong, I pull over and consult the map. The great thing about the Maps app is that it will provide traffic and construction warnings. Navigation is some of the best fun of taking a trip!
You, sir, have provided a fine example of Michael Crichton’s Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect.
From the original:
And now it has a Wikipedia entry.
It’s cheating to use a map while driving.
But GPS had civilian and military operating modes, and the civilian mode was deliberately less accurate, within 100 meters or so, while the military mode was down to less than 3 meters. The military data was encrypted, and what Reagan ordered was the turning off of the encryption, so either civilian or military devices could use the most accurate data. This was not the disaster that the military of the time worried about, because by then differential receiver technology had been developed, that whenever good reception was available, a differential receiver could compute the location almost as accurately as the military data, so the advantage was essentially for most purposes already gone, and unencrypting the data made it easier to use for cheap devices, so enabled the GPS systems cars use that needed the accuracy to keep one on the highway.
I have been lucky to have an inate since of direction. I also read maps and can nearly memorize them quickly. I think that I would loose this ability by relying on GPS . I used to be able to remember hundreds of phone numbers but have now lost that ability by relying on my smart phone. Of course you are never lost as long as you have lots of fuel.
Enjoy it while you can. Gen Y and Z don’t know what maps are or how to get to the end of the street without turn-by-turn GPS.
I found the very same to be true of reporting on developments and issues in the banking and financial arena in the 1970’s and 1980’s. There was much change in the banking structure and in daily transactional behaviors of businesses and individuals, most caused by the burgeoning technological capability, and MSM coverage had a difficult time keeping up.
I don’t know about others, but when the title of an article or post have the term “fake news” in it, I don’t read the article or post. Just sayin’.
So you just skip down and comment? Got it.
@hoyacon, FIFY.
I suggest that if a writer wants to have credibility, they will not use the phrase “fake news” as in my experience people who use the phrase are kooks at worst, and often wrong at best.
Looks like I got nothing to lose then.
The slur “fake news” implies and usually means that the author was deliberately lying. While authors make mistakes, in my experience, those mistakes are not deliberate, and the people yelling “fake news” are much more likely to be liars.
What is most pernicious is that the hurling of the slur “fake news” shuts down conversation and implies bad faith on its face.
If the author wants me to read his OP, he will rename it as an “AP factual mistake.”
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.
To the moon and back, without directions? …no problem. To the outer planets with a gravity sling assist from the inner planets with aero braking upon reaching the destination? That requires a “map” and some temporal planning so all the body mass players are where you expect them to be to turn those celestial corners.
I know those guys, they never have to ask for directions.
Can you not see who posted this? Does Richard Easton lack credibility in your book?
WTF dude?
Sorry John but you’re not correct. The military signal is still encrypted. Perhaps you’re confusing it with selective availability which distorted the open signal. SA was turned on shortly before Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. It was turned off during the war since the majority of receivers used by the troops were civilian (there weren’t enough military receivers). It was permanently turned off in 2000 and civilian use increasd significantly. By then SA was becoming ineffective since land beacons could be used to determine and correct for the SA distortion.
This description of fake news is fake news. There is not, and never has been, an element of intent. It’s only a matter of being wrong. I’m assuming that you don’t like the term because Trump (among many others) uses it. Better to just say so.
If one is going to take a stand, I’d instead focus on the use of the word “lie,” which has been thoroughly distorted, mostly by those who lean left (“Bush lied, people died”). Here, the intent of the speaker does matter, although that’s unknown to many who use the word.
So you just posted in this thread to say that that you won’t be posting in this thread. And then you posted three times.
Off topic but I’ go for it.
We got frequency hopping radios at Light Armored Infantry in the late 80’s. I was there. How do people make these things (frequency hopping radios = dozens of radios talking to each other but all changing freqs at the same time) happen?
I believe that they were some of the first frequency hopping radios in the USMC – maybe in all of the ground forces?
BTW: It took us forever to figure out how to make them work.
Whoever you are, thanks for making us less vulnerable to the enemy.
It’s not a slur if it exists or has ever existed long enough to coin a name for the phenomenon. We throw around the term witchhunt. McCarthyism wasn’t literally a witchhunt; witches didn’t exist. Communists in the State Department did. There has been some degree of fake news since long before the days of John Peter Zenger, and I suspect there’ll still be questions about the veracity of holographic current events coverage in the 23rd century.
This post is obviously not about Trump and “fake news” is being used as a jocular title, not to be taken as a literal reference.
Pretty sure the ground breaking work on this front was done by Hedy Lamarr. (EDIT: I should really have spelled her name correctly the first time)
Yeah, that one:
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A note to everyone: Not reading the original post and merely commenting on what you think the title means is rude and trolling. It goes against the spirit of Ricochet and is insulting to both the original poster and to those who wish to engage in the actual topic. When you see someone do this, please do not put up more comments that distract from the conversation and give the person more attention. Flag it and the mods will try to deal with it with less publicity and with less embarrassment to the person who may just be too clueless to understand how rude he is being.She was cute.
Nope. They were “singars” or something like that.
And You, Richard, should know. I will believe anything you say, and thank you.