• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    26 months ago

    I have problems telling right from left. At least I’m the moment, if I take my time I can tell.

    But I almost always know my cardinal directions

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      36 months ago

      If you extend your thumb and first finger, the L shape that is the correct way around is on your left hand.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        36 months ago

        Yeah I know when I have time to think about it.

        It’s just when people say: ‘go left here’ or me throng to indicate direction in a split second that my change of getting it right reduced to 50%. My brain doesn’t grok that left right isn’t absolute but related to orientation.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          26 months ago

          What helped me as a kid is imagine to write. That’s my left hand and than I know which is which without thinking too consciously (in case you’re right handed, it’s the other way around obviously).

          But interesting that you know absolute directions easily. That’s a cultural thing actually. I think Australian Aborigines will say things like “my western foot hurts” because it’s more intuitive for them that way.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            26 months ago

            If I think for it for s second I know, I’ll think about my dominant hand too (although my dominant feet is on the opposite side so I don’t have a clear dominant side).

            Yeah the aboriginal method seems way more intuitive to me, yet it probably won’t replace the left right system anytime soon :p

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          46 months ago

          Just remember that port is a 4 letter word and so is left. So left is port and right is starboard.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        16 months ago

        Like I said repeatedly. If I get to think about it I know what side is what. It’s only in the moment when I falter

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          16 months ago

          I only mention it as for the last forty years or so every time that someone has said left or right I’ve twitched my hands to work out which one I hold a pen(cil) with. Takes less than half a second and I don’t need to look at them either. It’s not unique not immediately knowing which is which. Live with it.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    46 months ago

    One time I called 911 because I was following a drunk driver that had collided with multiple vehicles and kept driving. The operator asked me what direction so I looked at my maps app and it said I was going west so I told them west and they said “Sir that street doesn’t run west.” I was speechless after that.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      1
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      So you might’ve been going west, but not westbound. Roads curve often in the USA (i’m guessing you are from the USA because 911)

      • Nexy
        link
        fedilink
        English
        16 months ago

        If you don’t specify the point of reference, I will use the world’s west as it’s conceived. if not, say “your left” or something.

          • Nexy
            link
            fedilink
            English
            26 months ago

            Close enough west it’s ok if they tell it in such a causal manner, I suppose?

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    56 months ago

    I only started remembering which side west is (relative to north) when I started thinking of “the wild west” and then thinking of where the wild west was. Still can’t use it in the real world for anything though. At most if I’m at my own town I know approximately where north is, but anywhere else I’ll quickly lose the sense of which direction is which.

    • Album
      link
      fedilink
      5
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      You’re not supposed to intrinsically have your sense of direction in an unfamiliar location. Some people can do that but assuming you’re not paying full attention on your way to a new location it’s actually normal and expected to have to get your bearings which means taking a moment to orient yourself and figure out what direction is what. And then it’s easy to forget (let’s say you step into a store) until you build a sense of landmarks. Also the more dense a location the harder it is because it’s more complex.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    26 months ago

    Worst case scenario, download a compass app for your phone, but watch out for scams that will require heavy network traffic

    iPhone/appleWatch may have one already, but I don’t know about android

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      26 months ago

      Quick shoutout for Trail Sense for Android. Designed to function offline, lots of cool navigation/basic tools I haven’t used outside of the GPS and compass, reasonable permissions, etc. One of those “You don’t know how useful it is until you don’t have connectivity” things.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        2
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        Excellent! I tried a couple trail apps for iPhone without any luck - they didn’t have local trails or cost too much for how occasionally I’d use it. Lately I have been doing short local hikes on well marked trails, so it’s not really a need

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        36 months ago

        No data, no map.

        GPS can give your coordinates, but that’s pointless unless you walk a bit and translate the direction.

        Compass uses most of its power for the screen.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          36 months ago

          Do you have a minute to talk about Openstreetmap? You can download the map before you head out, then navigate without data connection.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              26 months ago

              I just use the app for navigation so I always download the map for the area I travel to before I go.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                26 months ago

                I used to do the same when i was too poor to afford data on my phone or when i go through areas with poor service.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            26 months ago

            google also allows offline caching, but also needs to be set up ahead of time. AFAIK once you set a region to download, it will update that cache regularly.

            I would expect this is a feature that most map apps would offer

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              16 months ago

              Following the gps map- is great when you’re trying to get somewhere, but if the goal is walking, I usually want to leave the tech in my pocket. Compass is a nice compromise to help navigate while still taking a break from behind slave to the machine

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    2
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    The Sun rises in the East and sets in the west.

    With East on your right and west on your left you would be facing north.

    You can tell which side of the equator you are on by the way water swirls. Northern Hemisphere water drains clockwise. If water draining has no spin then you’re on the equator.

    Sometimes the moss on trees is enough of an indicator, as moss growing on only one side of a tree means no sunlight reaches it and the moss faces the direction opposite of the equator.

    Join us next time for a lesson on Star Charts.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      96 months ago

      The water thing is a myth. Any body of water you can actively watch drain is influenced by the shape of the reservoir and direction the water is added to it.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        3
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        What about the videos recorded in Ecuador, where the same reservoir is drained on both sides of the equator and the water spins in different directions?

        Edited to add the link since other users asked for it down in the replies: https://youtu.be/4IIVfoDuVIw

        Edit2: check the replies below, the video is good at debunking this. But it’s not super easy to notice

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        1
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        Hmm

        Looked it up and you might be right. But believing you at face value would also be the same fault that lead to to this myth’s spread.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          46 months ago

          To be fair I had to look it up too. Seems the Coriolis effect COULD impact a perfectly still container of water that was opened suddenly, but other forces are going to be significantly more impactful on a small body of water.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    16 months ago

    Yes. Maps always have up as north. So just hold a map in front of you, and forward direction is north. Easy.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      46 months ago

      The birth of the GPS. Basic navigation is a dying skill, a lot of people don’t even know what to do with a map without a big blue dot showing where you are

    • aname
      link
      fedilink
      46 months ago

      Everytime I grt lost I just return home to get my compass and get on with my day

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      5
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      Legitimately, how do you? Without prior knowledge of the direction you are facing and the sun is right above you or you can’t see it.

      Cardinal directions have always been hard for me and I’m only now just starting to use them out of job necessity.

      Left and right takes a second most of the time, ask me to look north and it’s going to be a long while.

      If I’m somewhere new or lost like op, it’s just cruel to say “go west”

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        36 months ago

        Not trying to be facetious, but you just kind of do it. I think it might be something that you just subconsciously keep track of once you really become aware of it. I remember it seeming like magic until I was maybe 15 or so, and then I had landmarks for each direction in my mental map and could figure things out in reference to them. After a bit of that, I could mostly stay oriented when traveling by land, and now it’s not an issue even when I fly somewhere. I went to England for the first time last year, and I had the cardinal directions sorted probably by the time I’d walked from the train to my hotel.

        Once you’ve got it down, you just sort of do it on autopilot.

      • Captain Aggravated
        link
        fedilink
        English
        26 months ago

        I think it helps that I’ve been a pilot since I was a teenager. Spend some time where you can see a third of a state at a time you’ll just develop this sense. You get a bigger picture of how things are oriented relative to each other that’s sort of like, wherever you are in your home, you can probably work out which way the road outside goes, likely parallel to one of your walls. I can do that over much greater distances. If you’ve ever stood in the middle of a parking lot in a strip mall, and gone “the highway is over there, the Belk is over there, the J.C. Penney is that way, the furniture store is down on that end and I know the Red Lobster is just on the other side of it though I can’t see it from here,” I can do that with the major cities in my state.

        Orienting yourself if you’ve gotten turned around is another habit to build up. Yes “the afternoon sun is in the West” but also if you’re in the Northern hemisphere, your shadow will point North at noon. I also have a pretty good picture of the highway system in my head and can orient myself by knowing the general heading of a nearby highway.

        From both my time as a pilot and as an amateur radio operator I’m familiar with the various towers across the state. I’ve used those to work out my approximate location and heading both in the air and on the ground. In medium sized cities often there’s a city center with a few tall buildings that can be seen for several miles around, orienting yourself to them can help you develop a sense of direction. I’ve started doing that almost subconsciously.

        Now if I were to wake up in a cave my gyros would be tumbled until I managed to get out. I don’t have an actual built-in compass. But it wouldn’t take me long to orient myself seeing how the daylight hit the cave entrance.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        16 months ago

        You track you direction throughout the day. My road runs east/west. If i leave my house and turn left, I’m going west, turn right im going east, I keep this in mind as often as I can.

        I also know my general area pretty well and what direction each town/city is in relative to my home, which helps me find my direction if i lost it. I also like to remember which direction each major intersection goes as that helps me keep track as well.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    506 months ago

    North is W
    West is A
    South is S
    East is D

    … unless you hit Q or E and rotated the camera, in which case you’re fucked.