July 27, 2003

Bush Pundit

This evening I dissected my buddhist prayer beads (108 of them + the knot-bead) and reconstituted them into a pundit-style 100 + knot bead).

I'm a bit nervous about the string -- it's a very low quality acrylic weave. The holes through the beads are big enough that something stronger could and should be used.

Anyway, it and all the accessories and extra beads are in a slide box, ready to go.

Dad bought a new compass, so we'll be able to use that to work on our Punditry. He also sent me a few very interesting excerpts from The Essential Wilderness Navigator: How to Find Your Way in the Great Outdoors.

    Put 2 marks on the wall exactly 12 inches apart at about eye level.
    Measure 10 feet back from the wall and stand at the line.
    Hold your hands out at eye level with your two thumbs side by side and your finger tips together.

    Close your left eye and line up the v notch between your thumbs with the left mark on the wall then swap eyes. The v notch should be setting on the right mark. This indicates that the ratio of v notch distance to eye spread is 10. You may find that you have to set your thumbs in a differnet angle than natural to make it exact, or just use one arm, or some other way.

    So once you have found a way to do a 10 ratio triangle then you can site a known length in the distance as being 1 wink wide and immediately know that you're 10 times that distance from it.

    ...

    For measuring angles the index finger is 2 degrees, index + middle is 4, index middle an dring is 6 held at arms length. Thumb to tip of index is 15 degrees while thumb to tip of little finger is 20. On a flat lake, the horizon in miles is the square root of how high your eyes are in feet. Sitting in a kyak at 4 feet yields a root of 2 which is miles to horizon (about).

    ...

    By eye:


    • 6 miles = large houses, small apartments buildings, and towers can be recognized
    • 2 miles = chimneys stand out; windows are dots; vehicles can be seen moving
    • 1 mile = people look like dots; trunks of large trees can be seen
    • 1/2 mile = people look like posts; larger branches on trees become visible
    • 1/4 mile = head and body forms, leg movement, and colors of clothing become discernible
    • 250 yards = faces and hands are blurs but can be seen, as can details on clothing
    • 100 yards = eyes appear as dots
    • 50 yards = eyes and mouth can clearly be seen

I can't wait to try all these little tricks. And the beauty is, we have GPS and walkie-talkies to reconcile all of it.

Posted by Nils Blutig at July 27, 2003 11:32 PM | TrackBack