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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Definition Drift, WAS: Bowditch 1995 Table 18
From: Jared Sherman
Date: 2005 Feb 4, 14:15 -0500
From: Jared Sherman
Date: 2005 Feb 4, 14:15 -0500
> -----Original Message----- > From: Ron Roizen > unsolicited and pedantic language footnote: The word "arcane" means > obscure, mysterious, and complicated; the writer was probably intending > "archaic." This writer indeed meant archane, as in obscure and complicated with roots lost in the mists of time. They have no concept of how the rotary motion is supposed to relate to the terrestial rotation, especially since the watch dial [sic] normally rotates twice per 24 hours here in the US, while the planet rotates once per 24 hours, so the analogy behind the analog motion is incorrect to start with. "Becoming", as in the older generations have no problem with them. But the newer generations already have no concept of how to use them. The transition is across a fast few generations, which are already all present on the planet. Things become arcane as the knowledge about them dies out, and barring global extinctions, that takes some time to happen.
