NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Robert Eno
Date: 2013 Dec 31, 10:59 -0500
And you probably careened along country roads in the back of a pickup truck without a full body suit of padded armour. And when on vacation with your family as a child, you probably sprawled out to sleep on that little shelf at the back window. Or perhaps tobogganing without a helmet? Oh the horror! Norm, you have probably given the Safety Nannies the vapours with your vivid descriptions of your dangerous lifestyle.
I used to play with mercury as a child. My father used to bring it home from work. Certainly mercury is not to be trifled with; nor is it to be viewed in the same manner as nuclear waste. PCBs fall under the same category. I have handled this stuff in the course of my work and can attest that the paranoia surrounding this substance approached the War of the Worlds status and without justification in my opinion. Again, not to be trifled with but at the same time, it is not waiting to leap out at you from a dark corner and suddenly peel the bark off of your hide. And thank you to Bill for his candid discussion on the relative hazards of Hg.
With respect to a mercury artificial horizon, it is an interesting item if you are dabbling with it for historical reasons but in strictly practical terms, I would not recommend it. The best artificial horizon system I have thus far encountered (in the 30 years that I have been an astro-navigation dilettante) is the Freiberger black glass artificial horizon. I have heard numerous complaints about the need to level it perfectly but I can tell you from first-hand experience that once you get the hang of it, you can have it perfectly levelled in less than one minute.
If I am not mistaken, Roald Amundsen used a black glass artificial horizon on his journey to the South Pole.
Hg artificial horizons are not worth the hassle in my opinion.
Robert
From: NavList@fer3.com [mailto:NavList@fer3.com] On Behalf Of Norm Goldblatt
Sent: December-31-13 6:53 AM
To: enoid@northwestel.net
Subject: [NavList] Re: Mercury artificial horizons: Hazards! Hazards?
Being a life-long nerd, I handled mercury from a very early age. Our favorite trick was to coat a dime with mercury which changed the coin into a beautiful slippery curiosity. We chased spilled mercury around the floor. Along with mercury, we habitually, and still do, inhaled fumes from melted lead solder and flux and of course, inhaled our share of 'airplane cement'. We washed bicycle chains in leaded gasoline. And despite this life-long lack of respect for these 'deadly' elements, some people say I am normal. Oh, the drooling? That's just excitement.
Happy 11111011110
Norm
----------------------------------------------------------------
NavList message boards and member settings: www.fer3.com/NavList
Members may optionally receive posts by email.
To cancel email delivery, send a message to NoMail[at]fer3.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
