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I wonder what has got into Bill ("billyrem42", to distinguish him from other
Bills on this list)?

He wrote-

| Going way back in the archives, I questioned the importance of 10 or 15
| seconds time in determining latitude at LAN in mid latitudes with Sun
| elevations from 30d to 60d. A certain "pedantic" list member that will go
| unnamed seemed determined to prove me wrong so changed the parameters to
| worst-case scenario at almost 90d Sun elevation.

From what followed, it was clear that the disparaging reference was to me.
And yet, I have no recall whatsoever of this exchange with Bill. Indeed,
I've kept copies of many of his contributions, and of mine, and much
civilised discussion between us, but can not locate this one. And yet, it
appears to have rankled with Bill over the years, for him to resurrect it
now, in what seems to be bitter language.

So come on, Bill, don't pussyfoot around. Name names, don't drop hints. Say
it out straight. Quote the full relevant text, on both sides, and say
clearly what I'm being accused of, so that I can either argue back, or
accept the charge, as seems appropriate.

And I deeply resent the way in which he has, quite unnecessarily, dredged up
an unfortunate episode in the history of this list, in which I was forced
into defending my honesty against a completely groundless attack. That
attack has not been repeated, and the whole unhappy affair could and should
have been forgotten.

What's the problem, Bill?

contact George Huxtable at george@huxtable.u-net.com
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill" 
To: 
Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2008 10:24 AM
Subject: [NavList 5026] Re: Navigation exercise


|
|
| George wrote:
| > His first problem raises, from me ... in the traditions of
| > this list, a minor pedantic quibble.
|
| Peter wrote:
| > For all practical purposes the sun 'hangs in the sky' at LAN.  We all
agree
| > about this.
|
| Not really, it seems. In my newbie days I raised the question about how
far
| wrong one could go latitude wise with a close LAN time approximation given
| 30d to 60d elevation of the Sun and a full range of declinations.
|
| Going way back in the archives, I questioned the importance of 10 or 15
| seconds time in determining latitude at LAN in mid latitudes with Sun
| elevations from 30d to 60d. A certain "pedantic" list member that will go
| unnamed seemed determined to prove me wrong so changed the parameters to
| worst-case scenario at almost 90d Sun elevation.
|
| To quote said member on another issue much later: "To a scientist, as I
am,
| intellectual honesty is at least as precious, if not more so, than
pecuniary
| honesty. If that is to be called in question, then evidence is required. I
| challenge Dan, and anyone else on this list, (other than Peter Fogg) to
| identify a single posting of mine that shows any lack of intellectual
| honesty. Perhaps that wasn't what Dan intended to imply, but it reads that
| way."
|
| I won't quibble about terms like "intellectual honesty." Instead I'll
quote
| a lawyer/politician acquaintance who told me, "If you don't like the
| question being asked, answer another question of your own choosing."
Please
| tell me the proper phrase for changing the stated parameters of a problem
to
| settle the other fellow's hash (for our international readers, George, an
| expression roughly meaning, "Win by any means") for no apparent gain or
| purpose.
|
| > Rather than just take one random sight and accept its unknown errors (in
this
| > case, apparently amounting to 1.2' ), we can take as many sights as
possible
| > over a few minutes on either side of LAN. Then graph them; altitude on
the
| > vertical axis, time on the horizontal.  Then compare the pattern of
those
| > sights with a horizontal line, disregarding any that clearly don't match
the
| > others (outlier = gross error), and thinking hard about the others,
while
| > bearing in mind those closest to the instant of LAN will least reflect
any
| > change in altitude.  An intuitive process.
|
| We are on the same page page regarding graphing (and fitting Hc slopes to
| observations), and always have been IMHO. I'm just not clear what you mean
| by a "horizontal line" near LAN. The graph surrounding LAN by a few
minutes
| should look more like a camel's hump as I see it. VERY close to LAN, a
| horizontal line, but as our pedantic friend would point out the time
limits
| will be dependent on latitude and declination. North Pole, late June, take
a
| coffee break between sights.  No big deal ;-)
|
| Bill
|
|
| |
|


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