You Can Surf, but You Can't Hide

New York Times ^ | 02-07-02 | Lisa Guernsey

[nunya bidness]

This and most of the news bothers me less and less these days.

What's my secret?

I'll tell you. I have resigned myself to being an outlaw. Once you accept your fate your future seems so much clearer.

Claire Wolfe might not be well known but she's well said.

[nopardons]

I guess that you don't know much history. Never heard of "party lines " ? People could listen in, and so could / did some bored opperators. This had NOTHING to do with wiretapes, either; just nosey people.

[Travis McGee]

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

[nunya bidness]

Furuno makes a great plotter with a brilliant radar overlay. I took a trip across the bay today and the charted channel markers lined up with the radar targets perfectly.

We're on the cusp of technology and social chaos.

Get thee to a boat show.

[Mixer]

I guess that you don't know much history. Never heard of "party lines " ?

I never disbuted this type of technology, I simply stated that when technology advances we are bound to "lose" some privacy. And there will always be people who fear that we have lost our rights.

[Travis McGee]

I am leary of having a combined radar/GPS plotter. One input function or software glitch can "contaminate" the other, and you would not know it.

Better to have a radar independent of the GPS, side by side with it. Then if one goes nuts, the error will jump out at you. If both displays agree, you know you can trust them both.

[TightSqueeze]

I'll tell you. I have resigned myself to being an outlaw. Once you accept your fate your future seems so much clearer.

The sheer weight of modern law requires most people to be selective about which laws they keep and those that they break, your decision goes further in that you have removed all the associated guilt, modern pragmatism at work. Don’t look now but you are bound to piss off all the statist, nannies and thought police here at FR

[Pagey]

It is time, she said, to think about "what we want people to know about what we are doing at a given moment."

I don't want people knowing my regular schedule which is why I refuse to use I.M. on my public E-mail.(I know it's all public,please don't start) My cell phone shows who's calling, and Family+Friends have my distinct separate Emails.Everyone else is blocked,and I like it this way!At least the article admits that "even some of the technology's adherents acknowledge how strange it is to remotely broadcast their whereabouts.A surprising admission!

[harpseal]

I am still enamored of old fashioned paper charts. I dearly love my radar, my GPS, and my Loran but I syill take a solar or stellat fix every so often and I will still be able to avoid those rocks with my compass, my watch, charts, a knowledge of the currents from a coastal pilot if necessary, and dead reckoning. To me a big part of the fun is doing it the old fashioned way. It still amazes me that people will go out on the water without the knowledge that at any given GMT a star is only directly overhead one point on the planet amd the angle from verticle defined the circle of position. Oh well, I guess I am a traditionalist.

As to the sensing of presence on the network this does not seem like an advance in technology to me.

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown

[nunya bidness]

I love the new technology it makes passagemaking so much easier but I still do noon fixes when offshore.

I would be the first to say that redundancy is the better way to go but I'm telling you guys the Furuno system really works and the LCD screen is much smaller than the older CRTs.

The overlay is crisp and reinforces the chart data.

Come on in guys the water's fine.

And just so you know I don't have all my eggs in one basket I did get the differential GPS. It's accurate to within feet.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

BTTT!

[harpseal]

I shall at least check it out. Like you I have differential GPS. I have Two radar sets aboard both Raster scan color LCD. I used tohave a Vifil but I have gone to Raytheon. I do have chart plotter software aboard the computer I carry aboard but I have not intehrated any of the above other than in my head.

Stay well - Stay safe - stay armed - Yorktown

[nunya bidness]

My last boat that I built had Furuno radar out to 72 miles. I also had a Trimble plotter with GPS (and NOAA charts by Maptech).

I always wanted to integrate the two and now the technology has finally caught up with my dreams.

Was it worth the wait. Hell yes!

The price is a quarter of the former system and everything is connected.

We owe all this to the blue water sailors from the Vendee Globe and Whitbread.

I was out the other day and just kept shaking my head while I watched the channel markers show up as hard targets on the radar line up with the plotter.

It is worth it but I won't give up my noon sight. I'm too used to the fact that someone could kick out a plug and shut down the whole system or the government could decide to degrade the signal like they did before.

Regards.

[Travis McGee]

I agree about using the old tools and skills in coastal navigation.

But offshore off soundings it's GPS all the way.

Celestial is a beautiful thing. Did you know it is no longer taught at Annapolis? The sextant has gone the way of the astrolobe.

If GPS is ever shut down due to war, we will all have lots of time to dig out the sextant and tables. In that case, we will have many more serious problems than navigation.

[harpseal]

If GPS is ever shut down due to war, we will all have lots of time to dig out the sextant and tables. In that case, we will have many more serious problems than navigation.

Then I guess the GPS satellites become a critical node of our defense structure. An attack against them would take out our Navy far more effectively than the Japanese ever did in World War II. I really do disagree with no longer teaching celestial navigation to naval officers. A ship whose GPS is disabled is therefor lost until it gets position fixes some other way.

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown

[DonkeyHodee]

I rarely pick up the phone in my own house unless I recognize the call by Caller ID.

Yeah, and if you didn't have caller ID you wouldn't have any satisfaction in not answering the phone. Admit it!

[listenhillary]

I see this starting a new industry. Masking software or virtual clones (bots)that generate so many random electronic ghost trails that the software tracking systems are overwhelmed.

Government nanny state will create new industries.

Anyone want to finance me?

[Tall_Texan]

Well, not exactly. I had an answering machine before Caller ID and I waited for people to leave messages and then break into the call if it was someone I wanted to talk to. The downside was calling folks long distance after they left a message.

A lot depends on if I'm expecting a call. Then, I'll be more likely to answer. I worked the graveyard shift for 18 months and got used to ignoring the phone the rest of the time.

I suppose the chief advantage of Caller ID, besides the obvious, is knowing when you return home if NOBODY called. But it's not like I live a lot differently without Caller ID. It's worth it but I could live without it if I needed to.

[Travis McGee]

They still teach celestial to QMs, Annapolis just felt it was time better used on other subjects for the 99% of mids who will never be navigators.

[nunya bidness]

Did you know it is no longer taught at Annapolis?

That makes no sense. Even if they never use it celestial is the foundation for navigation.