Altocumulus floccus over Sydney - 6 October, 2025
PA010016
I am almost finished with a short introductory course via the edX platform Backyard Meteorology: The Science of Weather"
pll.harvard.edu/course/backyard-meteorology-science-weather realizing how little I know about what makes weather systems 'work'. Excellent, well-presented course for newbies.
It was a lot to absorb for this non-scientific brain, which I wish I had more of, i.e. scientific brain :D
Apart from the more obvious cloud formations, such as the one featured, I am clueless about others and so I joined
My next and last assignment is a weather prediction from my own observations without watching the official forecast :) Gonna be fun. Blue sky every day so far.
Now thinking of doing the 'Navigation course'.
www.edx.org/learn/astronomy/harvard-university-prediction...
I've been out in isolated desert areas and, without my GPS unit (which I have dropped and it now has a smashed screen), I would be utterly lost. And, no, I wouldn't want to be a trek leader out in the desert, with a bunch of people having to rely on my 'navigation skills', no matter how many courses I would have done.
Now, the following is interesting for those, like me, living in the Southern Hemisphere:
Scrolling down www.predictionx.org/longitude
Quote ‘Steps one should take when they find themselves lost”
Use the stars. Your latitude is equal to the elevation of the celestial pole above the horizon. At present, Polaris marks the North Celestial Pole.
There is no bright star at the South Celestial Pole now, so more astronomical expertise will be required if you can’t see Polaris.
There, must try to fix the screen of my GPS unit …
I have two replacement screens and may try my trusted photographic repairers to try to replace the screen.
First Nation’s people in Australia travelled considerable distances across isolated areas in order to trade goods. They found the waterholes again and managed to return to their homeland, if necessary, all without technology. Many lives may have been lost, on land and on sea, until they figured it out and passed the knowledge down from generation to generation.
Makes one wonder how much common sense we have lost.
Altocumulus floccus over Sydney - 6 October, 2025
PA010016
I am almost finished with a short introductory course via the edX platform Backyard Meteorology: The Science of Weather"
pll.harvard.edu/course/backyard-meteorology-science-weather realizing how little I know about what makes weather systems 'work'. Excellent, well-presented course for newbies.
It was a lot to absorb for this non-scientific brain, which I wish I had more of, i.e. scientific brain :D
Apart from the more obvious cloud formations, such as the one featured, I am clueless about others and so I joined
My next and last assignment is a weather prediction from my own observations without watching the official forecast :) Gonna be fun. Blue sky every day so far.
Now thinking of doing the 'Navigation course'.
www.edx.org/learn/astronomy/harvard-university-prediction...
I've been out in isolated desert areas and, without my GPS unit (which I have dropped and it now has a smashed screen), I would be utterly lost. And, no, I wouldn't want to be a trek leader out in the desert, with a bunch of people having to rely on my 'navigation skills', no matter how many courses I would have done.
Now, the following is interesting for those, like me, living in the Southern Hemisphere:
Scrolling down www.predictionx.org/longitude
Quote ‘Steps one should take when they find themselves lost”
Use the stars. Your latitude is equal to the elevation of the celestial pole above the horizon. At present, Polaris marks the North Celestial Pole.
There is no bright star at the South Celestial Pole now, so more astronomical expertise will be required if you can’t see Polaris.
There, must try to fix the screen of my GPS unit …
I have two replacement screens and may try my trusted photographic repairers to try to replace the screen.
First Nation’s people in Australia travelled considerable distances across isolated areas in order to trade goods. They found the waterholes again and managed to return to their homeland, if necessary, all without technology. Many lives may have been lost, on land and on sea, until they figured it out and passed the knowledge down from generation to generation.
Makes one wonder how much common sense we have lost.