Rejected Takeoff

In the airline industry we call it an RTO…a rejected takeoff.  In this case we were T-3 days to takeoff and life got in the way of departure...I stood on the brakes and deployed the reversers.  I found myself a candidate for a unique job opportunity, no matter how I tried to postpone or avoid it!  I therefore had to report to NYC for grilling sessions with Board members, employees and even shareholders.  John and I discussed the matter, and we came up with a solution where everyone wins.  I engage in discussions with an important company, he enjoys a few days of Fall break with his friends, we pack in a civilized fashion over the next few days and we miss a few cold, rainy days in Scotland. Don’t Panic.  Solve the problem and move along.

Logistics—CHECK…flights rebooked…huge change fees…Darn those airline pricing schemes !

Curriculum—CHECK

Pack-- PARTIAL CHECK…clothes and school supplies in piles near bags (it'll never fit !).

Rewind and Restart countdown…T-3 days.

One question (of many) we received was why did we buy the URL “navigating by the stars”?  Well…John wanted to study explorers and colonization while we are in Spain and Portugal and I have always been intrigued by both the night sky and the non-Euclidean geometry of the planet and the stars, but I never took the time to learn more.  Plus, we needed a cool math subject to tie in with the history.  So...we bought a sextant, and I have been studying how to find latitude and longitude by using celestial bodies and their relative angle to the horizon in preparation to teach John.  The concept is easy, the details are not.  You might say, in this day and age of Google Maps, who needs it?  That’s really not the point.  The fact that the explorers understood enough about geometry, trigonometry and global/celestial positioning makes it interesting to examine their capability and ask ourselves, would we embark upon this journey with such a fragile understanding of where we are and where we are going ?  They had a pretty good handle on latitude, but they could not determine longitude at all for goodness sake!  While we depart on our voyage with excellent time pieces, computers and satellite phones to mark our position to the city block or the planetary minute of angle, we will carry with us the task of navigating by the stars because it is part of the history of discovery.  We seek wisdom by learning about things that made a difference in our world.  

wis·dom- ˈwizdəm/noun:  the soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment.

And by the way, there is a great song called “Navigating by the Stars at Night” by Mike Doughty.  Check it out :).

Where is the horizon?  And what do you mean solar noon, I thought noon was 12pm !