On 8/7/2003 Phillip @ SLAC.Stanford.EDU wrote: >>On Thu, 7 Aug 2003, lazarus wrote: >> On Thu, 07 Aug 2003 15:15:19 -0700 (PDT), you wrote: >> > > >>On Thu, 7 Aug 2003, lazarus wrote: > >>> > >>> And how the heck do the Orca navigate without stars? > >>> > >>That's easy - they know the time, and they know the distance (I bet) from > >>the Orb (I assume the speed of sorcery is finite). If that's not enough > >>(and isn't there a reference to compasses somewhere?) they probably have > >>simple charms that indicate distance to reference points... >>> > >Now that's an interesting idea. The Orb as a GPS device? >If I understand GPS, it takes two satellites. What I was thinking was: >The Orb knows where you are, so it can tell you. Teleportation probably >requires this capability. Vlad in fact refers to "coordinates" at some >point in _Jhereg_, I believe. >Or you have the Orb send you a wavefront, you bounce it back, and then you >adjust the frequency until you get a standing wave; the Orb does the math >for you and tells you the distance. Or you do the beacon thing above - >say two fixed sorcery mirrors somewhere which you can bounce a wave off. >If the Orb's timing is fine enough (and I guess it would have to be) then >instead of the frequency-adjustment thing you can just do a ping and have >it measure the time. All assuming the speed of sorcery isn't infinite. The mirrors would have to be in orbit because land features would get in the way, or the curve of the planet would cut off line of sight. Maybe they can innately locate the stars. Or they have a sorcerous device that doesn't need satellites or mirrors at all. We are dealing with a civilization that can teleport, GPS shouldn't be too far out of their league. Then again, maybe it's one of the great mysteries of Dragaera. John D. Barbato OD