There is a book called "Rules of Thumb" by Tom Parker. It was published by Houghton Miffllin in Boston, MA, USA in 1983. It is an interesting compendium of rules collected from a collection of "experts." It has the flavor of "The Farmer's Almanac." It covers the gamut.
Steve Lelievre wrote: > I'm relatively new to dialing, and indeed this is my first post to the > mailing list (but I've lurked here for a few months). I'm also a great > enthusiast for using "rules of thumb" in everyday life, but so far I've not > found many cases where I can put the two together. I'm hoping that this > posting will lead to a discussion about rules of thumb which bear on > sundials / sun naviagation / sky navigation. > > Here are a few examples of the kind of thing I mean: > > - Point the hour hand of your watch in the direction of the sun. Divide the > angle between the hour hand and the 12 o'clock position. This shows you > where North/South are. > > - Put a stick in the ground. Use a pebble to mark where the tip of the > shadow is. Wait a few minutes, now make a line from the pebble to the new > position of the shadow tip. This is an East-West line. > > Of course, these two are not accurate - rules of thumb often aren't - but > I'm hoping a few gems will turn up. Anybody got any, good or bad? Especially > ones for telling the time. > > Steve
