My favorite application of dead reckoning is the early 80's Honda system to display the car location on a map. While testing the system, there were times where the car showed itself off of the road. After looking into it further, they learned the map maker had taken some liberties with the exact position of the road, and the vehicle was correct.
My favourite example of some humorous dead reckoning, from this old copypasta:
-----------
The missile knows where it is at all times. It knows this because it knows where it isn't. By subtracting where it is from where it isn't, or where it isn't from where it is (whichever is greater), it obtains a difference, or deviation. The guidance subsystem uses deviations to generate corrective commands to drive the missile from a position where it is to a position where it isn't, and arriving at a position where it wasn't, it now is. Consequently, the position where it is, is now the position that it wasn't, and it follows that the position that it was, is now the position that it isn't.
In the event that the position that it is in is not the position that it wasn't, the system has acquired a variation, the variation being the difference between where the missile is, and where it wasn't. If variation is considered to be a significant factor, it too may be corrected by the GEA. However, the missile must also know where it was.
The missile guidance computer scenario works as follows. Because a variation has modified some of the information the missile has obtained, it is not sure just where it is. However, it is sure where it isn't, within reason, and it knows where it was. It now subtracts where it should be from where it wasn't, or vice-versa, and by differentiating this from the algebraic sum of where it shouldn't be, and where it was, it is able to obtain the deviation and its variation, which is called error.
> the castaways had not seen any women in months, and based on the resulting unwanted attention, the indigenous people opted to evacuate before the English seamen became a problem.
Damn interesting has an amazing collection of high-quality podcast episodes with amazing story telling. They haven’t released new episodes in a while, but their back catalogue is worth investigating.
The extremely hard travel around Cape Horn highlights the importance of the Panama and Suez channels, and i'm wondering whether Trump will surprisingly be vindicated by history for his steps toward getting the Northern Passage, ie. for the friendship with Russia and for the attempt to grab Greenland (or whether it will go down just the way it looks now :)
I had to read that twice, but it’s correct I think. It’s an impractical route, but all the routes are… the Drake Passage was the least impractical of all of the routes.
It's correct and as intended. "Least impractical" denotes "most practical" but the double negative, which you accurately note is unusual but which is grammatical in this usage, calls attention to the specific connotation that all options are bad and this, though also bad, is nonetheless the most potentially serviceable of the lot.
We all know that language contains a lot of subtleties, but it is always interesting when someone breaks down exactly how those are used in some interesting prose.
I've been an eager student of grammatical nuance in English since my introduction to the written language at age two. I'm always happy to take apart an example of same and show its workings!