Thread: In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue...

Originally Posted by AussiePostie

Probably for the same reasons that people today think that shaving with a straight razor is dangerous or that second hand smoke is dangerous or that anyone named abdul is dangerous.If people are told something often enough, even a lie, it will become the truth to them

Actually, there is good clinical and scientific evidence that second hand smoke is unhealthy.

Originally Posted by bigstick

Actually, there is good clinical and scientific evidence that second hand smoke is unhealthy.

You have apparentlly not read the WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATIONS own study on this subject- Their CONCLUSION, the results of the W.H.O study on ETS were"statistically insignificant" and there are more REAL scientific studies that reach the same conclusions. Please go to DR. M.SIEGELS blogspot "the rest of the story" as an advocate of tobacco control for 30 years even he cannot believe the junk science being used to back up smoking bans these days.

ETS is annoying,irratating and smelly to non-smokers,but it is not dangerous.

Back on topic, I have never been into ships, did a little research,wow I was surprised at how small those ships were. Defineatly a brave bunch of men who would cross the atlantic in one. I would have been a coast hugger for sure .

a great book that explains this very topic (and a lot more) is
The Coming Of Age Of The Milky Way by Timothy Ferris
i am not a huge reader really but this one is very interesting and seriously explains all your questions quite well without getting so in depth that i got bored, which is important to me

BTW you can get used copies online for 1 cent plus shipping so its hard to argue with that lol

they did not calculate the LON very well or have any real accurate way of doing this but for the LAT they had a device called a sextant (Sextant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) A sextant is an instrument generally used to measure the altitude of a celestial object above the horizon. Making this measurement is known as sighting the object, shooting the object, or taking a sight. The angle, and the time when it was measured, can be used to calculate a position line on a nautical or aeronautical chart. A common use of the sextant is to sight the sun at noon to find one's latitude. See celestial navigation for more discussion. Held horizontally, the sextant can be used to measure the angle between any two objects, such as between two lighthouses, which will, similarly, allow for calculation of a position on a chart.

Here's the link to the WHO website:
WHO | Second-hand tobacco smoke

As I read it, it doesn't say what you said it says. See?
Don't know where you got your info on this

Originally Posted by AussiePostie

You have apparentlly not read the WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATIONS own study on this subject- Their CONCLUSION, the results of the W.H.O study on ETS were"statistically insignificant" and there are more REAL scientific studies that reach the same conclusions. Please go to DR. M.SIEGELS blogspot "the rest of the story" as an advocate of tobacco control for 30 years even he cannot believe the junk science being used to back up smoking bans these days.

ETS is annoying,irratating and smelly to non-smokers,but it is not dangerous.

Back on topic, I have never been into ships, did a little research,wow I was surprised at how small those ships were. Defineatly a brave bunch of men who would cross the atlantic in one. I would have been a coast hugger for sure .

Originally Posted by BAMARACING8

they did not calculate the LON very well or have any real accurate way of doing this but for the LAT they had a device called a sextant (Sextant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) A sextant is an instrument generally used to measure the altitude of a celestial object above the horizon. Making this measurement is known as sighting the object, shooting the object, or taking a sight. The angle, and the time when it was measured, can be used to calculate a position line on a nautical or aeronautical chart. A common use of the sextant is to sight the sun at noon to find one's latitude. See celestial navigation for more discussion. Held horizontally, the sextant can be used to measure the angle between any two objects, such as between two lighthouses, which will, similarly, allow for calculation of a position on a chart.

Columbus wouldn't have used a sextant like the one you've linked to. They used the stars to navigate to the best of their ability, but it was a little more primitive.

Originally Posted by Blade Wielder

Columbus wouldn't have used a sextant like the one you've linked to. They used the stars to navigate to the best of their ability, but it was a little more primitive.

there are some theories that suggest Columbus was using Muslim drawn maps.

Originally Posted by Desdinova

there are some theories that suggest Columbus was using Muslim drawn maps.

"So, the infidel Colombus wants to go to India, does he? Mua ha ha!"

*Pen scribbling noises*

Originally Posted by billyjeff2

Here's the link to the WHO website:
WHO | Second-hand tobacco smoke

As I read it, it doesn't say what you said it says. See?
Don't know where you got your info on this

That is because that is not the complete study, that is what they tell the public.
I see you went straight to thier public propagander site,You have to actually do a little research and find the original complete study from 1998,which is most likely not easy to find nowdays. Please, if you are truly interested in this subject, research a little further than so called health organisations and anti-smoking groups. As I advised go to DR.Siegels blog site "the rest of the story" As I have said he and many other tobacco control advocates are trying to distance themselves from the "junk science" being trotted out nowdays as the truth.

P.S I don,t see what all this has to do with sailing off the edge of the world

Well...you brought this up about the WHO. I logically assumed you would be able to cite your authority on this. Now it turns out I have to do the research to validate what you asserted. Methinks it should be the other way around...
As for the Dr. Siegel reference: sorry, but one man's view on this isn't enough to sway me in the face of the mountain of contrary evidence--like the WHO report, for example...remember, there were a host of "experts" presented on behalf of Big Tobacco who asserted there was no scientific link between smoking and cancer well after the science had been well established.

Originally Posted by AussiePostie

That is because that is not the complete study, that is what they tell the public.
I see you went straight to thier public propagander site,You have to actually do a little research and find the original complete study from 1998,which is most likely not easy to find nowdays. Please, if you are truly interested in this subject, research a little further than so called health organisations and anti-smoking groups. As I advised go to DR.Siegels blog site "the rest of the story" As I have said he and many other tobacco control advocates are trying to distance themselves from the "junk science" being trotted out nowdays as the truth.

P.S I don,t see what all this has to do with sailing off the edge of the world