Ray's Thought for the Day - Wilderness Gear - The Compass

During the day, or when it is cloudy, or when we are in a city, our friendly guide star, Polaris, is not visible to the naked human eye. During those times of darkness or light blindness and indecision we need some way of getting around in the wilderness or in the city in such and such a fashion that we know where we are, more or less. That's why we have the handy compass.

Let's say you have landed a job as Missionary to the Pygmys. Without you, the Pygmys will continue to run around doing Pygmy stuff so you need to help them, somehow. So you will need a compass to help you find the Pygmys expeditiously and also to keep track of yourself relative to the Pygmys'location after they have accepted you into their society.

Depicted here are two compasses. You have freedom of choice. Which one would you choose for your new job, Missionary to the Pygmys?

The compass depicted electrically on the left is a sturdy, no frills, reliable compass. But that's all it does, compass. The compass depicted electrically on the right is fairly reliable as a compass, maybe, but it also has an alcohol thermometer and a whistle. Er. Do you think the Pygmys would accept you into their society quicker, if you had a whistle? How about that thermometer? You could explain to the Pygmys about the Fahrenheit scale, and thus, win their friendship even more expeditiously than you would if you had to rely entirely on your friendly personality and optimism. Plus, just imagine how impressed the Pygmys would be when you, apparently by magic, converted Fahrenheit temperatures to Celsius or even Kelvin.