Re: [Paddlewise] Seeing Red?

   There's an interesting letter to the editor in the Sunday Oregonian
newspaper (12/06/09). It seems there is a GPS product out there made
by Garmin which directs people onto a roadway which actually turns out
to be the letter writer's driveway. So many befuddled drivers have turned
up at the house that the owner wants to put up a solidly built gate across
the driveway, to the tune of about $1000, and wants Garmin to pay for it.
But Garmin claims that the mistake belongs to Navtec, and Navtec isn't  
returning calls from reporters or the irate land owner.

   I look forward to reading the next chapter of this story in our newspaper.
Is the landowner offering bed and breakfast? I don't think so.

   Brad

Quoting William Jennings <will_at_bigwoodenradio.com>:

> When Usenet Groups were how many Backcountry enthusiasts used to  
> connect and share information,
> one of the common queries was for people some 20+ hours away by car,  
> to ask others for trail reports
> and what the conditions were regarding snow pack on some fairly  
> isolated and eclectically chosen trails.
> Often, replies would be very detailed and reassuring.   But,  
> relatively anonymous.
> And I remember clearly one of the older hands on the Group  
> repeatedly posting warnings about relying on internet replies
> to posts about exceptionally specific, localized conditions...."That  
> detailed report about snowpack on the Wind River Trail #ABCD
> could have been posted by a 16 year old in Boca Raton who has never  
> been north of Atlanta or west of Memphis...."
>
> I think about this every time I hear about people using GPS  
> directions that 'tell them' to turn left or turn right.
> The GPS isn't smart or dumb. It is indifferent. It says what it says  
> what it says.  But you're the one who turns off
> the Interstate and heads into the mountains with dusk falling on the  
> road less taken.
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