Dear the Director of the Board of Longitude,
I am John Harrison. I am writing to you to convince you that my H-4 clock meets all the requirements for the prize money. To measure longitude has been a struggle for the world. It is easy to follow along latitude because it is a straight line but longitude is much more difficult to follow. Our country, like other European countries, wants to explore new worlds and in order to do so, we have to find out a way to prevent people from getting lost in the sea. With the rewards the Board of Longitude officially announced, they motivated me to build a timekeeper that can be reliable. I believed that H-4 the best prize, £20,000 because it is in fact, more accurate than 30 minutes. The H-4 clock, I believe, is the best clock I have ever made. All of the years I spent making H-1, H-2, and H-3 are the hard works behind
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I said, “I think I may make bold to say, that there is neither any other Mechanical or Mathematical thing in the World that is more beautiful or curious in texture than this my watch or Timekeeper for the Longitude...and I heartily thank Almighty God that I have lived so long, as in some measure to complete it” (106). It is a really carefully made clock with “paired silver cases, a genteel white face shows off four fanciful repeats of a fruit-and-foliage motif drawn in black….The Watch, as it soon came to be known, embodied the essence of elegance and exactitude”(106). I dedicated my life to make the best watch for our country. After so many years, I finally made this watch and I am confident that it will change the way the world travels on sea. Although it is larger than Jeffrey’s watch, It is also said that “the Watch proved to tell the longitude within ten miles--three times more
Now that we’ve made our way through the journey of Ken Jennings’ incredible book I feel as if it’s important for me to try to sway you to become more involved in geography. It’s a truly fascinating subject and can take you places you never thought you could ever visit. If you don’t want to leave your home, at least buy an atlas, map, or visit Google Earth. You never know what you could discover in your journey. If you don’t think maps or an atlas is your thing, you never know if you never try. Jennings created a journey, for me I would have never cared to take had it not been assigned as a college class assignment, but now I’m so glad I did. Jennings shined a different light on geocaching, and map hunting. He made it fun, interesting, and overall thrilling.
Like the Arabs, the Europeans sometimes let their religion come between them and the truth. The best example of this is what Boorstin refers to as the “Great Interruption,” a time in the Middle Ages where theological, rather than geographical, accuracy was prioritized in mapmaking. Rather than continuing the work of Ptolemy and refining his rectangular coordinate system, cartographers “spent their energies embroidering a neat, theologically appealing picture of what was already known, or was supposed to be known.” (Boorstin, 100) Maps depicted the world as a circular disc divided into three parts, the three parts being the continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe, separated by a T-shaped flow of water. Jerusalem was always in the center of the maps; the justification came from a verse in Ezekiel saying that God had placed Jerusalem in the midst of the nations, which was interpreted literally. Allowing Christian dogma to determine the shape of the earth was a major failing in Boorstin’s eyes; nevertheless, the episode was only an “interruption,” and Europe eventually resumed discovery. Firstly, Boorstin credits the west for the modern clock and calendar. Although earlier versions of clocks from other parts of the world are mentioned, the author focuses primarily on the contributions of westerners to its development. When missionary
The invention of the GPS started with Dr. Ivan Getting leaving his position at Raytheon Company, and armed with the knowledge of what was at the time the most advanced navigational technology in the world, they began developing the Global Positioning System. He, Roger L. Easton, and Bradford Parkison began in the 60’s with a constellation of 24 satellites (placed in six orbital planes) orbiting the earth at a very high altitude (about
Dava Sobel’s novel, Longitude: The True Story Of A Lone Genius Who Solved The Greatest Scientific Problem Of His Time is a history of the scientific battle to obtain a method of finding the exact longitude of a specific location. Knowing the longitude of a location may seem unimportant, but in fact it is vital. To fully understand the work that went into this effort, first, one must understand the basic principles for determining location on Earth.
In fact however, Paley was not talking about a watch. Paley was talking about the universe, with the watch as a metaphor. The universe is obviously much more complex than a watch and they both serve a purpose. The gears in the watch function to tell us time. He also listed a supernatural being as the creator of the makings of the “Watch,” that every living thing, rock, drop of water, and the heavens above were created by a supernatural, all seeing being. Though Paley never says that the “creator” is God, one can assume according to other people’s perspectives that the creator would be, and that the pieces of nature were the equivalent of the parts of a watch that keep it ticking and combining in effort to contribute to a bigger purpose. This bigger purpose however is needing the efforts of those below it, or else nothing else would work, as stated by Paley.
Many of us know that a watch indeed does have a designer, but what if we had never seen a watch made before or known of anyone capable of such design? Lacking this knowledge, Paley argues, should raise no doubt in our mind that the object must have a designer. Even if the watch told the wrong time most of the time, Paley says that the intended purpose of the watch to tell time is still obvious. Paley says we should still conclude that the watch ...
on this built in compass sense to guide them in the open ocean. Another use for
In very complex machines, missing or undiscovered parts are more likely to arise; yet, such disorder would no doubt make an individual more curious as to the objects purpose. Although in some cases, a part may seem useless, the individual would continue to question and wonder what purpose that part serves. No one could believe that the watch was assembled together with sheer luck; therefore, an intelligent designer exists. The watch is definitely not made by the principle of order and it is not believable to say or think that the watch was not invented. Design cannot exist without the designer. Every appearance of design, which exists in the watch, exists in the works of nature. While the world is far more complex than a simplistic instrument, like a watch, it is no different when compared at the base levels, especially when seeing that both are so mechanical, showing elements of order.
With this premise, Paley introduces the connection between the watch and our universe. He explains clearly that if a watch needs a designer, surely the far more complex universe should need one to. Paley justifies the existence of God through this watch and universe simile. He concludes that if a watch needs a superior designer, then the universe needs a maker as well, this maker being God.
Scientific method is shown through the narrator, as he is very curious about the slowing down of the clocks, and why things
Proceeding that, Paley introduces his second argument that constructs upon believing in the design of the watch. The stone’s design is not of much interest as that of the watch. Since there exists a design, there must be a designer for that matter. Thirdly, the purpose of some parts of the watch might remain unknown; however, the more complex the parts are, the more likely that one would believe in a designer. Since the stone is still and simple, one would ignore the creation in comparison to that of the watch. In addition to all, the completion of the material provokes the thoughts of the designer’s existence. On the other hand, the last three arguments presented summarise in the purpose of believing in a watchmaker. If one does not believe, he will remain unanswered, filled with void, shocked and scared of the unknown. The meaning of the watch is power of a
One thirty five , a radom time, showing that this an event that occurs routinely and below the is a calandar with the date of twenty four and diectly above the number there is a factory icon suggesting his place of work . Looking back again one fins a right triganle in the composition, with the clock being the vertex and the right egde making a right angle with the wooden table displaying a non naturalistic setting.
I can feel it throbbing around my wrist. Each tick drags me one second further in the countdown, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it, reverse it, or slow it down. A bead of sweat trickles down my temple. Why hasn’t it arrived yet?
The internet might not only be affecting social abilities, but also cognitive abilities. According to Descartes, what determines ones existence is cognition, and thinking is considered identity. His famous quote was not “I google therefore, I am.” An argument can be made about how creativity is being effected. The internet is not only a place where people find new friends, but also information. It is possible that we have access to too much information. The problem with the internet becoming the main source of information is that we depend on it for simple tasks which one could easily perform on their own with regular practice. The other problem is knowledge, people are looking to google where there is access to the same pool of knowledge rather than being creative and coming up with their own ideas and solutions.
Long after Christopher Colombus first noted strange lights and odd happenings on his compass in the tr...