Issue link: https://imageup.uberflip.com/i/1281674
10 SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | AUGUST 2020 By Clare Mendez, Resident Way back in January, our Del Webb neighbor, Frankie Marques had a minor stroke. As per the doctor's orders to relax and due to the coronavirus orders to stay home, he found solace out in his garage making homes for his feathered friends. Frank's hobby is working with wood. He even made a hope chest for his wife years back. As neighbors walked by (he lives just off the Paseo) they saw him tinkering in his garage and asked how he was feeling and what was he up to. "I'm building birdhouses to keep busy and stay out of Betty's hair," he replied. His bird houses were made of sturdy pine, and had doors with hinges that could be open to clean them out each year. He researched the local bird population to make sure he was making them to size for the finches, thrashers, and sparrows living in our area. Before long, friends began to ask him to "please make one for me." Frank was happy to oblige and ended up making 25 in total. The neighboring birds now have a large inventory of homes to choose from. It's for the Birds By Clare Mendez, Resident Navigate: verb 1. Plan and direct the route or course of a ship, aircraft, or other form of transportation, especially by using instruments or maps. The Greeks were the first known culture to apply a scientific approach to measuring and mapping the world. The philosopher Pythagoras theorized as early as the sixth century BC that the Earth was round. Then, by 200 BC, the scholar Eratosthenes compared the angles of shadows cast simultaneously by two distant cities to accurately estimate the planet's circumference. Combining the work of earlier Greek scholars with travelers' stories and town records from across the Roman world, Greek-Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy compiled Geographia, the basis for the next 1,500 years of mapping. Maps based on his blueprints informed Columbus' voyage to the Americans and led Magellan's expedition around the globe. Fast forward to the Rand McNally maps and Atlases we were familiar with not so long ago. I used those books to get me all up and down the eastern U.S. coast and then out to California. The Chicago based company was incorporated in 1873 by William Rand and Andrew McNally. The company's first publication was an annual report of a railroad company in 1868 and the first map was issued in 1872. Then, with the advent of automobiles about 1908, its first road guide was published. In the 1960s, early satellite navigation experiments were developed by the U.S. military to track inter-continental missiles. And, by the early 1970s, the military launched the first Global Positioning System, NAVSTAR, which could determine precise spatial coordinates for anywhere on Earth. Less accurate personal navigation systems such as TomTom and Garmin became available for civilian use, although they had spotty reception when out in open country or a less traveled areas, sometimes directing the driver in circles or directing them to a forested area and then, nothing. In 2000, the Department of Defense lifted its policy of degrading the accuracy of its GPS tracking for civilian use. A full constellation of GPS satellites (about 27) circle the globe twice a day, transmitting radio signals. When an object on Earth's surface receives a signal from at least three satellites, its precise geographic coordinates can be determined within centimeters. In 2006 Google took the lead. With a trio of products – Earth, Maps, and Street View - they created a complete world map. Google vans drove around six major U.S. cities with GPS sensors and multi- lens cameras mounted on top to record the Street Views. With the addition of laser scanners that record dimensions and depths of objects being photographed, it is now possible to navigate and explore nearly anywhere on Earth. Even during a pandemic, you can navigate the world from the comfort of your home. Navigating the World