HW #3 Geeking Out

Phone fiddle?

What feature did you find that most delighted you?

I discovered that I had a compass app on my iPhone. I toggled true north on and earth and was able to use it to determine directions inside my house. I was so excited because I’m rubbish at directions and usually flubber some nonsense when someone asks what direction something is. And I cannot follow directions that use compass points but only when people say left or right. Now I feel so empowered. I also learned that compass north and true north are about 10° apart at the time I measured. From science class I know that the difference has something to do with magnetic poles. I wanted to know exactly what, so… I Googled it and found this. Compasses align with the Earth’s magnetic field to determine the magnetic north pole, but that position alters with changes in the Earth’s magnetic core. Scientists are still trying to figure out what causes these changes. True north is a fixed point on the globe (the North Pole). Magnetic north and true north can coincide on rare occasions. The last time it did at Greenwich, England was in September 2019. Ahhh… this geek is very happy to have gathered all this info. And compasses are actually of some importance in my books. So, now I can write about it with more knowledge.

Technical fear?

I fear doing something stupid that will crash my computer, erase all my files, and leave me stranded and helpless. It makes me want to read manuals.

Methods to manage fear?

I’ll focus on the power, because I do love to know how to do things. And I’ll do it scared. I’ve been around enough to know that we can recover from most technological blunders.

Gratitude?

I have a number of good computers to use for writing and marketing. I have a very tech-savvy husband who is excellent tech support for me. He has also taught me that you can just Google it. I’m pretty good at picking up technology and am reasonably fluent for my needs.

Backup solutions?

External hard drive; iCloud storage

Password management system?

 My own super-secret system not to be disclosed to anyone. If I tell you, I might have to kill you or come up with another system. I don’t want to do either.