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I feel sad. When I was younger I would always try and figure out North by the position of the sun, time of day and time of year, whenever I was in a new place. Its gotten so useless to do so I have forgotten how.

Last time I used these skills was in Norway. figured out North while walking around Tromso by looking at the Satellite Dishes.

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dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Its gotten so useless to do so I have forgotten how.

I guess I lucked out with keeping this habit. I know of two tricks you can try to keep it straight. Once you memorize that the sun moves from East to West:

On a compass, West and East spell “WE” with North above that.

Imagine an old fashioned watch or clock face, where North is at 12 o’clock (N = Noon) and East is at 3 o’clock (3 kinda looks like E).

figured out North while walking around Tromso by looking at the Satellite Dishes.

Nice! Know your environment. For those reading along, when in the Northern Hemisphere:

Satellites hang out nearer the equator so dishes point South(ish).

Solar panels are another one and also face in a generally Southward direction to maximize solar exposure year-round.

An older trick is to look for moss on rocks and trees. These do not like direct sunlight and prefer to grow in the shade of the North side of things.

The opposite is true for these three when in the Southern Hemisphere. And all this is less useful, the closer to the equator you go.
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