The Compass, a Dummy Explains

Basic compass

The bios required of eHow contributors are often a source of amusement to our staffers, particularly when the content one of them posts gives lie to the claims at the bottom of the page. Most of the time it's someone who claims expertise of a degree but doesn't understand the basics of that same topic. Today's a little different; the nominee today claims to teach college students "how to write and conduct research for various situations"; a claim that doesn't actually make much sense. Whatever the case, Elaine Harper's research skills failed her when it came to the Sciencing.com post "Purpose of a Compass."

Harper's failure to conduct in-depth research of her topic is apparent from the first sentence of her (required) introduction:

"The compass is a vital component of camping gear, hiking gear or any activity where you spend a considerable amount of time outdoors, especially alone."

While arguably true, that certainly gives short shrift to the use of the compass in navigation, and a host of other endeavors much more productive than "time outdoors." Then again, Elaine doesn't seem to understand much about how a compass works or how to use one:

"A compass's singular purpose is to tell you what direction you are heading in at all times, which prevents you from getting lost."

Besides Harper's misuse of "singular" (it doesn't mean "sole"), that's not what a compass does: a compass only indicates the direction of magnetic north. It's up to the user to know the directions and not get lost. Somehow, we suspect Harper would need to be rescued if dropped in a wilderness area... even with a compass. Then there's this abjuration:

"Make sure you understand how a compass's needle works before you set out on an adventure alone"

Far be it from us to argue that understanding magnetic fields and the attraction of differing poles isn't useful, but we admit that understanding what a compass needle does may be more useful to the outdoors enthusiast than understanding how it works! And speaking of how a compass works, we seriously doubt that,

"[Dense] woods, fog or very high winds [...] may slightly alter the compass's needle"!

As to how a compass works, we argue strenuously against the claim that,

"Base plates located at the bottom of compasses record visual bearings"

and frankly don't buy the claim that "advanced compasses" include "wrist" and "competition" compasses. Most irritating is the statement that,

"The military and forestry technicians use specialized-purpose compasses specific to their needs..."

...at least partially because this is the second time in just a few days where some English major calls professional scientists "technicians"; and partially because our founder sometimes uses one of those "specialized-purpose compasses." Harper's most glaring omission, though? probably that our Dumbass of the Day never mentioned declination, not once.

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