April 5 – Read a Road Map Day

When Columbus set out from Spain, he was convinced the world was round, but he was way off in terms of what the globe actually looked like. In his case, it was because he didn’t have enough information.

Today, we all have continuously available information about the world around us (with GPS enabled smartphones), but fewer and fewer of us know how to read a map. If you found a treasure map, would you be able to find the treasure if you couldn’t put the address into your phone? What about if the GPS system suddenly went down?

Columbus navigated by what is called “dead reckoning.” In dead reckoning, you measure your course and speed, and then mark a map based on your last known location. A compass, a measuring line, and an hourglass were all he had.

Later navigators became adept at measuring their latitude, or distance from the equator, using the stars. Celestial navigation, as it is called, allowed eventually for very accurate measurement of latitude.

Measuring longitude, however, is much more difficult. In the days before GPS, the useful measurement of longitude required a very accurate clock. In the middle of the 18th Century, John Harrison, an English carpenter, finally succeeded in producing an accurate enough marine chronometer to meet the requirements of sailors. While his specific invention was never widely used, marine chronometers became the standard tool for measuring longitude until the advent of GPS and other radio-based systems.

https://www.certell.org/bell_ringers/apr-5-read-a-road-map-day/

>>6078199 Alvaro Uribe

Álvaro Uribe Vélez (born 4 July 1952) is a Colombian politician who served as the 57th President of Colombia from 7 August 2002 to 7 August 2010.

Uribe studied law. Álvaro Uribe focused his political career and became a member of the political party Partido Centro Democrático. In 1993 he attended Harvard University, receiving a Certificate of Special Studies in Administration and Management at Harvard Extension School and Certificate in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution at Harvard Law School. Between 1998 and 1999, he studied at St Antony's College, Oxford, England, on a Chevening-Simón Bolívar scholarship and was appointed Senior Associate Member at St Antony's College.

Uribe started his political career in his home department of Antioquia. He has held office in the Empresas Públicas de Medellín and in the Ministry of Labor and was the director of the Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics (1980–1982). He was named Mayor of Medellín in October 1982 by Belisario Betancur. However, he was discharged of his function in February 1983, five months after his appointment, by Président Betancur for his alleged collaboration with drug traffickers.[1] He was Senator between 1986 and 1994 and finally Governor of Antioquia between 1995 and 1997 before he was elected President of Colombia in 2002. Following his 2002 election, Uribe led successful campaigns against the FARC and the ELN. On 13 January 2009 the United States awarded President Uribe the Presidential Medal of Freedom. However, the war was accompanied by large-scale exactions: thousands of civilians were killed by the Colombian army (see "False positives" scandal) with almost total impunity, according to the United Nations.[2] and millions of people have been victims of forced displacement.[3]

In an official document of the Defense Intelligence Agency, dated 1991, Álvaro Uribe appears at number 82 of a list containing the names of the most important drug dealers in Colombia. Uribe is described there as a collaborator of the Medellín Cartel and intimate friend of Pablo Escobar; he is also accused of possessing financial interests in companies engaged in drug trafficking and would have assisted the cartel with regard to extradition laws.[4][5] Recently released diplomatic cables show that a Colombian senator told the U.S. Embassy in 1993 that the founders of the Medellín Cartel financed Uribe's senate election campaign.