All ducks in a row re: homeschooling.

[conuly]

And despite what I said about the cops not needing military gear, I've decided to join them and get my own piece of military gear.

It is a compass. I'm sure it will be very useful for homeschooling. It might be slightly less handy for crimefighting. The Human Compass would be the absolute lamest superpower ever. Definitely. (But at least they'd hardly ever be accused of superhero brutality.)

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

A compass is hiking gear, not military gear. Sure, the military used to use them (these days they have GPS, and don't hike so much.) That doesn't signify; they used to use skis too (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski_warfare), but that doesn't make skis military gear per se.

Cops don't need compasses. Presumably the police in a given town know the town and surrounding area, and if they don't, they can radio for directions. Cops don't leave their vehicles and go orienteering off into the Wild on foot, either; they call for a helicopter.

Apparently being a Human Compass is a whole lot cooler than it sounds (http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/esp.html), though it would probably be much more useful for Search and Rescue than for fighting crime.

Search and Rescue are the real superheroes anyway. Oh yeah, the cops think they're such macho bad-asses, driving around in their armored transports, wearing their Army Surplus storm-trooper outfits. SAR goes up the mountain, down the canyon, through the river, in black night, pouring rain, pelting sleet - whatever it takes - all to save lives, not end them.

[fiddlingfrog.livejournal.com]

Apparently, the Human Compass never gets lost: http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/esp.html

[conuly]

Ah, but this compass has the word military on it.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Okay, so that compass may be military gear. Or it may be labeled as such as a marketing ploy for people who think military=cool. I don't think I've ever seen any gear actually issued by the military that has the word military on it - it generally just says USN, or USMC, or ANZAC or whatever.

[conuly]

Probably the latter, I just care that it's affordable and will suit my purposes.