Frazz by Jef Mallett for December 17, 2022

Yeah, strictly by the heavens. That’s why they never sailed at night, I assume.

Nicely done, Mallett. I see what you did there. I do have to point out that getting lost via GPS is much less likely to bring enlightenment than frustration. Or occasionally death (wintertime, back road, snow…)

This is definitely a Scherzo moment!

In the pre-GPS days, my Dad owned a pharmacy and delivered some prescriptions. Even in our smallish town, there were places that I never knew existed.

In cross country driving, beautiful, unanticipated vistas offer great scenic returns that offset the difficulty of reaching one’s destination. Not so much in cities. That’s why there is auto insurance.

not all who wander are lost, perhaps

I’m rarely lost, even if sometimes I don’t know where I am

Recalculating….

Even WWII aviators navigated by the stars. That’s why the B29 and the Lancaster had bubble windows called astrodomes.

Nice shirt Jef.

My dad and I could navigate by map and compass thru woodlands and plains. Yet, had a problem remebering where we parked the car in a large parking lot.

It’s pretty easy to find the North Star, which gives you both direction and latitude. As for GPS, that’s what comes from letting a machine do your thinking for you.

Pun heavy strip today. I like it.

I’m OK with artistic license, but Jef Mallett is (I presume) showing his personal bias against GPS. It is literally impossible to get lost using a GPS unless you just completely ignore it, in which case you aren’t using it.

I think our definition of lost has changed as we’ve got more tightly packed together. Four hundred years ago if you landed on the right coast, you were found; today, if you miss a turn by 30 meters, you’re lost.

I’ve been lost a couple of times. If the person I was at those times REALLY was myself, I don’t want to find myself ever again.

You have remarked on both of them.

As someone who is quite talented at getting lost (and has had more than one “adventure” with bad printed directions), I’ll take the GPS. If I can’t get where I’m going, I can get somewhere close.

Even though I love sailing, I would have been lousy in those days. I can never make out those constellations (except for the Big Dipper).

Frazz’s gesture in the final panel is reminiscent of Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow: “Of course, some people do go both ways.”

Determining latitude was easy: ships could navigate by the stars. Longitude wasn’t so easy, as it required an accurate timekeeping device. Now, about altitude and attitude…..

Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] less than a minute agoI have been lost only a few times once at night down an unfamiliar road no street lighting. I managed to follow the road stars back to a freeway. I had no GPS. But we all have heard of some of the spectacular failures of GPS in the past less so now. It works rather well from what I have seen. Thank Einstein without him we wouldn’t have the satellites being used to guide us.

If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else. Yogi Berra.