[ale] [OT] Please Help me with my homework

[JD]

On 04/01/2011 04:11 PM, Lightner, Jeff wrote:
> Being an old fogey doesn't mean the same as being an old dog - you can
> learn new tricks.   I have a road atlas and usually stop and get the
> state map for whatever states I'm going through and I used them often
> for various trips.   However, once Mapquest became available I didn't
> feel I'd dumbed myself down any for using nor do I feel that way using
> the GPS built in the car I bought 2 years ago.    For my last few major
> road trips I've printed Mapquest AND used the GPS mainly to see what the
> differences were.    They do tend to pick slightly different routes.
> On my Saskatchewan trip Mapquest had me bypassing Wisconsin and going
> into Minnesota but my GPS put me through western Wisconsin.

My 16 yr old nephew doesn't know how to get anywhere in the mid-sized
town that he's lived and been driven around in for 10 yrs. His parents
use GPSes in all their vehicles.

When I was growing up, my parents made using a map part of our trip
skills.  We estimated what time we'd get to a particular rest area or
town and when to turn, when we'd need more fuel and which place would be
the best to stop for it.  It was fun and educational.  All 5 of my
sisters know how to read a map because of this (we all also know how to
drive manual transmission vehicles).  I see this as training for adulthood.

Learning how to use Linux and other operating systems is also part of
training a teen.  ;)