I’ve not yet registered to do this free on line course by John Huth. Particle physicist, Donner Professor of Science at Harvard, and researcher into the ancient methods of navigation.
John writes about the problems caused by people " living in the bubble ", the 2 foot diameter sphere around the heads of people constantly looking at their smart phones. And about the problems in modern education to accept, “guardian knowledge.” Meaning just accepting what the experts say, without learning how nature works from their own observations and experiences. Often the experts are wrong. But you wont know they’re wrong unless you make your own observations.
The online course if free, but for a fee you can also obtain a certificate. But doing the whole course requires a commitment. Estimated 3 ~ 5 hours/week for six weeks. [one of the reasons I may wait a while, as I will be traveling frequently. But I think the course may only be available till Aug. 21st. ]
https://online-learning.harvard.edu/course/backyard-meteorology-science-weather
Or here:
https://www.classcentral.com/course/edx-backyard-meteorology-the-science-of-weather-12108
You might also enjoy this May 2019, podcast from Wild Roots, an interview with John Huth about Primitive Navigation. Episode 7 Primitive Navigation: Finding our own way.
About 40 minutes.
[however. I dislike the name primitive navigation. Ancient navigation may be a better name. As often the methods they used are quite advanced. Ancient navigators or trackers used the scientific method to observe nature, form a hypothesis, test it and revise it. As one anthropologist has stated, modern scientific researchers have greater access to global data, but they don’t know any more than ancient people about nature and how it works. People who depended on their correct conclusions about how nature works to survive.
- John Huth has also asked who is the more primitive navigator? The ancient navigator that could way-find his way to distant locations by his own skill without instruments or the modern person who relies only on the GPS in his smart phone for directions or to know what the day’s weather will be? People who can not tell you why summer is warm and winter is cold. Or know the correct direction of the local wind. Hint - look at the movement of the clouds, at ground level the wind my swirl around buildings or hills and not tell you the correct direction of the wind. ]
Wild Roots Ep 7 Primative Navigation : finding our own way
There are also links at the bottom of the above website to the free Backyard Meteorology course, and John Huth’s blog.
