Bit of a trippette

**Disneybumble** · 20-02-2009, 07:58 AM

Originally Posted by Dawn

Only the small cocker spaniel is mine. The other 3 lunatics are my parents' dogs.

Don't ask about the guinea pigs.

**mumof2** · 22-02-2009, 05:37 PM

wicked pics Dawn, i love that park!

and that's another idea for one of our day trips to London, thank you!

**Keith** · 22-02-2009, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by Dawn

It's because the Earth's crust is not static and has moved since the meridian was set.

hmmmmm yah know, that wasn't what I was told by some folks who were designing GPS software for some satellites here and there

I was told that the WGS84 (World Geodetic System 1984) coordinate system was a bit of a hack and a hot political potato. All of a sudden, everyone wanted their hundreds or years old meridian lines recognised and because they were so inaccurate, things just didn't line up. Added to that, the GPS system needed a model of the earth including its centre of mass. For, relative, ease they used a simpler mathematic formula that would really have been necessary... all of which resulted in a gps 000 about 300odd feet out from the actual marked line.

My memory is hazy but I THINK they said the UK moved with respect to the WGS84 coordinate system at a rate of about 2.5 centimetres per year.... which would mean that the crust movement explanation wouldn't account for the line being off by that much.

disclaimer: All the above is potentially utter tosh because although it was very interesting at the time, many bottles of wine have passed my lips since then and many brain cells killed

**Dawn** · 22-02-2009, 06:48 PM

My explanation is better. And I understand it.

**Keith** · 22-02-2009, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by Dawn

My explanation is better. And I understand it.

yeah ok I agree, me too

**Keith** · 22-02-2009, 06:50 PM

Can you tell if your GPS receiver uses WGS84 or ETRS89 ?

**Dawn** · 22-02-2009, 06:51 PM

See now you're talking a foreign language.

I know that the meridian line is a virtual cache so another one is ticked off my list.

**Keith** · 22-02-2009, 06:53 PM

**josh.p.** · 22-03-2009, 06:31 PM

Great stuff

Sorry I missed this bit!! Great pics, too, I love nanny leslies mad dogs, Willow is gorgeous too

**Ursula** · 22-03-2009, 09:51 PM

God Keef is sooooo sexy when he talks like that... sits with face in cupped hands and elbows on table with feet swinging and smiling happily at my hero....

By the way... Disney are making a film soon about hero guinea pigs that save the world... or summat like that. Dawn will like that one.