Riddle for the Castanauts.

[Piecemaker]

Yeah, I was awake at 1:30 because I "siesta' due to the heat. Once it cools down a bit in the evening, I get energetic and before I know it...it's 1:30 am! Me, alter quotes?...Shirley, you must be mistaken, Frankly speaking.

[I Think]

MMMM Siesta, didn't know you spoke Spanish.

Tho each year it seems fewer Mexicans actually take a siesta.
Tis such a lovely custom, it seems a shame to lose it.

[Glacier]

New riddle:

Piecemaker and NormaM are having a heated discussion one day as to which route is the shortest from NormaM's house to the liquor store. Piecemaker contends that going straight over the mountain is the shortest distance while NormaM swears that the route around the mountain is slightly shorter.

After months of arguing, fighting, and eye gouging, they decide to settle it once and for all in a scientific way. Piecemaker takes out her trusty GPS and hikes over the mountain for a distance of 2.12 km, and NormaM gets in her trusty Mercedes Benz and drives around the mountain measuring a distance of 2.15km.

NormaM cannot believe this result, so she borrows Captain Awesome's Hummer, and drives directly over the mountain, and this time measures 2.16km. Meanwhile, Piecemaker walks around the mountain with her GPS measuring a distance of 2.15 km, just as NormaM's car did.

This this little experiment left them more confused than ever, [so] they are left with no other option than to turn to Castanet for help.

The question for you is: Which route is shorter, and what accounts for the discrepancy?

DISCLAIMER: The names in the story above have been changed to protect the innocent. Any reference or resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental.

[Queen K]

I think the real answer is that Glacier and Mrs. Glacier had it out over which way to get to Walmart is shorter.

[Bsuds]

I think the real answer is that Glacier and Mrs. Glacier had it out over which way to get to Walmart is shorter.

And they were sooo mad at each other they forgot their kid in the parking lot!

[strwbrrydvl]

GPS's pinpont your location roughly every second and measures the distance between those two points so I think the speed of the Hummer going over the mountian vs hiking had something to do with that discrepancy.. Maybe the Hummer's distance was rounded up with every measurement? Walking and driving around the mountain are the same because the GPS 'knows' the distance of the road regardless of how you travel it.

...am I on to something?

[Piecemaker]

Why do I have to do ALL the hiking and Norma gets to drive the cool vehicles?!

[kgcayenne]

The vehicle's dash is likely higher than Piecemaker, and therefore will result in differing arcs, the highest GPS device measuring the longest arc. Methinks the only 'control' in this word problem is Piecemaker on foot with her GPS, and that means the shortest distance is over the mountain.

[Piecemaker]

Plus I'm usually right, right?!

[Piecemaker]

Oh, does it matter if I went straight over the mountain or if I happened to sidestep some bear scat enroute?
Does the brand of my GPS make a difference?

[Piecemaker]

Maybe Norma bought some liquor the first time she drove to the liquor store and misread the GPS in the Hummer...

[Glacier]

Does the brand of my GPS make a difference?

Yes it does. You have a regular GPS that anyone on Castanet would have. In this case, it's a Garmin eTrex Vista® HCx.

Hint: The distance over the mountain is not shorter.

[grammafreddy]

Do GPS triangulate?

[grammafreddy]

Or does it have anything to do with the size of the tires?

[Glacier]

Do GPS triangulate?

That is an interesting question, isn't it. You might be onto something...

hint: http://www.google.com/