Compasses going crazy...Theories and Research

reply to post by XtraTL


It serves no purpose to point out scientific truth or observable fact to these people, they choose to keep their eyes shut and believe in only what they want to. To believe in the hysteria in part fulfills deficiencies in other areas of their psyche and education.

The ultimate irony being of course that they embody exactly what they purport to despise the most, namely closed-mindedness and mis-information. The contradiction is amusing and palpable.

Here is the page you want:

geomag.usgs.gov...

Select today's date, or yesterday, or any day for that matter.

The reading you want is D (declination) which corresponds to changes in the direction a compass would point.

Note there are real time monitoring stations all over the US and a couple in the pacific.

Also note that the changes in the declination as measured are minuscule, and the variations are no larger or smaller than any other given day.

Holy cow, I sat down to do my show, sat down during a break and a couple of hours later the thread's even bigger!

I see the map has a few more entries on it. If you can't edit a Google map, just u2u me and I'll add your general location. I can't keep up with all the posts.

Originally posted by freestonew
dead birds!!
*Now* I have an idea as to why all those dead birds, found all over the southern Midwest , as well as here and there all over the world, plus other animal mass deaths too, might be Caused.

Have you ever seen "The Core?"

Does anyone remember how it begins -- the circumstances that lead scientists to believe there's something very wrong with the earth's iron core and geomagnetic field?

I tried my old compass. It is still facing north just like before.

Wow I tested my Garmin 60CSx GPS wich is very very acurate and I can see the North is pointing more to the left and the more strange thing is that my Home position (my mail box) shifted by 8 yards, before I only had less than 6 feet off now I have over 24 feet of shifting.

I also have a Bushnell backtrack gps and this one is less acurate but it shows my Home position wich it was set on my porch and it changed by 13 yards.

I will try my Garmin Car GPS Home position wich is on my first driveway, I will check the lat/log coordinates saved a few weeks ago and see if they changed and post my findings.

Here is the picture of compass been off

On Vancouver Island, BC - compared my Iphone compass to grandfather's old WW2 compass: Iphone showing North, real compass pulling NE towards E. In unrelated or related news, we had a 4.4 earthquake last night off the western coast of the Island.

Originally posted by XtraTL

This thread is totally debunked. I am amused that it is still continuing 50 to the dozen.

Edit: in response to me leaving the thread, I've decided to stay. It amuses me to see how long it will continue.

edit on 20-3-2011 by XtraTL because: See edit

Debunked? You have 'debunked' people saying that they have noticed anomolies with their compasses?! When the OP was simply looking for some kind of explanation?

ATS is about DENYING ignorance which is what is being done here with all the members contributing and trying to figure out if there is a reason for the various different readings. Just because you refuse to open your mind and take a chance doesn't mean everyone else is wrong.

With over 170 flags, this thread appears to be a considerably interesting one for a lot of people.

You know I find this intriguing. Not sure what to make out of this. And it may be proven just to be interference. Maybe not... My compass goes NE once it is near my computer monitor and speakers. .

I did want to mention something. Just today, I found out that Cockroaches use the magnetic field to steer. Which brought to mind a recent event I saw at a nearby University/Hospital campus. I saw the equivlent to a seriously dense locust swarm outside. Except it was cockroaches. I figured they just sprayed. Which it could have been. Just mentioning my observation

reply to post by ScorpioRising


These "anomalies" are with certain peoples understanding of basic compass skills and knowledge, not with the Earths magnetic fields. If you perhaps opened your eyes this would be blatantly obvious to you. GPS's and Garmins and phone app "compasses" point to geographic north, this is because they are for people in cities who couldn't find their way across town without a google app. Real compasses point to what is called magnetic North, magnetic north and geographic north are not the same thing, now stay with me here because here is where it gets really confusing for some folks, everywhere on the surface of the planet owing to geologic features and the makeup of the underlying earth mantle there is whats called "magnetic variation" or deviation in some circles, what this means is that how "far off" your compass points to from magnetic North depends on where you are and what the deviation is there. With me? not only do all compasses not point to geographic north they also don't even point to true magnetic north depending upon where you are. This is what everyone posting here about "anomolies" truly and obviously do not understand.

Debunked.

Originally posted by ScorpioRising

Originally posted by XtraTL

This thread is totally debunked. I am amused that it is still continuing 50 to the dozen.

Edit: in response to me leaving the thread, I've decided to stay. It amuses me to see how long it will continue.

edit on 20-3-2011 by XtraTL because: See edit

Debunked? You have 'debunked' people saying that they have noticed anomolies with their compasses?! When the OP was simply looking for some kind of explanation?

That's a distortion. The OP originally said that his compass was pointing due east and that it was an old compass he found "this morning" in an old junk box. That's a difference of 90 degrees.

Later in the thread he says its 30 degrees off magnetic north and 40 degrees off true north (which is impossible in his location) and that it's a compass he last used 3 weeks ago.

Moreover, on his map he shows the difference with magnetic north being more like 50-55 degrees.

It's debunked because information posted by the OP has been shown to be contradictory. After asking for clarification multiple times, he has not responded.

On the other people who have posted, its debunked because at least one has retracted and multiple others are comparing their compasses with where they think they remember someone once saying north should be rather than data from an actual map which shows where north really is.

mod closed my original post to this kid right off the bat.

...THe OP doesn't know how to use a compass, then a few of you also who don't know how to use a compass only gave him a reason to keep going. This is clearly non-scientific with most people who actually understand compasses realize the difference between true and magnetic north. You need a map, a compass, and a reference point all in order to get coordinance.

This thread is a map and compass with no reference point.

reply to post by Liberterius


There must be some charts / maps to actually show this difference, are there? Also if you read the replies, some people are reading the compass for years so they must be familiar with the "normal" readings. While we do have to take some factors into account , still does not explain all the anomalies in the reading.

Originally posted by elouina
You know I find this intriguing. Not sure what to make out of this. And it may be proven just to be interference. Maybe not... My compass goes NE once it is near my computer monitor and speakers. .

I did want to mention something. Just today, I found out that Cockroaches use the magnetic field to steer. Which brought to mind a recent event I saw at a nearby University/Hospital campus. I saw the equivlent to a seriously dense locust swarm outside. Except it was cockroaches. I figured they just sprayed. Which it could have been. Just mentioning my observation

edit on 20-3-2011 by elouina because: (no reason given)

There are likely magnets in your computer speakers. Most speakers work by having an electromagnet attached to a diaphragm, which inserts into a permanent magnet. If you have an old CRT style display, there will be magnets in that too.

Either of these sources could be affecting your compass. I presume that's what you were pointing out.

Originally posted by sepermeru
reply to post by XtraTL

 

Are you aware that a month ago, the mainstream media and various science reporters predicted that compasses would start showing anomalous readings due to magnetic field shifts, and that the fact that compasses would start showing anomalous readings was previously discussed here, so there is absolutely no mystery whatsoever?

Ahh.thank you for this info!!....I had not heard or read the other stuff on this at ATS....Good to know that it was reported by mainstream media...

reply to post by THEDUDE86


Um if you would bother to actually read the posts you would see that I provded a map (Google earth, Google map, and my own personal map), as well as my engineers compass AND my reference point, THE SUNRISE!! How's that for your reference point?

Oh and I would also use the North star AKA the Polestar, but it has been cloudy here the last 3 nights. So until it clears up, you will just have to accept the Sun as being my reference. But please go back to bashing us again, stating falsehoods, and asking for information that has ALREADY been provided that you continue to ignore.

www.ngdc.noaa.gov...

This website should show you the declination on your location (by ZIP code).

Originally posted by Liberterius
reply to post by ScorpioRising

 

These "anomalies" are with certain peoples understanding of basic compass skills and knowledge, not with the Earths magnetic fields. If you perhaps opened your eyes this would be blatantly obvious to you. GPS's and Garmins and phone app "compasses" point to geographic north, this is because they are for people in cities who couldn't find their way across town without a google app. Real compasses point to what is called magnetic North, magnetic north and geographic north are not the same thing, now stay with me here because here is where it gets really confusing for some folks, everywhere on the surface of the planet owing to geologic features and the makeup of the underlying earth mantle there is whats called "magnetic variation" or deviation in some circles, what this means is that how "far off" your compass points to from magnetic North depends on where you are and what the deviation is there. With me? not only do all compasses not point to geographic north they also don't even point to true magnetic north depending upon where you are. This is what everyone posting here about "anomolies" truly and obviously do not understand.

Debunked.

edit on 20-3-2011 by Liberterius because: misspelling

Read the entire thread, YOUR time writing your post is WORTHLESS. Especially because I live at almost 0 degrees deviation.

Originally posted by Romanian
reply to post by Liberterius

 

There must be some charts / maps to actually show this difference, are there? Also if you read the replies, some people are reading the compass for years so they must be familiar with the "normal" readings. While we do have to take some factors into account , still does not explain all the anomalies in the reading.

Yes it does. If one person can fail to correctly use a compass, so can many others.

You know, there have been professional con men who have absolutely relied on incorrect information coming from the general public to establish their "reputations".

Also, you'd have to prove that the people who are claiming to be different individuals with errant compass readings are actually distinct people and not a single individual or company with multiple accounts registered on ATS.

You guys know about the whole HBGary mess don't you? That sort of thing has HUGE ramifications for sites like ATS.

I'm not suggesting that has happened here. But I definitely don't believe what I read on the internet, and I certainly don't just trust what people say without evidence.