C Kingsbury wrote:

Likewise, I suspect navigating by reference to magnetic north will be
one of those charming anachronisms that our descendants 2000 years ago
will talk about in the same way that people today talk about how
railroad gauges were based on roman roads. (I know it's true only in a
loose sense, no need to rehash that here)

Actually, it's not true at all.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.