In the 19th century, Captains in the British Navy who could not afford their own marine chronometer (used to determine longitude by celestial navigation) were issued one by the Navy, but Captains who provided their own were issued two, so that they would have three chronometers aboard ship – because you need three to know which one has gone wrong.
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Reminds me of spelunking, wherein we were trained to bring three flashlights - in case our backup failed, too.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Pythagoras and Buckminster Fuller were onto something...