The Sun rises in the East and sets in the west.
With East on your right and west on your left you would be facing north.
You can tell which side of the equator you are on by the way water swirls. Northern Hemisphere water drains clockwise. If water draining has no spin then you’re on the equator.
Sometimes the moss on trees is enough of an indicator, as moss growing on only one side of a tree means no sunlight reaches it and the moss faces the direction opposite of the equator.
The water thing is a myth. Any body of water you can actively watch drain is influenced by the shape of the reservoir and direction the water is added to it.
What about the videos recorded in Ecuador, where the same reservoir is drained on both sides of the equator and the water spins in different directions?
Edited to add the link since other users asked for it down in the replies: https://youtu.be/4IIVfoDuVIw
Edit2: check the replies below, the video is good at debunking this. But it’s not super easy to notice
Idk why you’re being downvoted for this comment but it’s actually a really cool sleight of hand trick where the guy pouring the water gives it a small swirl in the direction they want the water to drain.
A lot of people may not like him but Mark Rober did a video about it: https://youtu.be/M7-h3FO-KKo?t=729&si=DoYwXCutiNvF_WcZ
Hmm
Looked it up and you might be right. But believing you at face value would also be the same fault that lead to to this myth’s spread.
Yes. Maps always have up as north. So just hold a map in front of you, and forward direction is north. Easy.
What? You don’t have an internal compass that keeps you oriented? For some reason I seem to be a lucky person that just knows which compass direction I’m going no matter where I am. And it’s a very weird and frightening feeling if I do get disoriented. I had some pain meds after a surgery that did that to me. Flushed them damn things down the toilet after the first 2 I took.
That sounds really nice. I’m sure I could develop the skill, but I have to check the Sun
And it’s a very weird and frightening feeling if I do get disoriented.
I know what you mean, there has been a couple of times in my life where my internal idea of direction has been turned off course and it is a very weird feeling indeed trying to reconcile the direction you internally believe you’re facing against the different direction a map or compass is telling you is actually true.
As a kid I also once spent a weekend in Melbourne feeling somewhat disconcerted due to not being able to get a sense of direction. I’d never been there before and flew in on an overcast day which never ended up letting up until I flew out so never ended up getting my bearings while we were down there (didn’t help that this was before the smartphone era so maps weren’t available at the drop of a hat).
I have a similar experience when I go a city in my state - St. Paul. If I go downtown for any reason, I always feel a bit uneasy walking about and I didn’t know why for the longest time. I finally found out that the streets in the downtown aren’t laid out on the cardinal points-- They were laid out on a slight bias due to being right up against the Mississippi river. And that makes me a little uncomfortable when looking down a block of buildings or from one street to the next at an intersection. It’s always a little bit wonky feeling.
The brainrot is strong in that one.
OK but no you know where the sun rises and sets if youre in a familiar place atleast