Off-topic circumnavigating the earth in a mile or less [was Re: Significant digits in a float?]

[Terry Reedy]

On 4/30/2014 7:46 PM, Ian Kelly wrote:

> It also works if your starting point is (precisely) the north pole.  I
> believe that's the canonical answer to the riddle, since there are no
> bears in Antarctica.

For the most part, there are no bears within a mile of the North Pole 
either. "they are rare north of 88°" (ie, 140 miles from pole).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bears
They mostly hunt in or near open water, near the coastlines.

I find it amusing that someone noticed and posted an alternate, 
non-canonical  solution. How might a bear be near the south pole? As 
long as we are being creative, suppose some jokester mounts a near 
life-size stuffed black bear, made of cold-tolerant artificial 
materials, near but not at the South Pole. The intent is to give fright 
to naive newcomers. Someone walking in a radius 1/2pi circle about the 
pole might easily see it.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy