Be thankful for John Flamstead
BBC article, Leap second proposal sparks row: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4420084.stm I found this bit particularly amusing: The decision stemmed from the work 200 years previously of the first English Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, who calculated that the Earth rotated on its axis once every 24 hours. It must have been very confusing for people before it was realised that there were 24 hours in a day. You'd have thought somebody would have noticed the pattern before, though. And yes, my inner pedant has to note that it's once and a bit every 24 hours. Ed.
Re: Be thankful for John Flamstead
The decision stemmed from the work 200 years previously of the first English Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, who calculated that the Earth rotated on its axis once every 24 hours. Google saves the day again. Appears to have something to do with tying together implications of the still young Copernican world view, the analemma/equation of time, and the orbital and axial components of sidereal motion. If you think we've been having an overheated discussion, take a look at: http://groups.google.com/group/sci.geo.meteorology/browse_thread/ thread/ff7e4d7111a94246/c94849decbe7531b An excerpt: the description of the components of the Equation of Time as expressed by the 17th century cataloguers is bogus, harmful and ultimately the greatest form of intellectual vandalism ever known. (I might reserve the latter accusation for so-called intelligent design.) My history of astronomy professor, Fr. Edward Jenkins, was fond of the fourth Astronomer Royal, Nathaniel Bliss. He recalled (often) having seen a beer mug with the gent's face on it and the motto, This is Bliss, if bliss on Earth there be. Rob Seaman National Optical Astronomy Observatory
Re: Be thankful for John Flamstead
On Thu 2005-11-10T10:48:29 +, Ed Davies hath writ: BBC article, Leap second proposal sparks row: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4420084.stm It should be noted that, as is typical of the BBC, the spelling error has been corrected and there is now a biographical link to the first astronomer royal. The BBC are really good about correcting factual errors on their website. That's both archivally scary (Orwell anyone?) and very nice. But in full context they also have more today: Europe names Galileo trailblazer http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4417290.stm I think the BBC does not realize how the stories are connected. The relevance between that and the LEAPSECS list becomes evident if you take a really close reading of the following document. http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/ptti/ptti2004/panel.pdf -- Steve Allen [EMAIL PROTECTED]WGS-84 (GPS) UCO/Lick ObservatoryNatural Sciences II, Room 165Lat +36.99858 University of CaliforniaVoice: +1 831 459 3046 Lng -122.06014 Santa Cruz, CA 95064http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/ Hgt +250 m
FW: [LEAPSECS] ABC leapsec article
There is a nifty google feature that will scour the internet for news articles on any subject, and send you weeky, daily, or immediate notifications. Browse on http://www.google.com/alerts Beware- If you ask for 'leap second' you will get more than you want! Ask for leap second, and you will get emails like what is below. *** From: Google Alerts To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 11/09/2005 6:08 PM Subject: Google Alert - leap second Google Alert for: leap second No http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/65971 more leap second? Heise Online - Hannover,Germany ... Telecommunications Union ITU is meeting this Wednesday and Thursday in Geneva to discuss, among other things, the future of the leap second, which is added ... _ This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google. Remove http://www.google.com/alerts/removx Create http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en another alert. Manage http://www.google.com/alerts/manage?hl=en your alerts.
