About time. Somebody recently mentioned "The Calendar", a new book by David Ewing Duncan as being of interest to dialists. Well, on p.190 he quotes a verse regarding time from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, together with a comment. Here it is:
(quote) In one of his famous verses from "The Rubaiyat" Omar Khayyam offers a poet's assessment of what it means for a scientist to try to measure time - and the arrogance of those who blithely count and add and take away days on a calendar. "Ah, but my calculations, people say, Have squared the year to human Compass, Eh? If so, by striking from the calendar Unborn tomorrow and dead yesterday. (end of quote) Omar was more than a poet. For instance he measured the solar year as 365.24219858156 days long. I have the figure 365.2421875 for the year 2000 but as we have lost half a second a century since Omar's time (d. 1131) he wasn't far out! -- Frank Evans
