Tony Moss wrote:
> People are certainly no rarity up there plus some 28 000 polar bears to > look out for too. Sundials, on the other hand, are about to make an > appearance although possibly they have done so previously? Does anyone > know of any? There's a potential 24-hour dial at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Station. The "ceremonial" South Pole marker is a cylindrical post surmounted by a reflective globe; flags from the participating nations are arrayed in a circle around it. I once tried to interest a researcher there into arranging the flags at 15-degree intervals, positioned so that the post's shadow would fall on a different flag at the top of each hour (give or take the Equation of Time). He politely declined. The reason? He said he didn't want to risk creating an international incident! An interesting related question to ponder is, What time zone should one adopt at the South Pole? (That location is, of course, where all time zone boundaries converge.) Since it's populated by an international team, I originally thought a South Pole dial should report Universal Time. But the residents there much prefer New Zealand time, because their regular supply flights originate in Christchurch. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Mark Gingrich [EMAIL PROTECTED] San Leandro, California -
