Re: Roger Sinnott's question about the largest horizontal dial... Well, here's where we dialists can settle the issue once and for all. First we need to agree on what particular sundial parameters are apropos the claim "largest." Gnomon length seems like a reasonable metric. I suspect that the inherent ambiguity of the term "largest sundial" has already been exploited by several publicity-hungry locales.
Take the large horizontal at Carefree, Arizona, already mentioned by Fred Sawyer. The tourist guidebook _Travel Arizona_ says the following: "...in the center of the community, marking the location of a couple of attractive shopping areas, is the world's largest sundial (or maybe it's the second largest -- there's some debate over that)." I suspect the "debate" is between the Arizona towns of Carefree and Sun City, which also possesses a comparably sized horizontal dial. Indeed, I purchased a picture postcard in Sun City featuring their dial, the caption of which claimed, "...this sundial is the largest in Arizona." Now if in fact Carefree's dial is the largest horizontal in the world and if Sun City's is the largest in Arizona...we have an interesting logical contradiction! Not wishing to be left out of the fray, the town of Singleton, New South Wales, Australia issued a visitor's guide that boasts: "If you want to be amazed, try telling the time with the world's largest monolithic sundial at Rose Point Park. We built this link between the old and the new as a Bicentennial project in 1988." A photo in the brochure shows a concrete horizontal dial, of similar dimensions to that of Carefree's and Sun City's dials. Apparently, such loud crowing by local townsfolk works: I'd heard of the dials at Carefree and Sun City (which inspired a visit three years ago) before I learned of yet another giant -- this one quite under-publicized -- horizontal dial only 10 miles from my residence. At the eastern edge of San Francisco, in Ridgetop Park, is found a fairly recent horizontal of massive proportions. Perhaps the reason for its obscurity has to do with its siting in the most economically depressed part of the city. Sadly, it has already suffered from vandalism, and I would not recommend that anyone go there without a police escort.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mark Gingrich [EMAIL PROTECTED] San Leandro, California ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
