13 Nov 2005
Timekeeping proposal sparks row

What's all this, then? Not content with the arbitrary rescheduling that is Daylight Savings Time, some of the commercial guardians of the clock seems Hel-bent to decouple it completely from any natural phenomena. If this is their real goal, why not just redesign clocks to be totally arbitrary - and go to a ten hour day with 100 minutes per hour of 100 seconds each.

Such systems have been proposed - see the Decimal Time Homepage.

Of course, such systems still need leap seconds to stay in coordination with the Earth: otherwise astronomers, farmers and others who depend on Nature for their work or observations will get totally screwed up. But who needs those guys anyhow? All they do is discover the nature of the Universe and feed the planet! Where's the money in that?

A proposal to abolish leap seconds - occasional adjustments made to clock time, angers UK scientists.

(link) [BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition]

Update: Here's a link to an opinion piece in the New York Times on the same topic.

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

Irish Report on Sexual Abuse by Priests Stokes Outrage

This proves that "Saint" Patrick did not, in fact, drive the snakes out of Ireland. He put collars on them ...

The report has led some members of Parliament to call for a severing of the formal ties between the Irish government and the Roman Catholic Church.

(link) [NYT > Home Page]

00:00 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

What Time Is It in Indiana?

A little national coverage for our time-keeping conundrum... it never ceases to amaze me that our business leaders, such as the president of the state chamber of commerce, claim that the old system of not changing our time was "confusing", and the new system of more or less constant time changes based on individual counties is "crystal clear". These guys need to talk to some real Hoosiers, and stop listening to their Wall Street buddies.

But of course, My Man Mitch didn't have any problems telling his New York bankers what time it was in Indiana when he sold out IPALCO and trashed their retirement fund. And he knew the time in Mexico when he ordered his campaign tee shirts and bumper stickers from a company there, while attacking his opposition for sending jobs out of the state...

A decision by Indiana officials to recognize daylight saving time statewide has set off a county-by-county battle over switching to Central time from Eastern time.

(link) [NYT > Home Page]

00:00 /Politics | 1 comment | permanent link