Time, Standards, and Dog-Shit... what could it mean?? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: GlennSprigg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 29, 2020, 01:30:27 pm
content: I'll get to the'strange' titlein a minute... haha...I, like most other humans, have THOUGHT we understood about 'GMT'.It seems we dont!!!... "GMT" stands for 'Greenwich Mean Time', but this has little to dowith how things are dealt withtoday. It all started when refs were made to a particularAstronomical Telescope, 0 degrees of longitude on the line marking the prime meridian at the RoyalGreenwich Observatory in London, England. Here's a photo of the line in London!!!...Since then 'scientists' have decided/agreed that although this 'line' does indeed mark the positionof theRoyal Greenwich Observatory, it is no longer relevant to the science/knowledge of Today!!Navigation systems such as GPS now use the IERS Reference Meridian (IRM), which is a DOUBLEacronym for the letter 'I' meaning the "International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems", withthe 'RM' (Reference Meridian) which runs about 334 feet (102 meters) east of that observatory!!.This new spot, is about1 secondout, for out known/past 'calculations'...One big difference though, is that what we used to call 'GMT', is no longer a 'Standard' for 'Time',but just a time zone as opposed to the now UTC. People however, think it is strange that thereisNOspecific marked POINT/PLACE which is presently 102 Metres away?? Until......Certain scientific Nerds & stirrers, noticed that, (using Google Maps & other sophisticated calculations,that aDog Litter Bin in Greenwich Park, 102 Metres East of the Observatory, is pretty much exactlywhere the new/now globally used meridian should-be/is the 'marker' for the new standard!!!!Un-'official' or not, I like that!! Many things get 'named' for the most obscure reasons...FOR EXAMPLE!!! Do you remember the 'old' name for a Computer/Printer/Scanner interface, called'TWAIN'.At the time of it's discovery and on a Test-Bench, they originally called it...A "Tool Without Any Important Name"... and it stuck! I love that!

author: greenpossum
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 29, 2020, 01:34:05 pm
content: It's a meridian so there there is an infinity of points on that meridian. However for a particular latitude there is that DLB.

author: GlennSprigg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 29, 2020, 01:41:44 pm
content: Oops, i forgot to post this link... (one of many!)...https://www.timeanddate.com/geography/prime-meridian-wrong.html

author: greenpossum
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 29, 2020, 01:53:30 pm
content: Apropos of something related. Something big happened last May 20. From that day the kilogram is no longer defined in terms of a physical object, the big K in Paris. It is now defined by the fixed value of the Planck constant. Here's one of many simplified explanations:https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/11/14/18072368/kilogram-kibble-redefine-weight-scienceAnd a commentary from me: If only we could all co-operate like scientists and engineers do.

author: GlennSprigg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 29, 2020, 02:07:06 pm
content: You are right. 'Standards' are no longer based on physical objects, but is beyond the scopeof the 'discussion' here in this post. My post was not to discuss the rate of vibration of aCesium atom to reset an atomic clock etc... but just a play on events & locations.Start a new topic, and we will take it to the stars!!!

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 29, 2020, 06:43:48 pm
content: Quote from: GlennSprigg on February 29, 2020, 01:30:27 pmKind of appropriate, that tacky LED thing isn't a patch on the old plain grooved metal bar that I remember as a kid.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 29, 2020, 11:11:45 pm
content: Quote from: GlennSprigg on February 29, 2020, 01:30:27 pmTWAIN was never an acronym for anything. Back in 1991, companies such as Epson and HP (among several others) formed the TWAIN Working Group. Officially, TWAIN was derived from Rudyard Kipling's "The Ballad of East and West". The first TWAIN standard was released in 1992 and afterwards, a competition was launched where entrants could submit their acronyms for TWAIN. "Technology Without An Interesting Name" was one entry into the competition and is perhaps the most widely remembered, but it was never adopted nor was it the developers who came up with it.There are several variants to this de-facto acronym including "Tool Without An Informative Name".

author: sleemanj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 29, 2020, 11:15:33 pm
content: Related