Re: [LEAPSECS] building consensus

From: John Cowan <cowan_at_CCIL.ORG>
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 16:38:08 -0400

Rob Seaman scripsit:

> I wouldn't call this an oddity, but rather an interesting and
> elegant, one might even say charming, local custom. The logic of
> this accommodation between 6:-00 pm clock time and a mean sunset
> demonstrates another weakness in the ALHP, since clock time would
> drift secularly against mean solar time.

Only if Israel never changes its time zone.

I found another spectacular illustration of how massive the difference
between solar and legal time can be. Before 1845, the time in Manila,
the Philippines, was the same as Acapulco, Mexico, a discrepancy of
9h16m from Manila solar time. This was a consequence of the Philippines
having been colonized and administered from Spanish America. Nowadays the
standard time of Acapulco is UTC-6; of Manila, UTC+8.

Q: "What happened in the Philippines on December 31, 1844?"
A: "Nothing. It never existed."

--
John Cowan  cowan_at_ccil.org  http://ccil.org/~cowan
If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing
on my shoulders.
        --Hal Abelson
Received on Mon Jun 05 2006 - 13:38:30 PDT

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