[time-nuts] International time meridian

[Brooke Clarke]

Hi Rob:

One of the things I like to do is look for correlation between movies I 
like.  For example Bill Hickman was the stunt driver for both The French 
Connection and Bullitt (Dodge Charger 440 Magnum).
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0382707/

Have Fun,

Brooke Clarke

w/Java http://www.PRC68.com
w/o Java http://www.pacificsites.com/~brooke/PRC68COM.shtml
http://www.precisionclock.com



Rob Kimberley wrote:

>Bill,
>
>The  Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) http://www.bipm.org
>are the International coordinators of time, as well as other the standards
>of length, mass, so you were right with your French Connection (good film by
>the way!!). The Greenwich Meridian (0 degrees longitude) runs through the
>middle of the Greenwich Observatory in London. Great place to visit if you
>ever get over to the UK.
>
>Check out the link given for more info, and www.npl.co.uk/time has useful
>links also.
>
>Best
>
>Rob Kimberley
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On
>Behalf Of Bill Hawkins
>Sent: 14 January 2007 19:04
>To: 'Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement'
>Subject: [time-nuts] International time meridian
>
>A non-hardware/software query:
>
>Some time ago, I got it into my head that GMT was obsolete and that the time
>meridian went through Paris, not Greenwich.
>I answered a query in the Glowbugs list that way, and then used Google to
>check up on that. Unlike others in lists, I feel bad about propagating
>misinformation. But not bad enough to look it up first.
>
>Wikipedia is not helpful about the status of GMT. As I understood it, the
>prime meridian was defined in 1884, and GMT with it. Then atomic time
>replaced the telescope that determined GMT in 1972.
>The agreement was reached in Paris, no? Paris has the physical standards of
>meter and kilogram, so why not atomic time.
>
>Wikipedia says the prime meridian is still also the time meridian.
>Paris is about 9 minutes ahead of London, and nobody made a nine minute step
>change in social time. The wiki also says that GMT is still in use.
>
>1/1/1977 was set as the base for average atomic time, according to the wiki,
>after relativistic effects were compensated. So TAI marches monotonically
>forward, while UTC subtracts leap seconds to maintain social time. Yes,
>there are people who want to stop this irritating leap second business until
>well after they are dead, but they have no "exit strategy" to deal with a
>much bigger jump in social time at a later date.
>
>In any event, social time is only occasionally (about annually) adjusted by
>stellar observations, so technically the basis for GMT no longer exists.
>Right?
>
>Did see a 1999 article that said Paris was going to plant a boulevard of
>trees along the Paris meridian that could be seen from outer space. Dunno if
>they did it.
>
>Also, satellites operate from a prime meridian that is offset by 102.5
>meters to the east, because Earth based telescopes are aligned to the center
>of gravity with a plumb bob. Satellites need to be aligned with the physical
>center of the Earth, for some reason.
>
>See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Meridian
>
>and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Atomic_Time
>
>Regards,
>Bill Hawkins
>
>
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