Which goes to show...
A. How arbitrary ( the 0 Meridian would have been just as functional drawn
anywhere on the planet)
and
B. How political (conventions for 0 Meridian HAD been established,
previously, at different points on the planet)
...the standards development process can be!
----------------------------------------------
Harry Lewis
IBM Printing Systems
----------------------------------------------
"Carl" <carl at manros.com>
Sent by: owner-ipp at pwg.org
08/14/2002 03:38 PM
To: <ipp at pwg.org>
cc:
Subject: IPP> Greenwich 101
Hi all,
I am back from my trip to Europe and I am still trying to make head and
tail
of the IPP discussion that happened while I was away.
However, in this message I wanted to draw your attention to the very
stable
standard that was created in Greenwich some 270 years ago.
Greenwich is a small old style town southeast of central London. The
locals
don't pronounce the 'w' in the name.
On a hill in a big green park is the Royal Observatory located. It was
built
in the early part of the 18th century and was used to study astronomy. The
Queen's Astronomer at the time decided that his observatory should mark
the
0 (also called Prime) Meridian on the globe and marked the exact location
with a painted line. Huge clocklike instruments were used to determine the
exact latitude in relation to the sun and the other planets. It is claimed
that if you have one leg on each side of the 0 meridian you are in both
east
and west at the same time.
Along with the 0 meridian also comes the location for our time system,
hence
Greenwich time (US military ZULU time).
I enclose a picture of the 0 meridian line.
Carl-Uno
Carl-Uno Manros
10701 S Eastern Ave #1117
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Tel +1-702-617-9414
Fax +1-702-617-9417
Mob +1-702-525-0727
Email carl at manros.com
Carl-Uno Manros
10701 S Eastern Ave #1117
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Tel +1-702-617-9414
Fax +1-702-617-9417
Mob +1-702-525-0727
Email carl at manros.com
#### greenwich.jpg has been removed from this note on August 14 2002 by
Harry Lewis
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