Welcome, Jenn, to the MoH forum! A new face is always welcome. A caution, don’t post any more personal info than you have already in your Public Profile page. Our members are pretty cool, but this is a totally public website. Now, on topic, I was wandering through our local “Discovery Garden”, today, which is a really beautiful place, and came across a large sundial. Specs were I estimate at 8ft high on the iron beam, an 8ft base, and 20ft diameter or so on the surrounding dial, formed from cement and marble slabs, with regular segments of hours set in stone around the face of the dial, including stars indicating nightime. I figure, well this can’t be always accurate. Then I saw the large display plaque posted to one side. It has this really long explanation about how sun time (Earth rotation time, actually), does not equal your watch-time, which is set at exactly 24 hours per day. In fact, it explained how on only 4 days of eash year, precisely at noon, would our wristwatches and clocks actually equal sun time. It gave a really elaborate chart, along with a four-stage mathematical formula to make the shadow on the sundial equal the time on your watch. Unfortunately, when I was there, it was totally clouded-over, and there was no shadow on the sundial. So much for Archemides, or whoever. Also, my wristwatch consistently gains one minute per month, for the past nine years, and thru 3 battery changes. I reset it about every 6 months, but right now is running 4 mins fast, so screw the sundial thing. Oh, and to be actually ‘on topic’, I’m in 4, and Pennsylvania, specifically, as if you didn’t already know. Luv you guys.
Sorry!
