Yearly Archive: 2008

Happy New Year, and mind the leap second 4

Happy New Year, and mind the leap second

Leapsecond_history_cWiki

That graph represents the teensy weensy difference over recent years between “real” solar system time and the time we oh-so-carefully keep with atomic clocks. As of this morning, real time—i.e. the mean sun dead south or north at noon (at the exact mid longitude of a time zone)—was 6/10ths of a second behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC or Zulu). You see, relative to the atomic clocks, the earth…

JDC Seawatch, gift for a fair-haired fool? 1

JDC Seawatch, gift for a fair-haired fool?

Seawatch_UV_crop_cPanbo

Maybe, like me, you’ve been even lamer than usual about Christmas shopping? And maybe someone on your list is a fair-haired fool who’s lame about proper skin protection, also like me? Well, consider the Seawatch, the first ever with a built-in UV sensor…