In a message dated 5/12/99 8:59:51 PM, you wrote:
<<I think I understand what Fer means about using sundials as the original users did in their time. I agree with Fer in feeling that a sundial should be what it is - an indicator of sun time, the time of here and now. Local Apparent Time is pure time. All other forms and methods, i.e., mean time, standard time, time zones, the EOT etc., are man made "perversions" of true sun time.>> Well, If you want to be really pure about it, any time keeping device is a "perversion" of our natural time keeping abilities as is the concept of an hour of time. Clearly we should confine ourselves to gazing at the sky and roughly estimating time. Let's be honest here. Sundials were developed as a practical way to telling what time of the day it was. Even in their heyday there coexisted dials of varying precision and function. Likewise, today we can make simple noon markers or beautifully precise heliochronomiters. To declare one style of sundial to be "wrong" is ridiculous. I'm fascinated by LMT sundials because they are an innovative blend of ancient and modern. They combine nature at its most basic with science at its most use full creating a graphic example of how our modern life relates to something so basic as the transit of the sun. A highly accurate LMT sundial may not be as practical as a digital watch but neither is a LAT sundial!!! As a child I was never impressed by sundials because they were always "wrong." I didn't know about the EOT and the distance from the mean longitude then. All I knew was that sundials never matched my watch. So, an LMT sundial is also good a way to impress those who are not familiar with sundials. A sundial that can tell time as the average person understands it is novel and fascinating. I think they are inherently more interesting and I would love to see a sundial that could be made accurate within seconds. After all, a sundial is designed to tell time. If it is not accurate, why bother? -Gerard Hughes
