Dear John: Don't get me wrong. I agree with you that paper sundials serve several functions, one of which is satisfaction for the designer. They are also useful as models for teaching, display and testing. But at the Conference, I couldn't help looking at some of the ingenious small paper, wooden, and plastic sundials and imagining them being built on a larger scale out of stone or metal.
John Carmichael >On Wed, 13 Oct 1999, John Carmichael wrote: > >> I saw a lot of dialing hobbiests with paper, plastic or wooden sundials. >> Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I really think that sundials should be built to >> last. I think it is a pity that more of the wonderful designs that we saw >> aren't being built out of more durable materials such as metal and stone. > >Sorry to disappoint you but I'm going to continue with paper sundials. I >certainly agree that they aren't suitable for all purposes but they >succeed admirably at their primary purpose, that is, to satisfy the designer. > >To further that end I have now gotten them set up interactively on the >web. You may customize the mottos, latitude and longitude and then >download the customized postscript file. (Eventually I'll get them in PDF) > >If interested go to http://axum.tripod.com/ > >jh > >