response 62 of 96:

Jan 4 15:23 UTC 2006

Four days on and we are finished, or rather, I nearly was.

response 64 of 96:

Jan 5 00:05 UTC 2006

...or something

response 66 of 96:

Jan 5 23:58 UTC 2006

 That's probably a bit harsh.  I'll bet there are many who have been
 happy to see George again after an unexpected absence.

response 68 of 96:

Jan 7 06:55 UTC 2006

You're right! And, I knew that...but had gone blank in connecting the
*slow lowering* of the Times Square  ball, and the *dropping* of the
time balls used for chronometer synchronization. My search of the web,
however, did not find how fast they were "dropped:. They say they were
dropped, but since they were big (a yard of more in diameter, 50 lbs or so
in weight), I find it hard to imagine that they were simply dropped. More
likely, they were lowered, but rapidly. After all, a "minute is a mile
the world around" (that's *nautical* mile), so every second is ca. 31 meters,
so the ball would have to drop in much less than a minute to have a longitude
precision (at the equator) of one nautical mile. 

response 70 of 96:

Jan 8 00:04 UTC 2006

Well, it's 8 furlongs, obviously, and a furlong is 40 rods.  What could be
simpler?

What I find more mysterious is where "acre" came from, though I guess
it's 10 square chains, and a chain is 4 rods, so that makes sense enough.

response 72 of 96:

Jan 8 06:31 UTC 2006

Then there is the *rood*, 0.25 acre or 40 square rods....

It gets more complicated (or more interesting?).

"The U.S. survey mile is equal to 5,280 U.S. survey feet, 6,336/3,937 km 
or approximately 1,609.347 m. One international mile is equal to 0.999 998 
survey miles. The survey mile is used by the United States Public Land 
Survey System."

"The international mile is the distance typically meant when the word mile 
is used without qualification. It is defined to be precisely 1,760 
international yards (by definition, 0.9144 m each) and is therefore 
exactly 1,609.344 m (1.609344 km). It is used in the United States and the 
United Kingdom as part of the Imperial system of units. The international 
mile is equivalent to 8 furlongs, 80 chains or 5,280 international feet."

"The statute mile is a mile of 5,280 feet, without specifying which foot 
is used. The term is therefore ambiguous."

(That's what http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile says, but it still leaves a 
question as to which mile your odometer measures, and which is used for 
rods and chains.)

At least

"The international nautical mile is defined to be 1,852 m. It is used 
universally for aviation, naval and maritime purposes and originated from 
the geographical mile."

while

"The geographical mile is a unit of length determined by 1 minute of arc 
along the Earth's equator, approximately equal to 1855 metres (6087.15 
international feet)."

Which all makes it even more amazing that we landed the Rovers on Mars.

response 74 of 96:

Jan 8 18:12 UTC 2006

South Ireland uses Euro's - are they also metric?

response 76 of 96:

Jan 8 22:17 UTC 2006

Well, only because your legs would be cramped from being in the car for two
months solid. :)

response 78 of 96:

Jan 9 01:40 UTC 2006

I thought a "mile" was the distance a Roman legion could march in an
hour.  I thought the kilometer was defined in some function of the
diameter of the Earth, but I didn't know the mile was defined that way. 

response 80 of 96:

Jan 9 04:47 UTC 2006

j'men fous des tabarnak de francais, hostie.  sont juste la pour crisser la
marde sur les quebecois.

response 82 of 96:

Jan 9 15:53 UTC 2006

Re 74 - What is "South" Ireland?  You mean like Cork?

response 84 of 96:

Jan 9 17:32 UTC 2006

Though Cork is rather nice.