Add Issue 103 on time standards

Author: dltj

assets/images/2025/2025-01-15-pickle.jpg

@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ An imaginary conversation in 68 tweets, including bits like:
 - "yep! Our 9th month is named after the number 7, and so on for 10, 11, and 12."
 - "yeah so cultures before then had a 12 month system, because of the moon. But they had been using a 10 month system, before switching to 12 and giving them the modern names"
 
+{{ note(note_text='That quote above is a web archive of the first tweet in a thread, and I had originally intended the reader to follow that tweet onto twitter-dot-com to read the rest. Well, "Twitter" is now "Ex-Twitter", and anything beyond the first tweet isn&apos;t readable anymore unless you have a paid account on X. Fortunately, I used Thread-Reader-App and the Wayback Machine to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220920180435/https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1572260363764400129.html">save a copy</a> of that writing.')}}
 
 ## Mittens in the Groceries {: #mittens}
 {{ image(width="700", localsrc="2023/2023-02-02-mittens.jpg", alt="Two pictures of a black cat with a white bib. In the top picture, the cat has her head through the handles of a canvas bag full of groceries. In the bottom picture, she is rubbing her face against the edges of a plastic container of strawberries.") }} 

content/2023-02-02-issue-98-time-standards.md

@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+---
+title: 'Issue 103: Time Standards'
+modified: 
+category: Thursday Threads
+categories:
+- Thursday Threads
+tags:
+- time standards
+- lunar exploration
+mastodon:
+
+---
+This week, I'm going to tug on time. 
+This follows the last item in last week's issue of _Thursday Threads_:  [The Clock that Made Power Grids Possible]({filename}2025-01-09-issue-102-electricity-infrastructure#grid-clock). 
+Two years ago, I also published [an issue about time]({filename}2023-02-02-issue-98-time-standards), pointing to articles about [eliminating the leap second]({filename}2023-02-02-issue-98-time-standards#leap-second), [time standards on the moon]({filename}2023-02-02-issue-98-time-standards#moon-time), and [observational humor on how we might explain our concept of time to aliens]({filename}2023-02-02-issue-98-time-standards#aliens).
+That last one might form the thread that I tug on in the next issue because it treads on how whether our digital selves will stand the test of time.
+
+
+This week:
+
+- Paris' [City-wide Synchronized Clock]({filename}#pneumatic-clock)
+- Time is very different in [Kathmandu]({filename}#nepal-time)
+- [Moon GPS]({filename}#moon-gps) is Coming
+- What Do [A.M. and P.M.]({filename}#am-pm) Stand For?
+- This Week's Troublemaker: [Pickle]({filename}#pickle)
+
+{{ thursday_threads_header() }}
+
+## Paris' City-wide Synchronized Clock {: #pneumatic-clock}
+{{ thursday_threads_quote(href="https://primalnebula.com/the-paris-pneumatic-clock-system/",
+ blockquote='[The Paris Pneumatic Clock] system was created in 1880 by Austrian engineer Victor Popp – and just 5 years later, thousands of these clocks were placed all over the city – in hotels, train stations, houses, schools and public streets. We modeled this incredible system and the special machine at the heart of it, to show you how a series of underground pipes and mechanical clocks kept an entire city in sync.',
+ versiondate="2024-02-26",
+ versionurl="https://web.archive.org/web/20240226202916/https://primalnebula.com/the-paris-pneumatic-clock-system/",
+ anchor="The Incredible Paris Pneumatic Clock System from 1880",
+ post=", Primal Nebula, 24-Feb-2024") }}
+
+The {{ robustlink(href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gol_p2aWrJg", versionurl="https://web.archive.org/web/20240227010907/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gol_p2aWrJg", versiondate="2024-02-27", title="The Underground Clocks of Paris | Primal Space on YouTube", anchor="8-minute video companion to the above article") }} is great to watch, too. 
+This is a marvel of engineering — synchronizing the clocks of a whole city through puffs of air traveling through pipes. 
+This system—accurate to a minute—was just 35 years before the sub-second precision required to synchronize the power grid, as described at the end of last week's issue.
+
+
+## Time is very different in Kathmandu {: #nepal-time}
+{{ thursday_threads_quote(href="https://ssoready.com/blog/engineering/truths-programmers-timezones/",
+ blockquote='Most of the world is on a whole number of hours before or after UTC. About a fifth of the world by population is on a half-hour offset from UTC; in particular, India is 5h30m ahead of UTC. Nepal is 5h45m ahead of UTC',
+ versiondate="2024-11-15",
+ versionurl="https://web.archive.org/20241115181030/https://ssoready.com/blog/engineering/truths-programmers-timezones/",
+ anchor="Australia/Lord_Howe is the weirdest timezone",
+ post=", SSO Ready blog, undated") }}
+
+I first encountered this when setting up a Zoom meeting for colleagues in Kathmandu. 
+While most countries neatly set their clocks to full hour offsets (or, as noted in the quote above, a half-hour offset), Nepal ticks to its own clock with a 5-hour and 45-minute offset from UTC. 
+It's as if Nepal took a look at the standard time zones and said, "Why be ordinary when you can add a twist?"
+Imagine trying to schedule a call back home, perplexed as you reconcile not just the time difference but—and here's the kicker—those extra 15 minutes that make Nepal unique. 
+
+## Moon GPS is Coming {: #moon-gps}
+{{ thursday_threads_quote(href="https://www.wired.com/story/moon-gps-is-coming-nasa-jaxa-esa-glonass-galileo/",
+ blockquote='NASA and its partners in Europe and Japan are developing lunar satnav concepts that could be deployed by the end of the 2020s. In July, China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) unveiled its plans for a constellation of 21 communications and navigation satellites to support its lunar aspirations.',
+ versiondate="2024-09-04",
+ versionurl="https://web.archive.org/20240904133904/https://www.wired.com/story/moon-gps-is-coming-nasa-jaxa-esa-glonass-galileo/",
+ anchor="Moon GPS Is Coming: Nations and companies are ramping up their efforts to deploy the first satnav on the moon to support a flurry of planned missions there",
+ post=", Wired, 4-Sep-2024") }}
+
+The _Thursday Threads_ issue two years ago talked about the [need to keep accurate on the moon]({filename}2023-02-02-issue-98-time-standards#moon-time). 
+Following an announcement from the White House early in 2024 {{ robustlink(href="https://www.reuters.com/science/white-house-directs-nasa-create-time-standard-moon-2024-04-02/", versionurl="https://web.archive.org/web/20240402195402/https://www.reuters.com/science/white-house-directs-nasa-create-time-standard-moon-2024-04-02/", versiondate="2024-04-03", title="White House directs NASA to create time standard for the moon | Reuters", anchor="directing NASA to create a time standard for the moon") }}, U.S., European, and Chinese efforts are underway to make that happen. 
+
+## What Do A.M. and P.M. Stand For? {: #am-pm}
+{{ thursday_threads_quote(href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/587092/what-do-am-and-pm-stand-for",
+ blockquote='If you know how to tell time, you probably understand and use a.m. and p.m., and you might even know the terms come from Latin phrases. But do you know what exactly those phrases are, or what they mean in English?',
+ versiondate="2024-04-16",
+ versionurl="https://web.archive.org/20240416000827/https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/587092/what-do-am-and-pm-stand-for",
+ anchor="What Do A.M. and P.M. Stand For?",
+ post=", Mental Floss, 4-Apr-2024") }}
+ 
+File this away for use at parties... 
+
+
+## This Week's Troublemaker: Pickle {: #pickle}
+
+{{ image(width="600", localsrc="2025/2025-01-15-pickle.jpg", alt="Tuxedo cat with white paws and chest lounging on a chair with a red harness and leash, exuding a relaxed and attentive demeanor.") }} 
+
+So let's talk about the third cat in the house (after [Alan]({filename}2025-01-09-issue-102-electricity-infrastructure#alan-keyboard) in the last issue and [Mittens]({filename}2025-01-02-issue-101-data-centers#mittens-food-box) in the issue before). 
+This is Pickle, a black-and-white Tuxedo cat with a drive for food that I've never witnessed in another cat. 
+Two stories from one recent afternoon:
+First, when my wife got home from the grocery store, Pickle grabbed the bag of doughnuts from a canvas bag and made off with a big chunk of a {{ robustlink(href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_John_%28doughnut%29", versionurl="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Long_John_(doughnut)&oldid=1254692687", versiondate="2025-01-15", title="
+Long John (doughnut) | Wikipedia", anchor="long-john") }}. 
+Then, when she was fixing dinner, Pickle jumped on the counter and made off with a hunk of steak. 
+My wife chased her around the dining room table, through the living room, and up the stairs to my daughter’s room. 
+I rushed to follow, and we trapped Pickle between the headboard and the wall. 
+My wife thinks the cat woofed down a sizable chunk of meat before we could catch her. 
+
+That, ladies and gentlemen, is Pickle.
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