[LEAPSECS] drift of TAI

[John Cowan]

Rob Seaman scripsit:


> This sounds like either an urban legend or some isolated...how do you  

> say "nut job" in Swedish?  


Well, it's neither.

The nut-job in question was King Charles XII (1682-1718), and he
scribbled down his idea for using base-8 numeration in a meeting with
Emanuel Swedenborg in 1716.  At the time, Swedenborg was just beginning
his successful career as a mining engineer -- it was not until 1744 that
he became a theologian -- and was trying (unsuccessfully) to persuade
the King to build an astronomical observatory (one of Swedenborg's other
interests) in the north.  Swedenborg reported that the King thought
base 8 more suitable for war purposes (he was a most martial monarch)
because the packing boxes used in the Swedish Army for materiel were cubical.

-- 
All Gaul is divided into three parts: the part          John Cowan
that cooks with lard and goose fat, the part            http://ccil.org/~cowan
that cooks with olive oil, and the part that            cowan at ccil.org
cooks with butter. --David Chessler