[LEAPSECS] International Society for the Study of Time ?

[Rob Seaman]

Hi Doug,

Timekeeping is complex and is used for diverse purposes.  I support  
the implication in the link you provide that the underlying  
engineering use cases for that part of the problem known as "civil  
timekeeping" are driven by a web of concerns cutting across many  
levels of human endeavors.  Mean solar time - currently realized by  
UTC - maps best onto many of these.

The past decade on this list has been an exploration of the meaning of  
the word "best" in the previous sentence.  Most of us here seem to be  
scientists and engineers.  One can certainly identify requirements for  
non-segmented timescales.  I interpret this - as others have done so  
for several decades - as the need for more than one timescale.  And  
indeed in the scientific world are requirements for many more than two  
timescales.

I'm not exactly sure I know what to make of "The International Society  
for the Study of Time".  That said, the existence of something with  
that name itself implies that time is not a one-size-fits-all  
phenomenon.

Rob
--
On Mar 26, 2010, at 7:36 AM, Doug Mink wrote:


> While wasting time by following links this morning, I came across

> something called "The International Society for the Study of Time".

> Its web site and Wikipedia entries seem strangely shallow, though

> its journal, Kronoscope, published by Brill

>

> http://brill.publisher.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/kro

>

> has some pretty interesting articles relating to time and culture(s),

> judging from the abstracts of some of the older articles which are

> available online.  Does anyone know anything about this organization?

> While we share a very specific concern about timekeeping, it seems,

> from recent discussions, that we share deeper interests in the nature

> of time of the sort which this organization seems to be a center.

> -Doug Mink