It's about time ...

[GordMay]

GMT vs UTC and More ...

Grenwich Mean Time (GMT) is a historic term, which is now obsolete. It is now called Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Universal time is the local time on the zero meridian which goes through the old observatory in Greenwich, London, UK.

If you are interested in knowing time more precisely than 1 second, then you have to make a difference between the following versions of universal time:

* UT0 is the precise sidereal local time on the zero meridian.
* UT1 is UT0 corrected by a number of periodic effects (UT0 has different "speeds" at different times of the year).
* UTC is a time defined not by the movement of the earth, but by a collection of atomic clocks all over the world. When UTC and UT1 drift apart for more than 0.9 s, a leap-second is inserted into UTC to correct this. The C in UTC stands for "Coordinated".
* UT2 is an even better corrected version of UT0 which is used in astronomy.

GMT is a term that was used before time was defined internationally by an atomic time reference in the late 1950s. People who talk today about GMT really mean UTC.

From “The NTP Timescale and Leap Seconds”
http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/leap.html

interesting reading

[Alan Wheeler]

Whatever, it just means I am late for work again. :-)

Since GPS has handled the navigation issue, all I care about is beer thirty, and don't call me late for dinner Seriously though, very interesting.

[Talbot]

No UTC is a term forced on us by the french who never liked the fact that GMT was the world standard!


It will always be GMT for me.

[BC Mike]

As long as it is beer o'clock somewhere I don't care. They can call it whatever they want, the time is still at Grenwich, and that is the time zone I was born in.
Michael

Rick, it is already happening. I swear I am working 48 hour days...

[Sonosailor]

"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."

The late Douglas Adams, author of "Hichhikers' Guide to the Universe".

[sneuman]

Metric money? That's what the U.S. has used for 225 years! Maybe that explains why real wages have gone up only 5% since the 1980s, while the cost of living has increased by more than a third.

All aside, it will always be GMT to me. Somehow it sounds more nautical, while UTC sounds like Star Trek. (nothing against Star Trek, mind you ...)

[GordMay]

If UTC sounds odd to you, Coordinated Universal Time is also referred to as Zulu (Z).

[Alan Wheeler]

I have a theory. I reckon our Earths orbit is decaying and we are getting closer to the Sun. Here's the proof.
Years are going faster, much faster. Who can remember when we were all Kids. It took ages for a year to go past. Santa bringing presents took seemingly a life time. Now, we hardly have finished paying for the damn present and it's xmas time again. Time is going much faster.
It's getting hotter. Folks, Global warming due to polution has nothing to do with it. We are simply getting closer to the Sun. Huh! huh!, what do ya'all reckon. Good theory??? ;-) :-)

[sneuman]

Alan, interesting theory. Here's mine. When you're 4, a year is 25% of your total experience, when you are 40, it is .025% ... so naturally the years seem to go by faster.

For the record, in the news biz, everyone goes by GMT.

[GordMay]

Do any of these interesting theories explain the recent decline in the quality of mirrors, and photographic equipment?
The image reflected on mirrors, be they old or new, seems to have recently become distorted. When I was younger, they seemed to reflect a clear and faithful replica, but now I note a disturbing distortion. The same vexatious phenomena seems to have affected cameras.

[Sonosailor]

All lies.
All those lines are telling wicked lies.
Lies all lies.
Too many lines there in that face;
Too many to erase or disguise;
They must be telling lies.

Stan Rogers - his song "Lies"

[rsn48]

Another Douglas Adams quote that might explain the reaction of some to the time name change:

I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
1. Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that's invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.
Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001), The Salmon of Doubt, p. 95

[Alan Wheeler]

Yes Gord. I forgot about that phenomenem. It's the gravitational distortion that causes the effects of Mirrors and lenses. As we get closer, the influence of gravity of the Sun is distorting these things. I am still trying to ascertain just why it is affecting lenses and mirrors first though. Although my theory summises it is actual light that is being distorted, NOT the mirror or lens. That is probably why others seem to see us in a similar way.
While we are on this subject, the other major influence the extra gravitational pull has is on our Physical ability. We don't seem to move around as freely anymore. I believe it was because we were all born and physicaly developed in a world that had much less Gravity. So we struggle today with doing the physical things we used to find easy. Young folks don't notice the problem as they are developing to the current Gravitationl pull. But as the pull gets stronger, so too will they struggle.
Now just why our memory is affected is another reason completely. I believe there is some other cosmic influence that is disrupting our brainwaves as we are getting closer to the Sun. Wether that be some strong influence of radiation or some yet to be discovered force I am not sure. :-)