[LEAPSECS] princes

[Tony Finch]

On Tue, 28 Oct 2008, Steve Allen wrote:


> On slashdot last month the discussion about the USNO poll on leap

> seconds in broadcast time signals degenerated into one largely about

> daylight time.  On contributor pointed out something notable: Civil

> Time has always been the purview of princes.


Before the invention of reliable clocks, time was a matter for the sun -
though princes still fiddled around with the calendar. As well as the
egregious example of the pre-Julian Roman calendar, I'm amused and
disgusted by the anti-Jewish fiddles in the rules for determining Easter
to minimise when it coincides with Passover.


> That poster did not mention Machiavelli, but I think that's very much

> the point.


Perhaps because he predates clocks :-) Also in his time Christendom had
had a stable calendar for over 1000 years, which is pretty good.

Tony.
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