Many years ago, in a bar in Seattle, I met two people who were in charge of time. Both of them (a man and a woman) were writers.
Actually, by the time I met them, they no longer were in charge of time, but they had been for a while.
They apparently had worked for a living for a time in some civilian capacity at a naval base in the Aleutians, and the naval base (among other things) housed the clock that kept the official time for whatever time zone it was where they were located.
When ships at sea were passing through that time zone, and needed to reset their ship clocks (or chronometers) for the correct time, they would contact the naval base by radio and request a time check.
One of the jobs of the two people I met, when they worked at the naval base, was to answer the radio calls and provide the official correct time for the time zone.
Talking that evening in the bar in Seattle, they commented that they could, theoretically, have given out a wrong time (at least a slightly wrong one, where the difference might not be noticed), and thereby they would have changed what time it was in that time zone.
It's not often you get to meet people who were once in charge of time...
Many years ago, in a bar in Seattle, I met two people who were in charge of time. Both of them (a man and a woman) were writers.
ReplyDeleteActually, by the time I met them, they no longer were in charge of time, but they had been for a while.
They apparently had worked for a living for a time in some civilian capacity at a naval base in the Aleutians, and the naval base (among other things) housed the clock that kept the official time for whatever time zone it was where they were located.
When ships at sea were passing through that time zone, and needed to reset their ship clocks (or chronometers) for the correct time, they would contact the naval base by radio and request a time check.
One of the jobs of the two people I met, when they worked at the naval base, was to answer the radio calls and provide the official correct time for the time zone.
Talking that evening in the bar in Seattle, they commented that they could, theoretically, have given out a wrong time (at least a slightly wrong one, where the difference might not be noticed), and thereby they would have changed what time it was in that time zone.
It's not often you get to meet people who were once in charge of time...
Wow - darn it, I could have used this button a few times. :)
ReplyDeleteHahaha, this is SO going in my cube at work.
ReplyDelete