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125 Years of Longitude 0 0' 00" At Greenwich

An anonymous reader writes "This week marks the 125th anniversary of the International Meridian Conference, which determined that the prime meridian (i.e., longitude 0 0' 00") would travel through Greenwich, UK. One of the reasons that Greenwich was agreed upon 'was that 72% of the world's shipping already depended on sea charts that used Greenwich as the Prime Meridian.' Sandford Fleming's proposal of a single 24-hour clock for the entire world, located at the center of the Earth and not linked to any surface meridian, was rejected / not voted on, as it was felt to be outside the purview of the conference."

2 of 429 comments (clear)

  1. Re:125 MORE years until the US gets time... by Thanshin · · Score: 5, Funny

    I always have to stop and think for a second when trying to remember how long "five feet" is,

    What's to remember? Five feet is the reach of your longsword.

    And I don't care where you live, you should always carry a longsword.

    And 30 feet of rope.

  2. Re:Happy birthday to 180th meridian too ! by Pieroxy · · Score: 5, Funny

    I recently flew from LA to Fiji. On the way forward, you land two days after departure, on the way back, you land at the same time you departed...

    It's pretty disturbing.