Exploring ideas for better Temporal Software
Last summer I was fortunate to spend some time in Athens. While I was there I made a visit to the Hellenic National Archeological Museum . This is a large purpose built space on three levels that holds a wonderful collection of Greek treasures. You can take a virtual tour here
Today marks the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich (RGO). My own history with the RGO goes back a mere 25 years or so. I used to live in nearby Deptford and regularly visited Greenwich Park. The RGO , Royal Naval College , Queens House and National
TC39 has had a Temporal API proposal in the works since 2017. It's currently at stage 3 (of 4). So this begs an obvious question... If Brendan Eich can invent all of JavaScript in 10 days , why has it taken eight years to replace the Date API? Lets
The first XKCD cartoon I remember seeing was " sudo make me a sandwich ". This was a joke for a very niche audience. It only lands if you are familiar with Linux. But a niche audience, at the scale of the internet, is a lot of people. If you
The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the UK's national metrology centre. Metrology is the science of measurement. So NPL manages the UK's fleet of atomic clocks and frequency standards. I say manage, but NPL is at it's heart, a research facility. So their scientists
The Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO) has a rich and wonderful history. It currently operates as a museum. Educating the public about the history of astronomy, time and frequency. Although the RGO may still be the home of Greenwich Mean Time , its no longer the official home of UK timekeeping. That
Some things sneak up on you. For example, it seems I've had a blog for over 20 years. Since January 2000 to be precise. I've hosted it at crashposition.com and then here at computus.org . crashposition.com in 2000 Behind the scenes those posts have
Regnal dating is a largely historical system used for the dating of documents. It records a date as a numbered year running from the anniversary of a monarch’s accession. Many cultures around the world have used this system. Chinese history is often referred to by eras defined by
Electromagnetic Field is a magical place that only appears every couple of years. When it does, it's filled with interesting people and all the wonderful things they've been working on. You'll find blacksmiths and autonomous robots , crochet and flame throwers, and just lots and
Daylight Saving Time is the name given to the process of setting clocks forward by an hour during spring and summer, then setting them back again during Autumn and Winter. The benefits of this biannual ritual are largely to do with making the most of natural daylight. The history and
This year is a bit longer than usual as we have an extra day in February. But it’s probably not the day you think it is. Almost all calendar systems are an attempt to model the motion of the sun and/or the moon. Unfortunately the duration of
"If you work on anything for long enough, then every year becomes the anniversary of something." - attributed to Peter Hook A month or so ago I was putting together my desktop calendars for 2020, when I realised I've now been doing this particular activity for almost
I've kept a box in my office for the last few years. On it is marked, "In Emergency, Open Box and Start Company" . I keep it there because I've been working for a startup and cashflow has been bumpy. Also I was (until recently)
A few weeks ago I gave a talk about Leap Seconds at Electromagnetic Field (EMF) - an extraordinary camping festival for hackers and makers, held in the UK every two years. I'll be speaking a bit more about my time at EMF in an upcoming Worthing Digital talk: What
The remarkably named Sir Cloudesley Shovell was by the time of his death in 1707, Admiral of the British Fleet. His ship HMS Association , went down off the Scilly Isles on the 22nd October (Julian calendar) and all hands where lost. Three more ships struck the rocks that night and