For centuries, an astronomy observatory in Greenwich, London — the namesake of Greenwich Mean Time — has been the reference point for lines of longitude, ships’ navigation on the world’s seas and the time zones used today.
But Saudi Arabia wants to change that. It’s building what it calls the largest clock in the world, atop the second-largest skyscraper in the world, in the Islamic holy city of Mecca — in hopes of replacing GMT with “Mecca Time.”
The clock dwarfs London’s Big Ben, with four huge faces each about 130 feet in diameter and inscribed with the Arabic words “God is greatest.” Only one of the clock’s faces has been completed so far, covered with 98 million pieces of glass mosaics. Details were first released by the Saudi official news agency and picked up by several foreign media.
It’s still under construction atop a nearly 2,000-foot-tall building overlooking Mecca’s Grand Mosque, the point where Muslims around the world turn toward during their five daily prayers. Millions of faithful visit the site as part of the Muslim hajj voyage and other pilgrimages each year.
Replacing GMT, ha-ha.
But this does sound like a cool clock, I’d like to see it. Except that it’s in Mecca, in the middle of Saudi Arabia, which is in the middle of freaking nowhere.
Oh, good. Something new for the pundits to complain about. I’ll be watching for the e-mail forwarded to me from mother KiloWatt and aunt MegaWatt (trust me, she’s huge!), complaining about how this is going to destroy western culture as we know it (and Christians need to contact their congressman to get a resolution passed ASAP).
It’s nice to hear from the family though.
It’s a Liberal conspiracy!
- What, has nobody said this yet?
Can we have Looney Toon time as well?
Shouldn’t this be placed at ground zero instead?
I wonder if they hand out chin straps for their burkas. No one wants to see a jew fro eye brow.
#5 No, they’ll put a tinier clock there synch’d with the one at mecca. It has already been arranged with Obama
“Except that it’s in Mecca, in the middle of Saudi Arabia, which is in the middle of freaking nowhere.”
Not only that, but Its also off-limits to non-Muslims by Saudi law.
“God is greater”????
Greater than what? Money?
Excuse me. Actually, “God is greatest”….
Mecca Time – It is so thoughtful of the Islamists to help all our children and grandchildren remember when to pray to Allah.
“It’s still under construction atop a nearly 2,000-foot-tall building”.
I wonder if they built their structure to withstand the impact and fire from a fully-fueled 767? Oh wait, that’s right, George Bush imploded those buildings, so the Saudis have nothing to worry about.
I’m surprised it took seven comments before anyone found a way to bash Obama from this post. Naturally it was Pedro.
It won’t happen. Well, the clock might get built, but it won’t replace Greenwich Mean Time. Oh, wait, Greenwich Mean Time has already been replaced by “Coordinated Universal Time” inexplicably abbreviated “UTC”.
Oh, and fat chance of having the time standard in a place where Jewish or female scientists aren’t permitted!
And, you can’t run the aviation industry and thus, fly your planes into buildings, if you don’t have a proper world wide time standard.
I thought we used “arabic” numerals (as opposed to roman numerals). But, the only numbers I recognize on that clock are 1, 9, and 10 (and 11).
Too bad they set the date on their clock to the year 1235, which seems to be the year their heads are stuck in.
This was brought up a couple of years ago when some big Islamic blowhard in the KSA demanded that the Prime Meridian be moved east to run through the the Kaaba, since they consider it the center of the universe.
The Islamist should have brought this issue up about 150 years ago. The PM and IDL was officially recognized in 1884 at the International Meridian Conference in Washington DC. Too late now!
The beauty of the current PM is that it runs the IDL down the only longitude on the planet that impacts the least number of nations. Frankly, there is no other longitude like that.
And if the Islamist have a problem with it, then they should complain to God who put the earth’s landmasses where they are at the time Man needed to establish a PM for navigation purposes.
“For centuries, an astronomy observatory in Greenwich… has been the reference point for lines of longitude, ships’ navigation on the world’s seas and the time zones used today.”
Partly correct. It didn’t become a time zone standard until about 150 years ago.
# 14 spsffan said,”Greenwich Mean Time has already been replaced by “Coordinated Universal Time” inexplicably abbreviated “UTC”.”
Actually UTC is still based on the prime meridian which is Greenwich. And the “inexpicable” isn’t really. Universal time is a measurement dependent on astronomical observations. As such there are several UTs and they are enumerated UT0, UT1, etc. until they are, well, coordinated and you get UTC. Quite logical, actually.
#13 At your service.
Not to lose track of the revealed issue here: the Muslim want to take over “everything”/every aspect of everyone’s life including things as tangential and settled as GMT.
Takes a certain kind of Hubris not to take a maniac at his word. Even more difficult when the maniac is a large group with the inherent variation ((about a mean)) that a religion represents.
I think we are 2-3 generations away from seeing Islamic revolution in a Western State. France? Spain?
It would be so much easier to infect their society with the virus of Freedom now before their exposure is overcome by manifest destiny. Like the Borg, they just need some “individuality” injected. I suggest requiring them to set their women free when they place foot in non-Muslim ground.
Yes, active discrimination regarding Religion. They aren’t all the same.
#19 bobbo, I agree with what you said here. Islam is a poison to all that is decent. It’s a poison to freedom, civil rights, science, democracy, and science. Islamic women are treated like chattel by their families and husbands, they are sold, and even killed.
Islam wants to control every aspect of life, even religious life. Islam is not just a religion, but it is a form of government, a way to control your diet, a political system, and an education system.