From: Edward L. Pothier (POTHIER@neu.edu)
Date: Fri Feb 06 1998 - 14:40:48 EST
Scott Schreiber <scottws@stratos.net> wrote:
>Ward Powers <bwpowers@eagles.bbs.net.au> wrote:
>>Apart from the fact that it is totally unambiguous, there is a real logic
>>to this convention, if you think about it: the date increments from right
>>to left like the odometer on your car,
>
>What's an odd-o-meter? (phonetically challenged....?) :)
------------ end quoted material
ODOMETER, hODOS, HODOSCOPES
Edward Pothier Feb 1998
An "odometer" in a car measures the way or road, i.e. the
distance travelled. This is from the Greek word hODOS, usually
translated as "way" or "road" or "path". In the Acts of the Apostles
the early Christian movement (to use an anachronistic term) is
sometimes simply called "the way".
In the fields of nuclear and particle physics there is a detector
device called a "hodoscope" which can detect the passing of a charged
particle (such as an electron or proton) within a small region of
space. Especially if the passage of the particle is measured with
several hodoscopes separated from each other by some distance you
effectively have measured the "path" of the particle. This word
"hodoscope" is also derived from same Greek hODOS. [The word
"hodoscope" must be distinguished from the almost similar word
"horoscope" -- the astrological "forecasting" device supposedly based
on the hour (Greek hWRA, with an omega!) of one's birth.]
=====================================================================
= Edward L. Pothier pothier@nuhub.dac.neu.edu =
= 3 Delore Circle [PREFER: pothier@neu.edu] IC | XC =
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