Time |
Monday, 15 November 2004 |
A broken alarm clock is the perfect tool to measure time.
It can even replace a calender.
That seems a thesis which is hard to defend.
Still, give me a chance to try.
For a start, why is there a mismatch between
- hours and days?
- weeks and months?
- years and centuries?
In the old days, when trees still spoke, everything was simple.
- The highest point of the sun marked the middle of the day.
- A day was the time between two of these highlights.
- From full moon to full moon was exactly one month.
- From longest day till longest day was exactly one year.
I hear you think:
Hey, isn't that the current situation?
No, too bad, we just pretend.
- 1200 noon only matches the middle of the day by coincidence.
Silly inventions suchs as time zones, daylight saving time,
winter time
and especially the clock cause noon to shift from the middle of the day.
- Calender months are most rediculous.
It is the most instable unit of time, hardly worth the term unitas they last
28, 29, 30 or 31 days.
No wonder that employees are stuck with a bit of month at the end of their fixed salary.
- Surprisingly years match time best.
At least, until you find our that there is no accurate definition of
leap year.
Are these rubber time units a problem?
No, not al all, as precise time is totally irrelevant for most of us.
Broken alarm clock
So, are you the exeption that needs accurate time measurement?
Use a broken alarm clock:
- Use a string to hang it in the sun.
- Watch its shadow.
- The shortest shadow marks the middle of the day.
- The day with the shortest shadow of the year marks start of summer.
From now on we will have leap days on 20½ June, followed by 21 June as the longest day.
The thesis at the start of this story holds.
A broken alarm clock is the perfect tool to measure time.
Till
next nut,
Nut
Thanks to Gerben Nooyen for our inspring discussion of time