I told Fay a few minutes ago that I realized something at work yesterday: this year is the first time in twenty years where the middle two digits of the year were not the same.
Fay’s reaction? “That sounds like something you would come up with.”
For some reason I am fascinated with time. I wear a watch that synchronizes with WWV every night. Yes, I know what WWV is. That gives you an indication of how deep this problem goes. For those of you who don’t, WWV is a multi-frequency long wave and short wave radio station that broadcasts time signals. It is operated but the National Institute of Standards and Technology (the NIST).
I have had this fascination with time for years. I especially like the relativity of time. Some examples:
When I was a child, I thought that World War II was ancient history. You know, there were the cave men, the Romans, the Pilgrims, World War II – and all of those things happened about a half a bazillion years ago. Then one day a thought came to mind. It was 1967; I was born in 1956 – that is eleven years. Eleven years before 1956 was 1945 – the year World War II ended. World War II did not seem that ancient anymore.
I got my driver’s license in 1972 – almost thirty-seven and a half years ago. Going back the same amount of time from when I got my license would be like someone then getting their first license in 1935.
FDR died in April, 1945. That seemed pretty old compared to the death of JFK. Roosevelt had been dead about 18-1/2 years when Kennedy died. Kennedy has been dead over forty-six years now.
It seems that one’s relationship to history shapes one’s view of the current. That’s why I like to look back at something: something from my life, when a movie was made, whatever. And however long ago that was, I look back the same amount of time before that.
I was born in San Francisco. Taking my age and looking back that amount of time before my birth would take you three years before the Great San Francisco Earthquake.
I have my son trained – when I start to give one of these comparisons, he completes it.
Fay is still worried, however.
You drive me crazy baby.
ReplyDeleteMatt, I'll just say that I was damned excited when I strapped on my Casio 'Atomic Time' wristwatch several years ago. I mean... to the second accurate time on my wrist, incredible! So yes, to a certain degree I most definitely share your fascination with time.
ReplyDeleteWhen my old watch died, I was thrilled to find a replacement in Canada. To me, not knowing the correct time is like saying, "Oh, I am somewhere in the western hemisphere. That is close enough." If you don't need to know exactly, then you don't need to look. But if you do need to know, you need to know.
ReplyDeleteOne of the (many) reasons why I love Matt:
ReplyDeleteHe always knows exactly what time it is. Where ever we are :)
What's amusing to me is all the ads for expensive watches, Rolex etc., touting how accurate they are when they're still mechanically driven or using quartz crystal. Yet for 90 dollars I have the most accurate time available.
ReplyDeleteI wen to a talk recently given by a local collector of antique maps.
ReplyDeleteThe maps prior to 1760 look fanciful and ancient, but after the invention of the chronograph, they are strikingly modern and very accurate.
If you know the time in Greenwich, and you record the time where the sun reaches it's highest point in the sky (local noon), you know your longitude.
The chronograph (together with a sextant) was the GPS device of the day.
The problem of accurately keeping time at sea (no pendulums need apply) was a tough nut to crack, but profound in it's implications when solved.
Worth having a mechanical chronograph just for...
...well...
old time's sake, I guess (GROAN! BOO! BOOOOO!)
Old times sake.....HA! :OD (and boo!)
ReplyDeleteI like the time thing too, Lady Red - more specifically the patterns throughout history.
Okay, here's a weird timepiece.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHO1JTNPPOU
Extra points if you can identify the biblical connection to the locust up top, its symbolism, and the references to altering times connected to that bug (chronophage = time eater)
;O)
Oops - sorry, meant to type "Matt" not "LR"!
ReplyDelete:O&
I'm sure this will come as a surprise to you all, but we went to Greenwich when we were in England last August.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't that interested, but Fay insisted.
Yeah, right.
And did time look different, close up in Greenwich? :OD
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child - I mean, young man - of twelve or so, I liked to watch "The World At War" (which I really must get on DVD).
ReplyDeleteThis was around 1975. So WWII had ended thirty years in the past.
Thirty years ago was the last year of Jimmy Carter's presidency.
I'd watch this with my parents, both of whom were young adults during the war. The horror of that conflict was as recent to them as Jimmy Carter is to us now. And horror that Jimmah was, he just doesn't compare.
My parents both would have much rather watched something else, as the war was still uncomfortably fresh, but they had a great deal of forbearance and patience and dealt with all my difficult questions. I am forever grateful.
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There was a grandfather clock in our house, which ticked out the sometimes long hours of my childhood afternoons. Those times - when bored or distracted - I hated that clock. Those were the times I was waiting for something, of course... different things, but always fundamentally the same thing: when will I grow up? when can I finally go out in the world?
There was something inscribed on the face of that clock, but as a child I could not see it - the clock seemed so huge; in my memory it is still about ten feet tall.
As an adolescent, of course, I couldn't be bothered to notice such things.
When my father died a few years ago - my mother passed a few years before that - I had to go through the house, selling and giving away all that I did not want for myself. (Only child, you see. The family estate meetings were quick and to the point.)
The clock was no friend of mine; someone close to my father had spoken of her fondness for it and I was more than happy to part with it. But the clock had one more message for me.
I finally stopped to read that tiny inscription on the clock face, on the clock that had ticked out the vividly interminable afternoons of an impatient child, that ticked still, in the old house my parents had now departed for the last time.
Tempus Fugit.
What a fun and fascinating thread! Thanks Matt!
ReplyDeleteI've never worn a watch (other than my time as an EMT, eons ago), mostly because my wrists are really skinny (as opposed to my ample backside..). However, that's all about to change. In addition to the stethoscope, scrubs, and BP cuff I have to purchase for school, I'll need a watch with a second hand...
I'm thinking WalMart. This watch won't be a fashion statement, and it won't be worn outside of school or work.