Thursday, October 12, 2006

Truth In Timing

I was just thinking about time. More accurately, I was thinking about my fascination with time. For some reason, I find pleasure in knowing what time it is. Not approximately what the time is, but exactly what time it is, at least to the best of my ability to know. All my clocks are set accordingly: my microwave, my wall clock, my watch, my computer, heck, even my XBox.

Call me crazy, but there is something that seems inherently wrong about owning a high precision device that can keep time within a few thousandths of a second, such as any $5 clock/watch produced today, and casually setting it 30 seconds to a minute or two off. Then you have a very precise device which is precisely wrong.

Would people care if the pistons in their car fired at precisely the wrong time? Would anyone mind if a traffic light always turned green at exactly 30 seconds too early? Then why don't more people find a clock which is consistently wrong a problem?

I don't think this is so weird, but a few people I've talked to about this think I'm overly anal about this. When did it become anal to seek truth?

So...Am I alone on this one?

5 Comments:

Blogger Lisa said...

You never cease to make me laugh! That's a good point, but I have to agree that it's a little anal.

Just because you set your clock 3 mins faster, doesn't mean it's not keeping the time correctly, it's still keeping "time"- just not the time of the world. It's the time you want it to be :). I'm sure you'll find something to come back at me with, and it's welcome banter.
Now, it would be another thing if perhaps, the time was behind because the battery was worn, or it broke somehow.

10/14/2006 2:57 PM  
Blogger david said...

My girlfriend and you seem to agree on this point. Here are my thoughts on purposefully setting the clock fast:

1) When you purposefully set the clock ahead X minutes, you look at the clock and subtract the time yourself (thus wasting thinking time) to arrive at the correct time, thus, no net gain.

2) If #1 does not apply, you lie to yourself that the time is actually X minutes later, then when you step out of your fantasy world, you see a clock and think you were very fast in accomplishing something, when in fact, you were much slower. This ultimately distorts your perception of time.

3) Setting the wrong time is dumb.

I believe these three points clearly articulate my position on the matter of setting the clock purposefully ahead. I hope this was helpful.

10/14/2006 6:43 PM  
Blogger Lisa said...

i probably give up too easily, but trying to come up with more reasons would be more anal than your original fascination with every clock in your house having to be exactly the correct time.
it must be a "girl" thing ;)

10/23/2006 12:44 AM  
Blogger david said...

It must be. I've never understood why people insist on the wrong time for their clocks and I've never understood girls. I guess this should be no surprise then!

10/24/2006 7:17 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This sounds like a psycotic illness to me. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder if I am not mistaken. I know the names of some physicians who could help.

11/02/2006 4:29 PM  

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