Time

By BEN OLSON/for The Herald  —  Time has always been around. Neanderthals knew that they should be home by dark, even if they couldn’t articulate that thought. Work was something that got done during daylight hours. Nighttime was spent making up stories about the stars and hoping that something akin to marshmallows would someday be invented.

Counting the days…and hours

At some point, dividing things into daytime and nighttime was just not precise enough. The Egyptians first developed the sundial. It was later perfected by the Romans. I’s, V’s and X’s were all the letters they needed to let us break down time into hours. In modern times, L’s are needed to denote what Super Bowl is coming up. C’s represent a paper denomination of currency with Ben Franklin’s picture on the front. Roman numerals prove to be unsuitable for conveying the US national debt.

 

With the desire of some (who?) to have more precise measurements of shorter periods of time, the hourglass was the next advancement in timekeeping. An hour was deemed to be the proper amount of time for a youngster to sit in the corner and “think about it”. A smaller version of this allowed eggs to be soft boiled to perfection. You can have your 3 minute eggs. I personally don’t want to see any of the white part moving around.

Clocks and timepieces

Inventors with time on their hands (is this supposed to be some clever wordplay?) began to work on mechanized time keepers. Horologists, people who study the science of timekeeping, say that clocks “bonged” every hour and timepieces belonged in your pocket. Accuracy of clocks was improved in the 1600’s with the invention of the pendulum clock. The first electric clock was made in 1840, preceding the invention of the electric meter by over 40 years. The timekeeping element in every modern clock is a harmonic oscillator. It can take the form of a pendulum, a tuning fork, a quartz crystal or vibrating atoms.

When the lights go out, so do most clocks

An analog clock has a face and hands that move. Digital clocks flash 12:00 every time the power goes off, even if it’s just for a second. In the analog days, every town had their own time. This would have been a huge problem had there been airlines in those days. It was an issue with the railroads, however. It finally got cleared up with the invention of the telegraph. Then It was possible for every town along the rail line to “synchronize their watches”.

 

Benjamin Franklin, of the aforementioned C-note, is credited with coming up with the complex mathematical formula, Time = Money. Actually, there is no equation. He just said it, and people, to this day, seem to believe that it makes sense. In fact, I believe that too many people take it literally. As I was driving down from the pass this afternoon, a number of drivers behaved in a reckless, aggressive and dangerous manner. Throwing caution to the wind, passing on blind corners, it was frightening to witness. As far as I can tell, unlike money, good looks or common sense, we’re all working with the same amount of time. Why do some people act as if their time is more valuable than other people’s? 

Punctuality should be a valued trait

While I’m on the subject of time, how about people who are always late? I wasn’t the most punctual guy earlier in my life. I got over it, though. There are members of my immediate family who are cavalier in regards to being on time, as well. As I have heard it explained, people who are always late feel that their time is more valuable than yours. What else could explain it? I can abide by someone being late for our appointment once. The second time that it happens, they get to hear exactly how I feel about the subject of punctuality.

 

I don’t wish to take any more of your valuable time. Please remember, time flies like mad. Fruit flies like bananas.