Control Option Command

Time has always been subject of scrutiny and discourse, philosophy and theory, science and fiction. The very concept of time is frequently disputed as at best a faulty system to explain the sequencing of entropy and extropy based on certain recurring natural phenomenae; and at worst an imaginary crutch for our lack of ability to comprehend the world in more than three dimensions.

There is little controversy however concerning the fact that we perceive time as a real and measurable phenomenon. Artifacts from the Palaeolithic suggest that the moon was used to calculate time as early as 12,000, and possibly even 30,000 BCE. A multitude of different systems have been devised to measure, calculate and conceptualize time. The study of devices and systems to measure time is called Horology, and is a field broad enough to warrant museums, libraries and doctorates.
The act of arranging past events in ordered sequences is referred to as Chronology, while the conceptualizing of ordering and arranging future events is referred to as any one of planning, predicting, anticipating, divining, foretelling or hoping.

As a means of bringing some measure of order to the art of organizing future anticipated events several systems were devised to facilitate this process. These systems are known as calendars, and are typically agreed on as the official system for such measurements in a given society. That is; The sequence of days, weeks, months and years as well as the occurrence of any holidays or annually reoccurring events are predetermined by the official calendar.

In the western world the Gregorian calendar, decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, is the by far most common calendar in use. With a predetermined discrepancy of only 1 second per year, and one day every four years, the calendar divides the progression of time neatly into days, weeks, months and years; corresponding to the rotation of the earth on it’s own axis, cycles of the moon and the earths orbit of the sun.

The discrepancies mentioned means that there is, predictably, some few discrepancies in the amount of seconds in a year and the days of a month (although always the same month). However the remaining larger units of time, and their progression are static and as such even more of a central focus around which to organize, conceptualize and express measurement of time.

Take the week; A repeating cyclical pattern consisting of 7 days. It always start with the same day (sunday or monday according to region) and progresses from one day to the next until the week has come full circle, and thus starts again. If on a tuesday you inquire about when a certain event will occur, and you get the reply that it will occur the coming friday; You may safely assume that wednesday and thursday will pass between now (still, for the sake of argument: tuesday) and when said event is likely to happen.

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And that is why I haven’t finished your project yet.

This SMS went all over Norway some few nights ago. To whom Dr. Mads Gilbert (Wikipedia Entry) who incidentally hails to my own city of birth, originally sent this outcry I don’t know, but it tells a sad story which should compel us all into action.

Edit: I still stand for everything posted below but decided to hide it beneath the cut, since I believe the SMS speaks volumes and I really don’t want to politicize this blog too heavily.
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This is possibly the most uplifting news I’ve heard from a tech-company in a long while. Google has openly stated in a blog post that they oppose a certain proposition that would eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry.

Snipped:

it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 — we should not eliminate anyone’s fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love.

I think it’s a bold move for Google to take, but one I think every right-thinking company should take. After all, you don’t find many companies saying they are neutral on segregation between black and white people, do you?

Edit: So has Apple, Adobe, Yahoo and several others! Sanity at last!

Edit 2: I’m that if you heard about this in the first place you’ve also heard that the Proposition passed anyway. To which I can only respond: “Fuck you California. No really, Fuck you!” ¹

Every once in a while in between loads of spam ¹ someone adds a thoughtful comment on a blog. Nothing particularly interesting to other readers perhaps, just a “Good job”, “Well put” or “Thanks for sharing”. It’s a wonderful thing to anyone that ever puts a bit of heart into a post and if you’re anything like me (and why wouldn’t you be?) you treasure these comments. We raise our voice, sadly, more often in disapproval than support, and the friendly nod or encouraging smile that is so inexpensive to give and so valuable to receive in meatspace is fraught with barriers on the internet. You may agree with someone in a heated discussion but not wish to get involved or publicly make a stand in the matter. You may not want to register or leave your email or you may just feel that wording your approval is too much of a hassle.

Call me a sucker for praise or an insecure sissy if you will, but there’s no denying the basic human need of positive feedback from your peers. Don’t take my word for it, take Maslows.

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