November 2, 2012
Dear Everyone:
Time to change the clocks again.
Daylight Saving Time ends this Sunday.
That means turning all the clocks back an hour.
Or, if you happen to have a 24-hour digital clock, you need to
turn it forward 23 hours.
Or some people just leave the clocks as they are all year long and
they’re correct roughly half the time.
I once read a murder mystery set in the English countryside in the
mid-1930’s in which the “time of death” was determined based on a
neighbor’s clock. The clock
could only be altered up to a quarter-hour in either direction because
it had a feature that gave a “mini-chime” every 15 minutes.
The protagonist pondered why such a “rustic” household could
boast of such a “modern” clock.
The answer: It was a
wedding present.
I used to have a mantel clock that had that quarter-hour chime.
You got used to it.
But then it started chiming the wrong number of chimes every other hour.
Odd numbers only.
That could lead to confusion.
So I disconnected the battery (Safety first!), then snipped the
wires that connected the battery to the sound box that made the actual
chimes. Result:
Silent clock that still kept good time.
When I explained what I had done to “Jeannie”, her response was:
“You
spayed your
clock?”
Well, yes. And now we don’t
have to worry about all those little clocks scurrying around.
As it happens, I’ve noticed that I have significantly fewer clocks than
in the past. Less than a
couple dozen now. Time was
(no pun intended) that just about everything came with an LED clock
display built into it. It
was a relatively easy and cheap “feature” to add to anything.
But that fell out of favor.
Like talking cars. The
manufacturers thought people would love cars that talk.
Example: I once opened the
car door and a small chime starting going off.
A polite, little “ding-ding-ding!”
“What?” I asked. “What are
you trying to tell me?”
Closed the door. Chiming
stopped. Opened the door.
Chiming started again.
The keys were in my hand, so it wasn’t, “Hey, you forgot your keys!”
After a short while I realized that the headlights were still on.
Mystery solved.
Then, they came up with cars that talk:
“Attention! The
headlights are on!”
Instead of an indicator light that no one would notice, an authoritative
voice: “A door is ajar!”
“Your fuel is low!” Repeated
every minute for 45 miles.
That got tired real fast.
People started yelling, “Shut up already!”
And the manufacturers stopped making cars that talk to you.
And added built-in timers to shut the headlights off X minutes
after the engine was cut.
Now they have a car (luxury model only) that will “alert” you to a
possible accident by causing a brief movement of some sort in the
driver’s car seat. I’m
betting by next year, that feature will be retired.
By people who don’t like being goosed by their car.
And so it goes. Enjoy the
extra hour of sleep this Sunday.
Love, as always,
Pete
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