wait a sec

Wait a sec

this year an extra second was added into the Earth time continuum to compensate for the erratic and slowing rotation of the planet. I happened to catch a bit of a science board where this was being discussed. Some people wondered if we keep adding seconds into time, will our lives get longer?

At first a bit of a laughable question, and the asker was derided on the board, but by none so intelligently as this writer, known only by his or her board sign-on "paxd." I liked it so much I've included it excerpted below, since it echoes exactly what I believe about "time" but don't put as well:

 Implicit in the article, that the Earth's rotation and orbit are unreliable instruments for measuring time, is that what we call 'time', is strictly a human invention. Time, or our notion of it, does not exist independent from our minds... time is a very convenient tool which we have created and refined over thousands of years. In essence we have divided the motion of the rotation of the Earth into 24 equal intervals we call hours... Why twenty-four and not 158, 7 or 10? It is a convention we inherited from the Egyptians who divided day-light and night hours into 12 hours... rather than just counting fingers (which would have given them units of ten... they counted finger knuckles, not including those of the thumb. So ... Time in a very real sense is something that does not exist, other than as a convention we share between us and in our minds. If we ceased to acknowledge it or decided collectively to ignore or change it, which we theoretically could, it would not change the fact that we are mortal and will eventually die of old age or some other malady. Thus, our notion and counting of time, as is implicit in the article, is independent from the motion of the Earth--that is why we have to keep adding seconds every couple of years.

Yet its hard not to mark time in some way, esp. around the first of the year, the calendar also being a strictly human invention. I don't want to get cliche about how "time" and "calendar" seem to work against us more than not, esp moving from childhood to adult. I think you all know what I'm talking about. Although time isn't so innocent for children, as kids always seem to be anticipating everything: birthday, holidays, getting older. Adults the reverse.

JG Ballard liked to write about our time marking tendencies and 'whatif' the idea to various extremes. Whatif there were no clocks, or clocks were outlawed, or we never slept, or we always slept, etc. In Ballard, even without conventions of clocks or sleep, time is still marked, it seems to have to be, and how its marked changes how we carry out our lives. Another Heisenberg moment: the act of marking an event, changes an event.  Ballard in this way also speaks to the same question that the naive writer above asked. Then you wonder, maybe that questioner wasn't so naive...

 There was a melancholy end to the year 2008, and there is a melancholy start to 2009. The mood, the uneasiness of the world isn't aware of the date. We're hoping for change in this country anyway, and we finally saw to it that we elected a non-buffoon/non-crony to be president, but that elation seemed to wear off rather quickly come December. We'll see what February brings.

"Clocks are big... machines are heavy" as Atheletico Spizz 80 might have said.

Or just as nonsensically, as Lewis Carroll might have said, don't let the mome raths get you down.  Right? This transition time, (and I hope that's what it is, a time between times, un-markable...) has its highlights. It brought us the iphone did it not? One of the few devices in high tech history that does what it says its going to do. Its brilliant and should be celebrated. (I can now have the text of "Jabberwocky" and "Walrus and the carpenter" with me at all times. And Ulysses and Moby Dick if I wanted for x's sake, and about half my 30G music collection (15Gs approx) including my fave of the new year, Holly Golightly and on and on.

But '08 was a year I pulled back from pop culture more than not. I didn't really buy too much new music, still just pirating the old.  Did get the new Portishead, new Brightblack Morning Light and both of those while good, didn't kill. What did kill of course were the Kills, and '08 was my time to be big into them. Then there was the enormous Cramps resurgence which lead to Link Wray and probably engendered the current Holly Golightly jag.

I cut way back on the TeeVee last year, and the few shows I did like disappointed mightily: Entourage sucked big time this season, although seemed to pull out of it by the last few eps. The biggest disappointment by far was Californication, which went way, way down the shitter into probably unrecoverable territory this season. The Office had a nasty spin to it, 30 Rock was okay. And I was kinda interested in "Fringe" but it teetered too often to the ridiculous to make it stick. That left really the only bright spot as "Tru Blood" and I only saw four eps before they took it off payperview for some reason.

I didn't get to many movies. I know there were some excellent ones out there, but, and I can't say exactly why, the act of going to see a movie seems awfully boring and tedious to me. I had fun seeing the ones I saw with the kid: Wall-E, Speed Racer, whatever; but stayed away from the films of substance like the plague. Probably a dumb move. But coincidentally just today I saw Vicky Christina Barcelona and had a rip roaring good time. Total eye candy: both lovely lead actresses, whats her name and the other, plus Penolope Cruz plus Spain. Sexy, pretty Spain! I'm in love.

I did amp up the reading quite a bit, and enjoyed very much: "And Then We Came to the End" by what's his name? I dunno I wrote about him a few posts ago; two of the three in Robert Sawyer's kinda trashy, but also solidly "sci" and "fi"  sci fi trilogy Hominid and Humans; Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao had many charms, though in retrospect also had some large failings;  I keep trying to read poetry, and have rec'd some very nice books of it. But like films, I have this odd, aversion to it, even though admittedly there is beautiful stuff out there. F gave me Frank O'Hara's Meditations in an Emergency, (see "Mad Men") whose title I'm loving more than the actual poems right now. There seems to be a line here or there that strikes me, but the works as a whole elude me. Sorry poets out there who I know and love. I'll read your stuff and like it I swear!

We're all aware that someday, not too long from now, the printed newspapers that we know and hate so much will cease to be, or will be put together and sold very differently than they are today.  Most of the backroom functions of our UNbeloved local rag are outsourced at this point to far flung places like Buffalo NY and the Philippines and (the editorial) we wonders when our axe will fall. No doubt I've been there through this org's many blunders and ineptitudes, some so large and wrong as to be comical. I like to say that that place is run like a "one ring circus..." its a circus, but a three ring circus would be too complicated for them. So in thinking ahead to my next career ('specially after they read this god help me!)  I wonder what it is I can actually do?  I mean, what, skirb are you good at?  Of course my dream job would be to get paid to sit around to be my own self for 7 1/2, maybe 8 hours a day.  Shit, I'll even be my own self on overtime!  But I haven't found any openings for that. yet. I'm always looking.  So that leaves the only other marketable talent I might possess: no, its not stealing honey from beehives, its editing. Not that you'd know it by reading this of course, but your faithful blogger, is really quite a fierce and relentless editor when he wants to be. Although my editing has been limited to the work of my friends, I'd like someday to parlay it into paying work. So those of you writing novels and whatnot out there. Keep me in mind.

But that's down the road and we're staying in the moment right? No looking forward or back. If you've read any of these posts for the last five years or so (gulp) then you'll know I like to come full circle by the end of them. But since they inserted that extra second into the "clock" this year I feel off; out of balance, askew. So circle I will not, but will take a moment to sit back and enjoy my extra second, philosophical construct or life prolonging fiction that it may be. And there! its gone.