The reflection on time is marvelous, and points towards some deep and legitimately important avenues that could bear more thought.
What is, after all, our ever-more-deracinated technologized rationalized world in general but a rejection of and fleeing from the "messy imperfections of the world" in favor of pure new creations sprung from our own sovereign minds...and our own sovereign desires?
(It all stretches back in a straight line to the philosophes and before, of course.)
"for the first time in a while, the earth is speeding back up, to the point that a kind of reverse leap second, subtracting rather than adding one to UTC, is needed."
- It sounds like "Too Much Time On My Hands" from Styx would be the better choice.
Thank you to the whole Pillar team for staying on top of things while JD was out this week. Two newsletters for Ed sounds like a lot of extra work. We appreciate you guys
The reflection on time reminds me of something I've contemplated since my music theory days, namely, the Pythagorean comma. Put simply, the physics of sound has an intrinsic "flaw", where no matter how perfectly we tune things based in ratios, in the end it doesn't line up, creating a gap or a slip that sounds terrible. So we have a billion and a half tuning systems trying to hide this gap as well as possible, typically by making the whole system equally out of tune rather than having that one giant gap.
Why is perfect tuning impossible, physically? It's so strange, but feels somehow theological.
How do you propose to do that? To some extent, if you're going to have measurable time, you need time zones; the only question is how many. One time zone (just have everyone everywhere use UTC) sounds dystopian and abysmal. More time zones would be hard to track.
I think the only alternative would be to keep time zones, but have them based on actual longitudes rather than borders.
I want to point out that UTC is not a French abbreviation either - if they got to decide, it'd be TUC. What happened was the English-speakers and the French couldn't agree on who got to decide, so they picked an abbreviation that fits neither language.
The reflection on time is marvelous, and points towards some deep and legitimately important avenues that could bear more thought.
What is, after all, our ever-more-deracinated technologized rationalized world in general but a rejection of and fleeing from the "messy imperfections of the world" in favor of pure new creations sprung from our own sovereign minds...and our own sovereign desires?
(It all stretches back in a straight line to the philosophes and before, of course.)
I was wondering if Ed was going to end with this song or with the Byrds "Turn! Turn! Turn!"
"for the first time in a while, the earth is speeding back up, to the point that a kind of reverse leap second, subtracting rather than adding one to UTC, is needed."
- It sounds like "Too Much Time On My Hands" from Styx would be the better choice.
I suppose "Seasons of Love" from Rent would have been a bit out of character...
Thank you to the whole Pillar team for staying on top of things while JD was out this week. Two newsletters for Ed sounds like a lot of extra work. We appreciate you guys
I’ve had a crush on Leo XIV for 16 months now so I don’t wanna hear any negative comments from the peanut gallery:-)
The reflection on time reminds me of something I've contemplated since my music theory days, namely, the Pythagorean comma. Put simply, the physics of sound has an intrinsic "flaw", where no matter how perfectly we tune things based in ratios, in the end it doesn't line up, creating a gap or a slip that sounds terrible. So we have a billion and a half tuning systems trying to hide this gap as well as possible, typically by making the whole system equally out of tune rather than having that one giant gap.
Why is perfect tuning impossible, physically? It's so strange, but feels somehow theological.
'Sounds' weird ...
I am dying to know who our next archbishop will be here in Chicago. My vote, which matters, I'm sure, is for Bishop Fernandes.
Is this the right place to expound my opinion that time zones should be abolished as unnatural?
How do you propose to do that? To some extent, if you're going to have measurable time, you need time zones; the only question is how many. One time zone (just have everyone everywhere use UTC) sounds dystopian and abysmal. More time zones would be hard to track.
I think the only alternative would be to keep time zones, but have them based on actual longitudes rather than borders.
"...waiting with baited breath."
Should be "bated," as in abated.
What baited breath might possibly be hardly bears thinking about, doesn't it.
Sounds fishy ....
Perhaps we should return to sundial?
"Perhaps we should return to sundial?" - a shadow of things past?
I was expecting "Does Anybody Really Know What Time it is?" by Chicago, but the Stones are always a solid choice.....
Ok, well done for "taking the time" to a incude pun ("Unfortunately for them, times have changed since then") !
I want to point out that UTC is not a French abbreviation either - if they got to decide, it'd be TUC. What happened was the English-speakers and the French couldn't agree on who got to decide, so they picked an abbreviation that fits neither language.