Tempus Fugit

How many times have we thought, “If only I had more time in the day?”

Well, guess what – as of last Saturday, our problems have been compounded. It seems that some scientists think that the rotation of the earth – which, incidentally “wobbles” a bit in something called the Chandler Effect – was slowed and our days are now shorter than they were before the earthquake.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124249439

Granted, it’s only by about 1.26 millionths of a second, but still it’s less than we had before. Just like the packaging on M&M’s, things keep shrinking but the public isn’t ever compensated.

That amount of time seems insignificant, but time doesn’t pass equally.

It could really be important if, say, that 1.26 seconds that got cut out means that the car that runs the red light makes it through ahead of you.

Or that you catch the soup just before it boils over and flows across the stovetop, meaning that you’ll lose even more time spending an hour to clean it up.

Or you grab the baby’s hand before they put the paper clip in the outlet.

(Parents have got to have the fastest reflexes in the world – and children still manage to eat dirt!)

There are some events that could stand to be cut short by any amount of time, even a millionth of a second.

Any medical procedure that involves a rubber glove.

City Council Meetings, especially those involving zoning issues.

Any time you’re on “hold” waiting for Customer Service, especially if they keep repeating bad music and messages about how your call is very important to them.

Since those things are all going by at a glacial speed anyhow, you certainly wouldn’t notice anything that caused that to slow it down more anyhow. Fortunately, most of our brains go into a stupor after 3 or 4 minutes anyhow.

Except maybe during the medical stuff, but that’s another situation all together.

So is this loss of time good or bad? For most of us, it doesn’t matter. Like the hour you gain or lose during daylight savings time changes, the earthquake happened in the middle of the night. Most of us were asleep anyhow, and one more slap at the snooze button the following morning would have compensated for the loss a bazillion times over.

Incidentally, some scientists have found a way to actually extend the time remaining so it FEELS like we gained hours rather than losing 1.26 millionths of a second – by arguing over how much the earth actually slowed, if it did.

http://www.bautforum.com/universe-today-story-comments/101446-chilean-earthquake-may-have-shortened-length-day-earth.html.

Some people got too much time on their hands as it is.