Thank you Bill for the background. I understand the cult value now. I still believe the irregular noise would drive me absolutely nuts, which was probably Lord Vetinari's intention in the first place.
Didier KO4BB "Randy D. Hunt" <randy_hunt...@yahoo.com> wrote: >On 5/11/2013 9:48 AM, Bill Hawkins wrote: >> It appears that this was exactly the wrong group in which to >> discuss Lord Vetinari's clock. People keep asking why. Here's >> a brief answer, but first some background. >> >> Lord Vetinari, aka The Patrician, is a fictional character in >> a series of books by Terry Pratchett (q.v.) that stretch the >> imagination with fantastic characters who highlight the foibles >> of human behavior. There are very few fantasies that I enjoy, >> but I've read every one of his books, learning something new >> from each. >> >> Imagine that you are the undisputed ruler of a large city. >> Remaining in that position is a tricky balancing act against the >> many that think they could do a better job. Vetinari keeps people >> off balance in various ways, such as knowing what they are going >> to say before they say it and making them wait in a room that has >> a clock whose second hand appears to move in random increments. >> So, Sara White defined its purpose quite well. >> >> No two people are alike. I intend to buy the kit. I'm not one of >> those people who like to play tricks on their friends (if indeed >> they have any friends). A recent encounter with cancer has >> convinced me that my time is limited, so I rather like the idea >> of an element of randomness in the wall clock, masking the >> inexorable passage of real time. >> >> Bill Hawkins >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Didier Juges >> Sent: Saturday, May 11, 2013 7:55 AM >> To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement >> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] A Time-Nut's Worst Nightmare >> >> I checked the web site. As far as I am concerned, the novelty factor >> died after about 5 seconds. >> I can barely understand why would someone actually spent the time to >> write code doing that for himself for fun, but making it into a >> commercial product? >> How many do you think will be in a landfill before the battery dies? >> >> >> On Sat, May 11, 2013 at 2:06 AM, Sarah White <kuze...@gmail.com> >wrote: >> >>> On 5/10/2013 9:52 PM, Ed Palmer wrote: >>>> Part of me thinks it's cute, part of me wants to kill it. :-) >>>> >>>> https://www.tindie.com/products/akafugu/vetinari-clock >>>> >>>> Ed >>> Agreed... >>> >>> I'm just thinking: "Ahhhhh noooooo. Oww oww oww oww ma brainz!!!" >>> >>> Just the thought of being off by 250ms is upsetting for me... >>> >>> I can't imagine anyone wanting a clock which will be inaccurate by >>> something like a second or two or perhaps more than that. >>> >>> WTF!? Why?! >>> --Sarah >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com >> To unsubscribe, go to >https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >> and follow the instructions there. >> >I can appreciate that. I too am a cancer survivor. . . >_______________________________________________ >time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com >To unsubscribe, go to >https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >and follow the instructions there. -- Sent from my Nexus 7 tablet. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.