It’s about time. We all know it flies, but sometimes — like last Tuesday — it moves just a little bit faster than usual
“Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way” — “Time” by Pink Floyd
Did you notice Tuesday moved a bit faster?
Just a bit. A tiny, tiny, tiny bit.
For the second time this year, the day was 1.4 millisecond shorter than normal. That is 0.001 of a second, so if you blinked, you missed. It. The same thing happened on July 9, which was 1.3 millisecond shorter than the average day.
You can learn more than you ever need to know about this fraction of time from the website timeanddate.com.
“86,400 seconds is another way of saying 24 hours. A millisecond is 0.001 seconds — considerably less than a blink of an eye, which lasts around 100 milliseconds,” according to the Time and Date website. “The only way to measure these tiny day-to-day variations in Earth’s spin speed is with atomic clocks, which were introduced in the 1950s. The number of milliseconds above or below 86,400 seconds is known as length of day (LOD).”
“Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain
And you are young and life is long, and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find 10 years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again” — “Time”
What is causing this? Blame it on the moon, scientists tell us.
It reached its maximum declination — placing it farthest from the earth’s equator on July 9 and July 22. That causes the gravitational pull to get out of whack — that’s not the term used by the folks in the white coats, but you get the idea. It speeds up the earth’s rotational speed, making the day a little bit shorter.
It sure seems to me that time is rushing past. I recall my parents and older relatives talking about that when I was an impatient kid, and now I completely understand what they mean. Sure seems like the last 20 years snuck past me.
I think someone owes me a few months. But I digress.
We are losing about half a millisecond a year, the smart folks tell us. Since 2020, we have set a new record for the shortest day every year.
At some point, they may have to make an adjustment to Coordinated Universal Time, which is man’s official timekeeper. They added a “leap second” on Dec. 31, 2016, because the planet was slowing down.
If this faster pace continues, we will lose a whole second, perhaps in 2029. Make sure you’re not docked for it at work.
I have always been extremely cognizant of time. Maybe it was from growing up on a dairy farm, where cows needed to be milked at the same time every morning and night. They set the schedule, and we had to adjust for them.
I also have worked jobs that require close attention to time, from learning how to turn in an order so all the food was ready and hot at the same time when I served it. A failure to do so could result in an irritated customer, who might decide to shorten your tip.
When I dealt 21 in Reno and Las Vegas, we worked rigid schedules divided into 20-minute blocks. There was a team of four dealers on three tables, so someone was always on break. Lunch breaks were extended to 40 minutes.
Come back late and you were cutting into someone else’s time. Old-school dealers quickly let you know that was not acceptable.
They had bets to place, drinks to quickly down or, at times, food and coffee to consume.
Of course, newspaper work is strictly on the clock. Deadlines are inviolate, and must be adhered to or the entire process is messed up. If stories aren’t filed in time, pages are not designed on schedule, and the presses can’t roll as planned.
That impacts delivery and can cause papers to miss the mail. Do that a few times as an editor and the publisher will invite you in for a short, blunt talk.
Well, time to wrap this up. I need to file to hit the sacred deadline. The clock is ticking.
You can set your atomic clock for Tuesday, Aug. 5, when the day will zip past 1.5 millisecond faster than most Tuesdays. Remember that to make sure you’re not late for work.
“Sun is the same, in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death
Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught, or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say.” — “Time”
Fourth-generation South Dakotan Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states for four decades. He has contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets. Do not republish without permission.
Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons
The South Dakota Standard is offered freely and is supported by our readers. We have no political or commercial sponsorship. If you'd like to help us continue our mission to advance independent political and social commentary, you can do so by clicking on the "Donate" button that's on the sidebar to your right.
