What time is love?

[davywavy]

I don't know if you read the papers, but yesterday brought us the news that the Saudi Arabians have unveiled the Mecha-Clock, a gigantic robot timepiece designed to protect Riyadh from attacks by Mothra and King Gidorah.

Oh, hang on, I read that wrong. What they've actually unveiled is the Mecca Clock, a huge arabic-styled replica of Big Ben which will light up in bright colours when it's time to pray. Possibly a siren will sound or gigantic cuckoo will pop out as well, but the press release didn't mention that bit.

Anyway, the stated objective of the project is to replace Greenwich Mean Time with Mecca time as the true standard of global timekeeping. At a Doha conference in 2008, the claim was advanced that Mecca is the true Prime Meridian on account of it being perfectly aligned with Magnetic North making it a 'zero magnetism zone', which surprises most people who thought Magnetic North was currently at 81.3°N 110.8°W in Canada. This was actually one of the more sensible suggestions from the confrence which also suggested that gravity is lower in Mecca, and one speaker - Dr. Abd al-Baset al-Sayyed of the Egyptian National Research Centre in Cairo - went on to say that the Kaaba emits 'infinte radiation' detectable on Mars and Neil Armstrong has claimed Allah created the world. Unfortunately I don't have footage of the conference so I can't tell you if his eyes were both pointing in the same direction whilst he spoke, or how long it took the orderlies to get him back into the anti-thrash jacket at the end.

In reality, I reckon it will take a lot of work to get Saudi Mean Time to catch on if only because all one has to do is look at the millions of women dressed in sacks in the Kingdom to realise that, whatever time it is in the rest of the world, it's still the 14th century in Saudi Arabia.

Comments

[the-mendicant.livejournal.com]

all one has to do is look at the millions of women dressed in sacks
You know, I was wandering along a road in London once, dressed in all my trad gothic finery and I noticed that there was a nun and a muslim lady occupying the same bit of pavement with me (no this isn't the set up for a joke) and it amused me to think that really you'd be hard pressed to say which of us was covered up more in what quantities of black.

Yes, I know that you'll say it comes down to choice at the end of the day but many women choose to be muslim and conform and of course Nun's are dominated by a patriarchy and how free is a goth girl if she wants to fit in with her gothic friends and attract a gothic mate?

OK, so I'll get off my soap box and stop derailing your post - which I enjoyed reading by the way :)

[elbly.livejournal.com]

You're completely right. We all have a choice. I found a gothic mate and chose to change from pastels to black... Muslim families can chose to live a modern western life, or die (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-10908372).

It's all about choice. Might not be a nice choice, but it's still a choice.

(p.s. I am well aware that there are many Islamic women who are wearing black sacks because they choose to protest against western values, but there are a lot that don't get that choice)

so what you're saying is ...

[(Anonymous)]

... goths, like, oppress themselves.

H

Re: so what you're saying is ...

[the-mendicant.livejournal.com]

I'm not here to start a fire storm, just saying that there is a fine line between being 'forced' to conform and the 'need' to confirm in order to fit in with 'society's' demands (however you classify a particular soiety) or to satisfy your own need to associate with others as a social being.

I am not belittling the experience of those for whom there appears to be no palatable choice, but sterotyping them all as helpless victims is no more healthy either - just have to look at the way some women dress under their burkas in the rich gulf states.

Re: so what you're saying is ...

[(Anonymous)]

Ninjas, too, there's a lot of pressure of sartorial expectation goes with being a ninja.

H

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

I like to imagine that people compelled to wear impractically modest clothing by their culture have basques and fishnets on underneath.

It's not like we'd ever know.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't, but female pals who've been to women-only spas in Saudi and similar places tell have plenty of stories.

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

Look, your country is like 30c or higher, all the time. You have to wear a big, black, all covering dress, all the time... how much extra stuff are you really going to put on?

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

So you mean under that robe the Wicked Witch of the West was going commando? By golly, I'll never watch the Wizard of Oz in the same way again.