What time is love?
Aug. 12th, 2010 09:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davywavyI 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.
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.
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Date: 2010-08-12 08:57 am (UTC)H
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Date: 2010-08-12 09:03 am (UTC)I'm hoping when it's done it will look like this:
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Date: 2010-08-12 10:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 10:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 10:50 am (UTC)Dr. 'Abd Al-Baset Sayyid: It was very significant, since…the Ka'ba [in Mecca]… They said it emits radiation. This radiation is short-wave.
When they discovered this radiation, they started to zoom in, and they found that it emanates from Mecca – and, to be precise, from the Ka'ba.
Interviewer: My God!!
Dr. 'Abd Al-Baset Sayyid: It was said…
Interviewer: Does this radiation have an effect?
Dr. 'Abd Al-Baset Sayyid: They found that this radiation is infinite. When they reached Mars and began to take pictures, they found that the radiation continues beyond. They said that the wavelength known to us… or rather the shortness of the wavelength known to us… This radiation had a special characteristic: It is infinite, and I believe that the reason is that this radiation connects the [earthly] Ka'ba with the celestial Ka'ba.
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Date: 2010-08-12 10:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 10:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 11:02 am (UTC)H
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Date: 2010-08-12 11:13 am (UTC)summary: meteorite is one option of a number.
I guess no one is likely to be able to take away a bit for testing so....
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Date: 2010-08-12 11:36 am (UTC)Paris have been trying to grab the mean time baton for years, and since the world already functions around PMT I'm surprised no one's bought into it.
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Date: 2010-08-12 12:05 pm (UTC)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 :)
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Date: 2010-08-12 12:29 pm (UTC)I had the impression that the world doesn't function as soon as PMT is involved. :P
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Date: 2010-08-12 12:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 12:57 pm (UTC)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 ...
Date: 2010-08-12 01:00 pm (UTC)H
Re: so what you're saying is ...
Date: 2010-08-12 01:13 pm (UTC)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 ...
Date: 2010-08-12 01:36 pm (UTC)H
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Date: 2010-08-12 02:24 pm (UTC)It's not like we'd ever know.
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Date: 2010-08-12 02:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 02:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 02:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 05:30 pm (UTC)I guess they were worried Prince Charles might be getting his blood pressure under control.
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Date: 2010-08-12 05:42 pm (UTC)