[time-nuts] Simon Winchester: The Perfectionists

Poul-Henning Kamp phk at phk.freebsd.dk
Tue May 8 07:48:52 UTC 2018


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In message <20180508073640.64E7240605C at ip-64-139-1-69.sjc.megapath.net>, Hal Mu
rray writes:

>about the clocks in Oxford chiming midnight in friendly disagreement. 

Terry Prachett has a lovely description of how the clocks of Ank-Morpork
chimes in "Men At Arms":

	Noon in Ankh-Morpork took some time, since twelve o'clock
	was established by consensus. Generally, the first bell to
	start was that one in the Teachers’ Guild, in response to
	the universal prayers of its members. Then the water clock
	on the Temple of Small Gods would trigger the big bronze
	gong. The black bell in the Temple o Fate struck once,
	unexpectedly, but by then the silver pedal-driven carillon
	in the Fools’ Guild would be tinkling, the gongs, bells and
	chimes of all the guilds and temples would be in full swing,
	and it was impossible to tell them apart, except for the
	tongueless and magical octiron bell of Old Tom in the Unseen
	University clock tower, whose twelve measured silences
	temporarily overruled the din.

-- 
Poul-Henning Kamp       | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20
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