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Sunday, December 18, 2011

11:20:36

The Legislature Annex is full of these clocks. Have they faithfully kept track of time since the 1970s? The design would seem to imply thus.

11:20:36 is one in a long but finite string of hectic seconds when the Alberta Legislature is in session. This is when MLAs, researchers and communications staff prepare questions, private member's statements, ministerial statements, responses to ministerial statements, scripts for introductions, press releases, media statements and more. MLAs head into the house at 1:30, and only then can staff take a moment to inhale a sandwich or a cup of coffee. Those of us who have the time turn on our televisions and watch the MLAs perform. And then we carry on with the afternoon's business and prepare to do it all again the next day.

The Alberta Legislature won't convene again until sometime in February. Time will flow a little more slowly until then.

1 comment:

AllanX said...

These old business-industrial-style electric clocks aren't particularly accurate, but they're all centrally wired to a master clock that synchronizes them all simultaneously one or more times a day. This simulates accuracy and keeps them more-or-less consistent with each other.

If you catch them at the times when they're synchronizing you might see something weird like the hands spinning rapidly. No, that isn't time itself slowing down.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=simplex+clock