For those who may not have software installed to change computer clock, and for anybody wishing to learn about the history and science of time, go to
http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/

There are all kinds of goodies here, including if you want it a free program for setting computer clock, and updating it prn.
If you don't do anything else, in left hand column, click on A Walk Through Time. Sensationally interesting.

great site, Bill, thanks!! my Dad has several "atomic" clocks(including his wristwatch) that keep perfect time with each other. they have a radio connection to the time server at NIST.

Big brother knows when you are.

There are two time changes per annum under the instant regime: the good one and the evil one. The good one, which comes in the fall, allows a person to live the same hour twice and, more importantly, to sleep an extra hour in one night. The evil one reverses the process, obliterating all that was good about the good one and inflicting a spring penalty on those who enjoyed the benefit the previous fall. There is a Zoroastrian quality to this equipoised duality of good and evil.

Ah, somebody who feels exactly like I do. Very well put FS.

yeah. especially that Zorro bit...

...that Zorro bit...

"Zoroastrianism is one of two remaining dualist religions (the other being Manicheans). At the center of Zoroastrian belief is a Duality of conflicting forces- Ahura-Mazda (Ormahzd), the supreme entity and the force of good, versus Ahriman, the force of evil and darkness. These forces are locked in a constant struggle, but good, as always, is expected to prevail."

"Zoroastrians believe that time is divided into three ages, those of creation, the current era of good and evil, and the coming era, when Ahura-Mazda will triumph, evildoers will be punished, and the good will go to heaven."

Thus, one assumes, there will be no Daylight Savings Time, once Ahura-Mazda has triumphed and the coming age is entered.

21 today! I am 21 today and get a super, special twenty-five hour birthday. Yay for me. I got some amazing kangaroo boots that make you jump really high and a paper aeroplane book and a book of recreational mathematics.

thanks, Father Steve, for that explanantion.

and dody! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

An Egyptian astronomical device that enabled them to orient buildings accurately. Scroll to bottom for a picture. Maybe your vision is good enough to get more from the picture than I could.
http://www.du.edu/~jdoherty/merkhet.htm

As time went by, people devised portable aids to star watching that have survived for us to examine. Egyptians invented the merkhet, which was used by two observers facing one another. Each one held a merkhet, and they sat lined up so that one could see the north star just above the other's head. The second person then sat very still as the first one watched and recorded when stars passed by the top of the other's head, by his ear, shoulder, etc. In this way, astronomical positions were recorded so people could predict how the stars moved.

P.S. Dear etaoin: I can't understand the description of how the merkhets were used. If you can understand it, please post about it.

Happy Birthday dody. Alas, this being England, what landmarks of liberty do you reach? What are the things you can do that you couldn't when you turned 18? In the States, I believe, 21 is the final freedom - they can drink! Here, of course, they seem to start at 14. I saw a young girl the other day, outside our office - can't have been 16 yet - rolling up a joint a professional manner and, with a quick look around to see if anyone was watching, smoking it. 3 in the afternoon, too. O tempora o mores.

cheer

the sunshine warrior

The evil one reverses the process, obliterating all that was good about the good one and inflicting a spring penalty on those who enjoyed the benefit the previous fall.

This is an interesting perspective... I, however, prefer to see the glass as half full.

It is truly evil that the "powers that be" decided that our clock needs tampering with so as to align a person's work day with some *western ideal <sheesh> and I officially banish *them to a life of living with their consequences of doing so. However, it is the autumn reversion to reality... a return to what is pure and evident which propells us forward and allows for us to draw on the strength of all that is natural (especially us a bit further down north) to deal with what will be soon known as "frozen tundra".

*********

It does seem as if; although one wouldn't specifically call other religions "dualist" (as their defining character), doesn't all *religion reside in a dualist climate?

…one assumes, there will be no Daylight Savings Time, once Ahura-Mazda has triumphed and the coming age is entered.

Ah, but since, as you pointed out in your first post on the subject, the Good and Evil are not inherent in the period of being on time or ahead of time, but in the hour of transition, if Ahura-Mazda's triumph abolishes the transition the victory will be a hollow sham. The Good cannot exist without the Evil and in victory will come defeat.

The Good cannot exist without the Evil and in victory will come defeat.

The existentialist's motto?

"...doesn't all *religion reside in a dualist climate?"

There are several dualisms which appear in religious discourse. Some juxtapose the material from the spiritual, some the mind from the body, some good behaviour from bad, and some posit a good diety opposed to a bad diety. It was only in this latter sense that I suggested that Zoroastrianism is dualistic.

While there are elements of dualism in classic orthodox Christianity, the "good god verses bad god" is neither classic nor orthodox and has no place in Christian theology. In pop religion, on the other hand ...

Happy Birtday Dody ! Did you spend your extra hour wisely - or did ya have fun

A belated happy birthday, dodyskin.

Bingley

Happy birthday, dody. My birthday was Saturday and so I was able to sleep the extra hour after the celebration. Life is good

So ... if good triumphs, the clock will only ever be set back? I could live with that!

"It is truly evil that the "powers that be" decided that our clock needs tampering with so as to align a person's work day with some *western ideal <sheesh>"

On the other hand, the entire People's Republic of China has but one time zone, and it's oriented for the convenience of Beijing. Picture the implications for people living in the westernmost provinces.

Happy birthdy dody and consuelo!!
The main thing I notice about the time change is that once a year I miss church and once a year I show up an hour early. Every year! Actually I was only 45 min. early yesterday 'cos I forgot to turn on my alarm and had to rush out and sprint for the bus, or thought I did.

Thanks everybody, and happy birthday to you Connie. I had a smashing day. All ten of the kin-dody gathered and had a meal: roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, tatties etc. I think I probably spent the extra hour bouncing (in my tigger trainers)http://kangoojumps.com/.

Ooo Connie, tell us the details. Why did you need the extra hour (woo-woo)

Even more belated birthday wishes to you, consuelo. Unlike some people, I make no enquiries as to why you needed an extra hour's sleep. I just speculate.

Bingley

maybe she was wearing a cap?
crossing threads

My computer already does that .

Happy Belated Birthdays Dody and Consuelo.

What about Taoism, FS? And why can't good exist without evil?

I did have a lovely birthday (thanks, everyone)but didn't get to wear the cap. I did, however, wear a honking huge black velvet sombrero with white embroidery. Don Juan's Reckless Daughter was back in the hammock again and I sent Max the new picture to prove it.

why can't good exist without evil?

Sine tenebris lux nulla. It's the same thing. Find you a monopole and maybe we can start talking.

God

Start talking

christrian god? -they same guy who in olden days, banished adam and eve, flooded the world, turned lot's wife into a pillar of salt, and banished his own creation, who dearly loved him, forever?
and thus created opposition in this world?...even a dummy like me knows the christian/judiac/moslem concept of god=good also has a counter point of satan=evil. god is more powerful, and punishing in the OT/judaic concept, christianity and islam have more of the idea of conflict between god/satan.

other religions have Kali or Shelia na gog, or what ever you want to call her; an aspect of god that represents sexual alure/birth/and death. Kali is youth and beautiful, (and hold in her hands, shulls and death) shelia is spread legs, open, inviting, (but her faces is hidious, and death head!)--these aspects of a god concept have clearly with in them, the conflict of death and life/--a built in duality. and that's 90% of my knowledge of comparitive religions, but even i wouldn't claim that the concept of god is monopole!

I am taking "monopole" to be that there is no equal opposite. You site satan/evil, but satan is not an equal opposite to God.

Even with what you claim to be limited knowledge of religion can not dismiss this. or maybe your knowledge of religion is more limited than I am giving you credit for

...We are approaching dangerous territory here. There have been some unfortunate episodes on this board in the past related to discussions about religion and/or politics, so I just thought I'd remind the oldbies and alert the newbies.

As requested, here is Don Juan's edit: reckless daughter:
http://maxqnz.com/djd.jpg

Don Juan's reckless daughter, if I remember correctly.

Anna... I appreciate your respectful submission. Thank you.

It was my original idea to let all go their way, thinking people had just moved on, putting this behind them, and chalk this up to a personal foopah. It has been suggested to me, however, that maybe things will not settle appropriately without my putting something forth.

It's a little late "to begin with", but I would like to apologize. I did not intend to introduce disharmony with my post. I was simply responding to Faldage with the only monopole I could come up with for what I took as a good natured challenge .

I am most certainly aware of our multi-cultural environment, and am in absolutely no way, shape or form trying to introduce, or propagate, any specific religious belief system. It was through my lack of forethought that failed to take into consideration that someone might actually take it that way, as has been suggested to me. Please believe that it was never intended as such. I simply saw it through good-natured-fun glasses.

Again, I apologize for causing such a stir.

FTR, the monopole I was referring to was a magnetic monopole. That would be, e.g., a north magnetic pole without a corresponding south pole. I have in my JDM® a note saying that they are theoretically possible but have never been seen, neither manufactured nor in the wild. There is a prize of some appreciable sum of money for anyone who can produce one.

Well, I certainly was befuddled...I found this:
In physics, a magnetic monopole is a magnet with only one pole. In other words, it would have net magnetic charge. But magnetic monopoles have never been observed or created experimentally. When a magnet with a north and south pole is cut in half, it becomes two magnets, each with its own north and south poles. There doesn't seem to be a way to create a magnet with only one pole. Yet particle theories like Grand Unified Theories and superstring theory predict the existence magnetic monopoles.
(Ack, I just reread that--they did leave out a word.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_monopole

So, Mr. Faldage, were you saying that good without evil is as impossible (theoretically) as a monopole? I think it's kind of fun to think of this apparent paradox with ref. to a deity (any deity, Mr. Ectoplasm; I for one didn't take your post to mean you were promoting anything in particular); the old type of question such as can God create something so large he can't move it--that sort of thing.
Bean, can you, as our resident physics expert, shed any light on the possibility of a monopole?

Well, that's the thing. Theoretically, the monopole is, as I understand it, not only possible, but necessary. Onliest thang, we ain' never seen none IRL. So, whaddayagunnadoo?

So, whaddayagunnadoo?

Keep reinterpreting 'faith'.