Marking Time

it's the world clock (click here to see the realtime version)

i'm not kidding, it really is the world clock, and you can make your own at that same page

not only does it count in time, it also counts in oil produced, suicides, bicycles produced and all sorts of vital statistics

here's another one showing species extinction, military expenditure and CO2 emissions, all as fast growing

The world clock is a famous archetypal symbol - for instance the reference below is from a dream by nobel physicist Wolfgang Pauli, reported to Carl Jung; Jung described this image as representing something like a religious conversion and pointed to many classical parallels for this idea. No wonder this new digital age version has 'something about it'.

Pauli's dream was originally published by C. G. Jung as follows (Psychology and Alchemy): There is a vertical and a horizontal circle, having a common centre. This is the world clock. It is supported by the black bird. The vertical circle is a blue disc with a white border divided into 4 X 8 -- 32 partitions. A pointer rotates upon it. The horizontal circle consists of four colours. On it stand four little men with pendulums, and round it is laid the ring that was once dark and is now golden (formerly carried by four children). The world clock has three rhythms or pulses: 1) The small pulse: the pointer on the blue vertical disc advances by 1/32. 2) The middle pulse: one complete rotation of the pointer. At the same time the horizontal circle advances by 1/32. 3) The great pulse: 32 middle pulses are equal to one complete rotation of the golden ring. (p. 194)

Thanks to jules for the link.

Now I need to work out how to make a countdown version. Me and some friends were talking about starting a new dating system on 1st January 2012. The Christian version seems anachronistic in our multifaith world. That year would be O. AC (after carbon) or AP (after peak oil) or even AS (after sheer stupidity). It's already the year the Mayan calendar changes, apparently.

Speaking of countdowns, the backwards Bush is another classic