DLST

The clock on my office did not fall back last October. I just did the math and adjusted whenever I looked at it.

And do I really need a clock on the wall of my office or a watch on my arm?

The 1969 Chicago song "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" couldn't be written today. Everyone knows what time it is, even the people who aren't wearing watches.

These days, the correct time is everywhere: in the corner of the computer screen, on the satellite television when channels are switched, car radios, microwaves, ovens even coffee makers... And, perhaps most significantly, on cell phones, BlackBerries, MP3 players and GPSr's. Most people these days carry a highly accurate and durable time piece, but it isn't a watch.

I have several watches in a drawer slowly draining the batteries to nil. A couple that cost several hundred dollars to one that was a single buck on a flea market table more than a decade ago. Today, it would cost more to replace the battery in that one.

As I stand at the work table in the lab and glance at the clock on the wall, I no longer have to calculate to know whether it is fifteen minutes till time for lunch (or an hour and fifteen minutes). At least until the first weekend of November.