Six Things, Volume 51

Clocks | Soundmap | Esc. | Sharpness | Close-up | Brainteaser

Thing 1 – Clocks

If you’ve ever thought that time passes all too quickly/slowly, then this collection of clocks might help you gain some perspective. Or it might not. I don’t know.

Whether or not it is in fact useful, it did at least make me look up, and learn the meanings of several time units, for example ghurry (a 60th of a day), helek (1/18th of a minute), kè (1/100th of a day), Scaramucci (9.5 - 10 days – there are approximately 4.1 Scaramuccis in a Truss) and indeed kāla itself (144 seconds, if used as a unit of time, but also carrying the larger meaning of ‘time’ or ‘death’ – no doubt Sanskrit experts will be able to enlighten me further on the subject).

How long I’ll retain the information is a different matter. My money’s on a nychthemeron at best.

You can view the Kala clocks in different ways. Cardioid (snapshot above) is good, as is Chet.

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Thing 2 – Soundmap

Whether your preference is for the sound of ice melt in Alberta, lemurs calling across a Madagascan forest, or the extraordinary mixture of grating and whistling made by the bellbird of New Zealand, there’ll be something for you here, the ‘first ever forest soundmap of the world.’

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Thing 3 – Esc.

Do you have three minutes and eighteen seconds (59.5 heleks, or just under an eighth of a ghurry) to watch an excellent, funny and heartwarming animation about the importance of cats?

Of course you do.

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Thing 4 – Close-up

Photography competitions are like London foxes – absolutely bloody everywhere. But I’ll still take some time looking at them. Many of the images are stunning, and they often represent a way of looking at nature I hadn’t considered, or simply show something beautiful/dramatic/striking/fascinating in a way that makes you think ‘cor’, ‘aww, cute’, ‘you what now?’

The Close-Up Photographer of the Year has some particularly fine examples, and it’s well worth spending a kè or two browsing through them.

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Thing 5 – Sharpness

This sharpness chart, produced by Australian ‘precision sharpeners’ Knife Grinders, is fascinating in several ways (it’s always interesting to gain insight into trades and crafts about which you know very little, I find).

Quite apart from the realisation that my own kitchen knives are woefully dull (in the sense of ‘blunt’ – I’m not saying they’re poor conversationalists) and likely to remain so, I take delight in the words used to describe the progression of sharpness, from ‘dull’ to ‘insane sharp’ and beyond.

Explore it further here.

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Thing 6 – Brainteaser

Look, all I do is point you in the direction of games. I take no responsibility for what happens next.

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