• World's Biggest Clock Unveiled in Mecca, Hopes to Replace Greenwich with 'Mecca Time'
    89 replies, posted
[QUOTE]At PopSci we're comfortable with the concept of time travel, but this story is perhaps a bit more than we can wrap our heads around. The Saudi Arabian city of Mecca is building the biggest clock in the world -- a massive 1,983-foot tower sporting four timekeeping faces each 151 feet in diameter -- with the goal of displacing Greenwich Mean Time as the world's central time zone. While we've heard of the notion of large, dense bodies generating enough gravity to alter the flow of time, we're not quite sure the massive clock, which starts ticking today, has that kind of pull. Although it is an impressive piece of architecture, bearing a resemblance to London's Big Ben but with some uniquely Arabic touches. The clock will don text reading "in the Name of Allah" running beneath the clock faces in the local script as well as 21,000 green and white lights that flash five times daily to call the faithful to prayer (supposedly they can be spotted from more than 18 miles away). Anyhow, the very idea of moving the global reference for time to the Islamic capital and associating it so blatantly with a particular religion is probably not going to go over so well with many people, especially in the West (those Greenwich folks are a proud bunch). After all, Greenwich Mean Time was established arbitrarily a long time ago simply because Britain was a maritime power at the time. And now that we've calibrated our timekeeping to GMT and our cartography to the Prime Meridian, it's unlikely everyone will want to change just because the Saudis built a clock. But you can't blame them for trying. And did we mention it's a really impressive clock? [img]http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/Mideast%20Saudi%20Giant%20C_Kapl_604x341.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-08/saudi-arabia-builds-worlds-biggest-clock-mecca-hopes-supercede-gmt-mecca-time[/url]
AHAHAH No. That clock could shit 24K solid gold bullion every time it strikes the hour, It's still not gonna get changed over just cause they want it too.
Im pretty sure, just like me, some people read it as worlds biggest cock
I so had to look at the title twice i misread it as cock the first time is there really need for a clock that big tho? ^ damn ninja'd and now i get rated optimistic for having cock on the brain, dammit people it was'nt my fault i couldnt find any pants!
So they are building a very tall building funded by the Saudi binLaden Group in their most popular city....it'd be a shame if someone flew a plane into it...
Stop! Mecca time.
Rated clocks.
[QUOTE=Ridge;24034726]So they are building a very tall building funded by the Saudi binLaden Group in their most popular city....it'd be a shame if someone flew a plane into it...[/QUOTE] There is so much wrong with this statement, I don't know where to begin.
I like how it says Allah on the top of the tower.
Uhm... Isn't the clock in Greenwich a atomic one? This makes me just think worst about the arabics. Biggest do not mean the best
A giant clock covered in bright flashing lights with ugly ass gold Arab trimmings. Congratulations, you're the Hummer limousine of the clock world.
It's like big ben went to the middle east and joined a gang
[QUOTE=kimr120;24034846]Uhm... Isn't the clock in Greenwich a atomic one? This makes me just think worst about the arabics. Biggest do not mean the best[/QUOTE] Do they even mention how this clock is going to work in the article?
[QUOTE=gparent;24034989]Do they even mention how this clock is going to work in the article?[/QUOTE] Inshallah
[QUOTE=gparent;24034989]Do they even mention how this clock is going to work in the article?[/QUOTE] Presumably mechanically since it has hands. :sigh:
[QUOTE=bravehat;24035090]Presumably mechanically since it has hands. :sigh:[/QUOTE] Because the display is totally related to the inner workings of the device. For all we know it could be powered by an army of redundant bunnies working in shifts.
Rated op clock.
[QUOTE=tomoom165;24035148]Rated op clock.[/QUOTE] By all the variety of different ratings I'm getting in the OP, I'm quite surprised it was YOU who rated clock. :v:
[QUOTE=gparent;24035134]Because the display is totally related to the inner workings of the device. For all we know it could be powered by an army of redundant bunnies working in shifts.[/QUOTE] Genius! I will mass produce and market this.
[QUOTE=gparent;24035134]Because the display is totally related to the inner workings of the device. For all we know it could be powered by an army of redundant bunnies working in shifts.[/QUOTE] The hands move so it's very likely that it has a shaft attached to it and I'm gonna assume that since it looks a lot like big ben it's gonna be based off the same reliable mechanical principles as big ben. No point reinventing the wheel when it's already made for you.
[QUOTE=Fenriswolf;24035184]Genius! I will mass produce and market this.[/QUOTE] I guess you could call it Easter Standard Time. The faster they're fed, the faster the clock goes, the faster they reprod-... Okay, maybe not.
The way it flashes to signal time for prayer, the way it has "in the name of Allah" written on it, the way its goal is to become the centre of the world's time readings... It all seems like an expensive device to try and make Islam dominant.
That's an awesome clock.
Prepare for late clocks rape...
If they were serious about trying to get GMT changed to whatever they want, they wouldn't have done it like that. I refuse to believe it.
Oh fuck off, Mecca. Our British friends gets to be GMT because they came up with the remarkably nifty method of determining longitude using time.
[QUOTE=GunFox;24035419]Oh fuck off, Mecca. Our British friends gets to be GMT because they came up with the remarkably nifty method of determining longitude using time.[/QUOTE] Wasn't it the Dutch who did that first?
[QUOTE=Devodiere;24035452]Wasn't it the Dutch who did that first?[/QUOTE] [quote=Article]After all, Greenwich Mean Time was established arbitrarily a long time ago simply because Britain was a maritime power at the time.[/quote]
It's an interesting feat of engineering, but it ain't gonna replace the classic GMT, no siree. That shit's been around for centuries already, and it's got plenty of millennia left 'till it's replaced by Centauri Time. But still, it's a cool clock, even if it is effectively a piece of religious propaganda, still a nice piece of art. Bit worrying that it dwarfs their giant stone of Mecca at the heart of the temple, though.
[QUOTE=starpluck;24035459]After all, Greenwich Mean Time was established arbitrarily a long time ago simply because Britain was a maritime power at the time.[/QUOTE] Not the point but according to Wikipedia I'm half right. Gemma Frisius (Dutch) came up with the idea of using clocks and had it working on land but it wasn't so good at sea. Then John Harrison made an accurate clock for use at sea and it was largely implemented by the British.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.