Talk:Hourglass

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Anyone got any better pictures of an hourglass?

Contents 1 Hourglass album 2 Egg timer 3 cursors 4 18 hourglasses? 5 Related terms 6 Glassmaking in Europe 7 Modern symbolic use 8 Historical usage

[edit] Hourglass album

There is an album called Hourglass by James Taylor not mentioned with "Hourglass". There is a link for an hourglass single record, but it would seem wierd to place two links at the top of a page like that. Instead, due to me being inexperenced and problably mess it up, can someone make a disambiguation page or, if it seems ok, just place it under the other hourglass link. Thx, Nickmaster 22:19, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Egg timer

Firstly should hourglass be merged with egg timer, and secondly there seem to be differing opinions on the root of the term egg timer.

[edit] cursors

interestingly it does not mention the use of hourglasses as a signal for busy in operating systems —The preceding unsigned comment was added by SleweD (talk • contribs) 13:36, 9 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] 18 hourglasses?

The examples section says a ship captain carried 18 hourglasses aboard. What could the function of having so many be? - Mpnolan 04:37, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Without accurate timekeeping on a ship in the open ocean it's much more difficult to estimate position. A ship that was relying on an hourglass could not afford to be without one. (The article says they were for the ship's log, but that's incidental, and perhaps not correct.) So, there would "backup" hourglasses, if the ones in use broke. Also, for most accurate timing (I don't know if this was done), the best thing would be to take 2 or 3 hourglasses and average the time the sand ran out between them. (This was done with early mechanical clocks, so it's reasonable to assume it was done with hourglasses.) Taking duplicate hourglasses and need for backup in account (Magellen would have had no way to replace the hourglasses during his years at sea) 18 might be a prudent number to take.

Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (talk) 21:11, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

What a useful insight that could be included in the article -- do you have any citations for that? --Yamara ✉ 14:44, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

The source, as I remember, is one of the books describing John Harrison and his clocks to resolve "the longitude problem". To achieve more accurate timekeeping, one of the things done was to keep more than one clock and average their times.

I remember the same technique being applied to sandglasses, but I can't be sure that was said. We'll avoid original research, but it can't have escaped hourglass makers and customers that hourglasses didn't have consistent time betweem them, and that there was an easy way to reconcile them.

I'll try to get something more definite. Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (talk) 01:45, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Related terms

I'm not so sure if there should be a 'related terms' section - shouldn't this be covered in the disambiguation? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.114.176.214 (talk) 04:56, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I've removed it, but I post what it had here:

Related terms

"Hourglass figure" is a slang term for woman with a narrow waist and full hips and bust.

The "hourglass model" is a project research approach (Trochim, W.M.K, 2005). The hourglass model starts with a broad spectrum for research, focusing in on the required information through the methodology of the project (like the neck of the hourglass), then expands the research in the form of discussion and results.

—Yamara ✉ 07:14, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Glassmaking in Europe

Glassmaking in Europe goes back to at least Roman times, so probably what the article should read is that glassmaking for hourglasses was brought to Europe by the Venetians?

Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (talk) 21:11, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

I think that's a legacy bit from before I hacked at the article. Needs something, but be careful: I've come across mentions of hourglasses being put into Roman statues restored during the Renaissance, which couldn't have had them in the original. Roman glass is probably heavier and more opaque than the blown glass needed for hourglasses, but that's just a fuzzy recollection while I'm typing here. —Yamara ✉ 00:46, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Modern symbolic use

I've restored most of the Days of Our Lives stuff for reasons mentioned in the edit summary. It's hardly peacockery: most of that is historic perspective on symbolism. Personally, I could care less about soap operas, but I haven't been able to avoid that opening meme since I was small. (Non-Americans may have avoided it altogether.) Also, the computer icon bit is now better, but almost strays a little off-topic near the end. —Yamara ✉ 00:46, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

The date could be useful after a fashion. (Actually, it might be interesting to know how quickly clocks phased hourglasses out, given that early clocks were expensive and didn't necessarily keep good time. Hmmm.)

The hourglass symbol has been used on other computers, which is why the word "Windows" specifically was avoided, but on consideration about 99% of readers will not have used them, or even heard of them, so perhaps being exact is more confusing than helpful.

Regards,

Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (talk) 06:43, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Historical usage

I'm adding a quote to give a broader historical context (and replacing in History that it was only used back as far as the 11th century). This source seems fairly dispassionate, knowledgable and detailed, but there are bound to be better. "The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar"

Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (talk) 00:56, 12 May 2008 (UTC)