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Probabilistic Clock

By purepedantry on January 29, 2007.

When I was a kid my Mom would always set the clock in the car forward about 15 minutes arguing that if she did that she would never be late. First of all, we were always early -- sometimes ridiculously so -- regardless of the clock. Second, I was always a bit skeptical of this strategy because you knew how far it was forward, and you could mentally calculate the real time. Furthermore, there are a lot more clocks in the average persons life than just the one in their car.

Anyway, to solve the issue of mental calculation Lifehacker has this web gadget -- a probabilistic clock. The time is randomly moved forward between 0 and 15 minutes ahead of the actually time, so you don't know exactly how far it is ahead. Unfortunately, it is only available as a web program, so I can't have it installed in my Mom's car.

Hat-tip: Crooked Timber.

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Technology

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