john_v_h

From an obituary in today's SF Chronicle:
I'm not so interested in the magical thinking of this obituary (the clock was stopped by Otto's spirit) as by its assertion that the act was a "gift." What sort of stingy gift is that? Wouldn't it be better to make hundred-dollar bills rain down from the ceiling?

Spanky

(the clock was stopped by Otto's spirit) as by its assertion that the act was a "gift." What sort of stingy gift is that? Wouldn't it be better to make hundred-dollar bills rain down from the ceiling?

Now that is the type of humor I come here for (not sarcastic)!

Boomeister

Hey, I have to admit that the wording "gift" is bizarre. However, when my mother's friend passed away, her clock stopped working as well. Kind of spooky. Is there any explanation for that phenomenon?


Boomeister

DISSIDENT AGGRESSOR

Otto could've rig it with a remote control or some else by his side more than likely.
Or maybe ugly ole' Aunt Minnie did it, afterall she was so ugly her face could...

Sarpedon

Its customary in many cultures to stop clocks when people die. Most likely someone else did it and attributed it to spooks.

thegdin

maybe the clock was plugged into the same outlet as poor ottos life support.

john_v_h

Yes. When the clock's owner is sick or dead the clock tends to be neglected. Old-fashioned clocks will run down without attention. The clock might happen to stop around the time of death purely by coincidence. If it stops some time earlier or later, as has been pointed out, someone may reset the hour to the time of death as a memorial or prank.

rachmanfan

That was funny!!!

If no one has said so yet, welcome to the boards.
I noticed you are 99.99% atheist. So what God(s) does the 0.01% believe in?

thegdin

thnx for the welcome. the .01 doesnt believe in any god or gods. its just an acknowledgment that i could be wrong. perhaps i should have put 99.99999999999999999%.

Valdemar

I concur. My father is a clock-builder, using old movements that require winding (pulling the chains on the weights). If he doesn't do it on the clocks that are around, it just doesn't get done, and I believe he does it once a day, at least. Not to mention that the clocks need constant attention to keep them functioning properly. If they aren't set on a level surface, they will stop intermittently. If he lets them run out, they are hard to start again. He claims that polar orientation is also important because of the Coriolis Effect. All in all, I'd say he has to tinker with his clocks several times a day to keep them running.

He sings this song that goes something like "they stopped, short, never to go again when the old man died" which refers to clocks.

The odds of a clock stopping SOMEWHERE around the time of my dad's death (which I hope is a long way off), is probably pretty good.

Oddly, his clocks always seem to stop when he goes on vacation. It's as if they "know" he's gone.