NaibofTabr

I can't think of any particular reason that would be worth lying about.

Hmm, I wonder... our current standard of time might end up being the standard for a long time, primarily because of GPS. Before we had global data networks it wasn't really possible to syncronize clocks all around the world. There used to be a telephone service that you could dial which would tell you "The time is now eight fifty-five PM" or w/e because that was the most effective way to distribute a coordinated time signal, and then you could manually set your local clock/watch to match.

But GPS depends heavily on accurate time information, and keeping it accurate is very complicated. Relativitistic time dilation applies because the satellites are:

1. far enough away from Earth (~20000km) that they experience different gravity than devices on Earth's surface, causing local time for the satellite to be be faster, and
2. moving so fast in their orbit that they experience a measurable slowing of local time.

(that's right, using GPS on your phone is a real-world demonstration of the theory of relativity in practical effect)

..and all those satellites are constantly checking in with each other and ground stations to make sure they're in agreement.

As a result there is now a de facto standard time reference for the entire world, and all networked devices depend on it for their own timing, and it is accurate to microseconds at worst.

100 years ago people were still winding mechanical clocks every day, and setting them by the local churchbell.

Sure, if you only want to fire it once and you don't really care if it hits what you're aiming at.

Er, so this woman is... spending a lot of time thinking about trans kids undressing? is that the takeaway?

That's weird. She's weird.

Seems like a lowball offer.

Yes but doing so is a lot more complicated and error-prone. Most people don't have metal smithing equipment at home, or the space or training to use it to manufacture a useful gun. Plus operating an unregistered firearm is illegal in most places.

By contrast you can just buy an ammo reload kit with all the necessary tools. You can do this at a dining table or a desk or a kitchen counter, it doesn't take a lot of space, and you can learn to do it in an afternoon. And it's legal in the US to own those kits and pack your own ammo, and you don't need a license to reload for personal use, only for distributing.

"You know what Mega City One is, Dredd?"

"800 million people living in the ruin of the old world and the mega structures of the new one..."

Yeah but can we talk about time?

Our units of temporal measurement, from seconds on up to months, are so complicated, asymmetrical and disjunctive so as to make coherent mental reckoning in time all but impossible. Indeed, had some tyrannical god contrived to enslave our minds to time, to make it all but impossible for us to escape subjection to sodden routines and unpleasant surprises, he could hardly have done better than handing down our present system. It is like a set of trapezoidal building blocks, with no vertical or horizontal surfaces, like a language in which the simplest thought demands ornate constructions, useless particles and lengthy circumlocutions. Unlike the more successful patterns of language and science, which enable us to face experience boldly or at least level-headedly, our system of temporal calculation silently and persistently encourages our terror of time.

...It is as though architects had to measure length in feet, width in meters and height in ells; as though basic instruction manuals demanded a knowledge of five different languages. It is no wonder then that we often look into our own immediate past or future, last Tuesday or a week from Sunday, with feelings of helpless confusion. …

—Robert Grudin, Time and the Art of Living. 

As quoted in the GNU coreurils documentation for date input formats

I got yer lead prescription right here, pal. You won't even have to go to the doctor to get your shots. Take two and call me in the morning.

Hmm, lots of gun nuts make their own ammo though...

Don't ask questions that you don't want to know the answer to.