Rudy postulates:
 >>Time ran slower back then ..and the force of gravity was lower. 
That's why
we can't take time to build that way any more.and all of the structural
members have to be bigger.<<

Actually they had a completely different kind of time back then: Event 
Time. Event time is based on the physical stuff around us. For example, 
the earth rotates in relation to the sun so a common event time is the 
day. There actually is no "length" or "faster" or "slower" to at event 
in event time.

Clock time is a concept from the mind of man. It's units do have length 
or duration and are often subdivide incrementally, hours, minutes, 
nano-seconds, etc.

If you are a tradesperson (and perhaps even if you are not), you have 
experienced and recognize event time. Say you are making 2 wood frame 
cupboard doors with mortise and tenon joints. You have the stiles and 
rails cut out and stacked up on the bench. You glance at the shop clock 
and think, "OK 8:00am 8 M&T joints to layout and cut by hand, that takes 
30 minutes per joint, 4 hours, so I should be done by 12:00." (This is 
clock time thinking.) You begin, at first the work goes smoothly, you're 
really "into it." The grain is a little twisted at the end of some of 
the tenons, so it's careful going. The next thing you know your done, 
the mortise and tenons all look good. You glance up at the clock and 
it's 1:30. It's way past noon, what happened? It feels like the time 
just 'evaporated.' (This is and event time feeling.) Well, clock time 
did evaporate, and you were on event time. The event was 
'cut-and-layout-8-M&T-joints.'  Event time is real and very powerful. 
Event time has the power to overcome distraction. You didn't even notice 
that you were hungry when 12:00pm clock time slipped by. Event time 
gives you the power of concentration. You were able to accurately cut 
and fit 8 M&T joints by hand, not a common feat. Event time gives you 
the power to re-shape a basic material meant to hold leaves high in the 
air, so it performs a completely different purpose. Where does all this 
power come from? Well, in event time you are connected to some mighty 
powerful and universal forces like those that rotate the entire earth 
and gravity that ties the earth to the sun. When you work with materials 
that come from the earth, like wood and stone your connection to those 
forces is particularly strong.

Clock time was not common until the mid-nineteenth century, and even 
then most people ignored clock time until the twentieth century. After 
about the mid-twentieth century practically everyone was paying 
attention to clock time and governing their daily lives by the hour and 
minute. Clock time was invented and promoted by the corporations, whose 
purpose is to distract us from the very powerful event time so they can 
use us for their own purposes. You know what I'm talking about. Buy the 
alarm clock made in the corporate factory so you can wake up and get to 
work by 8:00am (not 8:06am) so you can make make alarm clocks, which the 
corporation will sell to you so they can capture the value of your life 
for their own purposes. Over the past two to four centuries they have 
been so effective at this that clock time has become the new reality.

So, there was a gradual shift from event time to clock time that took 
place from about 1850 to 2000. You may have noticed that during that 
same time the quality and character of our buildings declined. As we 
lived less in event time and more in clock time we built poorer and 
poorer buildings. When we work on buildings that were built when event 
time was in sway, the buildings respond and the work goes smoother and 
turns out better when we do our physical trades work in event time.

There is now this very fundamental conflict between clock time and event 
time on every building preservation project. To do best work the 
tradespeople need to work in event time, but the project is almost 
always organized, managed and paid for in clock time. Not only that, but 
the entire surrounding and supporting society operates largely in clock 
time. Not much happens to preserve old buildings without doing business 
and the common business model depends almost entirely on clock time, so 
to do preservation you have to do business and use clock time.

As an independent tradesman over the decades I have developed the knack 
of shifting from event time to clock time readily, doing effective 
trades work in event time, and effective business in clock time. As a 
project manager and worksite problem solver I have often used the 
event/clock time relationship to move the project along.

How do you use event time and clock time in your preservation work?

Ken, how does event time and clock time play out in preservation estimating?

John
(I have typed this essay with my hands, which are happy to be busy. This 
essay took one Time&TradesEssay, or .9 hrs., to write. I know that using 
a Time&TradesEssay of time to do this because my heart says it is good. 
I can justify using .9hrs because my mind says it is good business if I 
use it as a topic handout when I give the Business Side for Preservation 
Tradespeople workshop at the Preservation Education Institute in 
September.)

--
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