So, I thought I might give whatever reader base I have left a little glimpse into the mundane thought life of Mike Van Gilst. This is a good example of the kind of stuff I ponder throughout the day, particularly when I’m waiting for my roomate to get out of the shower so I can use it.

Why is it that 12 o’clock noon is “p.m.” and 12 o’clock midnight is “a.m.”? It would seem to me that it should be the exact opposite. If 1-11 are all members of a.m., for example, why is it that 12 jumps to p.m.? It seems clear to me that 12 isn’t the beginning of anything new, but rather a continuation of the old, which would imply that 12 noon should remain with the a.m. crowd. Even though it is still the 12th hour of the day, if we call it p.m., in actuality it is the 1st hour of the afternoon, so it really should be called “0 noon” (unless we go by those misfits who use military time). So I propose that we start a revolution, that we rid ourselves of all our misleading and fact-distorting clocks and watches to replace them with timepieces that tell the truth. I propose one of two possibilities: 1 - we start calling 12 noon “a.m.” and 12 midnight “p.m.”, or 2 - we get rid of the number 12 on our clocks altogether and replace it with “0 hour” (”half past 0″, “0:15″, “I’ll meet you at 5 of 0″, etc). If you ask me, it is time for a change (get it?).