A Further Explanation

 

It is the Janus hour; it looks back at the day done, and forward to the day anew. It is an end and a beginning. It is zero, the start and finish. Midnight.

I remembered an olden tale, in which we were instructed that the "beasties" come out after midnight. Well, beastie is rather arcane, isn't it? Or maybe Scottish... Yeah. Could definitely be Scottish. Anyway...

So, I thought about it. Not real hard, but for a bit of a while. It occurred to me that if the beasts (it's just easier than beastie) come out after midnight, and midnight is zero hour, then the beasts never really leave us. Right? Tell me I'm wrong.

In that olden tale, the determining factor may have been more about daylight and darkness. But then why "after midnight"? Why not "the beasties only come out after dark"?

While we're around topic, another thing about midnight. Clocks that chime the hour. The only time a clock should chime twelve is at noon. It announces the beginning of the twelfth hour of the AM. But it isn't. It's the beginning of the PM. So, shouldn't the clock strike one time at that hour? And just remain mute at midnight? Because midnight is the zero hour. I still contend that no one knows what the time really is.

So basically, Midnight and other beasts just means this: this is zero hour and all the beast(ie)s that float around it. We start at zero and spin the dial. Clockwise, counter-clockwise... doesn't matter. It's just where we are.

I know this still doesn't actually define what Midnight and other beasts is. It just tells you what the name means. Or at least it's origins.  That's the closest you'll come. Some say "you know, it would be nice if you just produced one cohesive statement, something that pins down the site's whole ethos". Or words to the effect. That would be a... manifesto? Oooh... bad connotation, that. Best to stay away from them.

Alright then. Enough of that. Were you around in 1992? Did you know that was the year that cool died? Yeah, it happened. In case you missed it, from The Death of Cool, 1992, Kitchens of Distinction...

Gone world gone...