Have you ever asked a person what the time is. Of course you have. And assuming the person isn't wearing a watch or a very small sundial (Energy saving at it's best), you will get a quick and correct answer.
But try asking a person what day it is. Their response is likely to be a befuddled look, strained thinking and possible cries of "witch". This is where the watchtopus comes in. No it doesn't allow you to squirt ink in the face of said person (Although I may remember that for future ideas). The octopus reference is that it has many hands. Yes I am aware that octopi do not actually have any hands but that isn't really the issue nor do I in fact care about it. This would be a watch with several faces to it each telling you something else.
There would be a standard face with seconds, minutes and hours. Another with hands representing days of the week, the day of the month and month of the year. The third face would have four hands representing the four numbers of the current year. You would never again not know the precise point of the year that you are at.
More high-range versions could also include all number of other dials. a barometer, a speedometer (for really fast people), blood pressure and heart rate, (for "gravitationally challenged" people), a compass (for lost people and bored people) or the dial equivalent of a magic-eight ball with a button to control it (for idiots and bored people).-- hidden truths, Jan 12 2005 a larger version http://www.geocitie...ie/bicyclockle.html [FarmerJohn, Jan 12 2005] I like the idea, but I think that if you want to have hands that show what day of the month it is, since the number of days in a month change, it would either need to be digital, or the cogs inside would need to change size every month.-- fridge duck, Jan 12 2005 An unfortunate over-sight on my part. My opinion of this is that the Watchtopus would include a feature that allowsit to "leap notches" so to speak on the watch, for example on the passing from February to March of a normal year it would jump straight from 28 to 1. The same could also apply to jumping hours on the days when the clocks go forward or backward an hour. Because, lets face it, winding a watch with x number of hands would be somewhere between awkward and brain-flattening. Not sure about time-zones though, possibly a GPRS chip that detects what time-zone it is in and ajusts the watch automatically-- hidden truths, Jan 12 2005 When someone stops you and asks what time it is, saying that they're pressed for time; smile and say see for yourself. The person enters your personal space and Zap! zap! zap! zap! zap! zap! zap! zap!
Eight slimy arms with suction cups jump out from an extra wide watchband, grab the persons head and start squeezing/pressing it against the watch crystal, in a hug for old time's sake.-- mensmaximus, Jan 12 2005 [mensmaximus] if I didn't think you were a potentially deranged and dangerous cyberstalker, I would make some cutting comparison between your brain and a cephalopod's, such is the annoyance / sympathy / annoyance I feel at your annotations.-- ConsulFlaminicus, Jan 13 2005 {Con}, how you dog me these past thousand years it seems, like some albatross around my neck. I've fixed the typos, you're just covering for UB while he writes a million dollar script about us all.
You find three dots flying around on a phosphor screen intimidating?-- mensmaximus, Jan 13 2005 Setting this thing would be a b**ch. I hope the batteries last a long time.-- phundug, Jan 13 2005 Make it kinetic and you won't have to set it after every battery change.
[FJ], great illustration. hahahaa.-- Machiavelli, Jan 13 2005 Churn, churn churn... well, I laughed lots, anyway. Very HB.-- moomintroll, Aug 07 2006 sp. octopuses (octopus is third-declension Greek, not second-declension Latin, so original plural = "octopodes", like "antipodes", but English doesn't usually stretch to that).-- pertinax, Jun 01 2007 sp. octopoo-- fridge duck, Jun 01 2007 Hmm...that makes me wonder whether or not I could get away with an 'Octopurses' idea without a Pun MFD.-- hidden truths, Jun 04 2007 A herd of Octopen.
[hidden truths] I think there is one already.-- marklar, Jun 04 2007 random, halfbakery