^Deozaan & IainB -- OK I suppose an apology is in order for the taped clock joke. I kind of imagined the unfixable wall clock as sort of a mutually common denominator between computer programming and time. But I realize I left out some helpful hints, such as that the clock would need to be hanging on a wall in someone's residence, or garage, or business, or say, a college professor's typically cluttered office, to be seen as a sort of 'standing joke', a teaser to invoke friendly conversational overtures. Even at that, I have to admit it's a bit of a stretch. The 'ha ha' part could at least be left out, to help avoid offending anyone. By the way, I broke our kitchen wall clock about a month ago while replacing the AA battery. It slipped through my fingers and fell about one foot or 1/3rd meter onto the kitchen table; really not far at all. But after resetting the time and finally getting it to stay put on the wall, there the clock hands stayed stuck 'forever' at eight minutes to twelve.
