Before Smartphones, There Was Water
GETTING OUT OF BED LONG BEFORE THE SNOOZE BUTTON
Members of Generation Z may find it difficult to believe that people used plug-in alarm clocks to help them get up on time in the morning. However, that seemingly archaic means of timekeeping has nothing on how people managed wake-up time before cellphones and even electricity, as we use it today, became staples of daily life. In the 4th century BCE, the Greek philosopher Plato created a method to ensure students at his academy, which once counted Aristotle among its pupils, woke up at the correct time each day. To perfect a foolproof system, he turned to a surprising tool: water. He constructed a set of clocks that operated using two basins. One basin would slowly empty into the other throughout the night; when the second basin was full, rattling pebbles or whistling air awakened students from their slumber. Known as klepsydra (or “water thief”) clocks, these timekeepers were astonishingly accurate. About a century later, Greek inventor Ctesibius of Alexandria expanded on Plato’s design by incorporating mechanics that produced sounds not unlike those of the more modern cuckoo clock. Ctesibius’s version remained popular until the pendulum clock emerged in the 1650s.
Although Plato often gets credit for creating aquatic- based alarms, some variation of the klepsydra concept allegedly dates back to at least the 16th century BCE. Archaeologists uncovered a tomb inscription detailing how an Egyptian court official of the era devised a similar system. Regardless of its definitive
inventor, the water clock roused people long before phone apps, proving that nature often provides solutions to problems centuries before human technology catches up. While the water clock was undoubtedly an imaginative masterstroke, it is still reasonable to argue that the “snooze” button remains the most critical time-related creation known to man.
Ice Cream in Your Pocket?
YOU CAN’T EVEN MAKE UP THESE STRANGE FOOD RULES
Finger-Licking Fun … or Else!
When it comes to state laws about food, specific provisions on the books from past years may leave a funny taste in your mouth, and potentially get you in a heap of trouble if you break them. This fact is especially true in parts of the South, where your lunch order may need to come with a side of legal advice. Cones and Captured Horses If you want to stay on the good side of law enforcement in Alabama, always remember that ice cream cones are for licking, not sticking in your back pocket. While it’s pretty safe to assume the thought of engaging in the latter activity hasn’t crossed a single mind in 2025, there was a time when horse thieves would stick ice cream in their pockets to attract equine abductees. Considering that we rarely share the highway with horses these days and most people would prefer not to turn the seat of their pants into a sundae, it’s a safe bet this charge won’t fill up courtrooms for the foreseeable future.
On the subject of making a mess with food items, eating chicken with your hands can be a sticky thrill — and is the only way to partake in poultry eating
without running a-fowl of the law in Gainesville, Georgia. If you want to enjoy tasty chicken in that city, stock up on wet wipes and skip the knife and fork, as eating it with utensils is a crime. Although the ordinance banning knives
and forks when consuming chicken was meant as a joke
by the local police department, chucking the rule may draw some disapproving clucks when dining in the place affectionately known by locals and city officials as “the Poultry
Capital of the World,” especially during its renowned Spring Chicken Festival. Perhaps only a good lawyer can help determine whether
the law also applies to vegan “chik’n” options.
2 • FlattmannLaw.com
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