Intermezzo #29 Timestamp

"A timestamp is a sequence of characters, denoting the date and/or time at which a certain event occurred. A timestamp is the time at which an event is recorded by a computer, not the time of the event itself. In many cases, the difference may be inconsequential: the time at which an event is recorded by a timestamp (e.g., entered into a log file) should be very, very close to the time of the occurrence of the event recorded." (Wikipedia)

When was it I heard this song for the first time?

In 2002 Casio came in Japan with the First Tough Solar Waveceptor model, the GW-300. Soon a new generation of these watches followed, like the MTG-920D, MTG-930D, GW-700, etc. Although there were many different models and versions, they all had the basically functions. One of the new functions on these models that appeared was the “Time Memo” function.

I think this is one of the strangest functions that could be found on a watch. So what does the Time Memo function do. When you press the upper right button (you can’t miss, it’s marked with “Time Memo”). At that moment the time and date are stored into a memory. The memory of the watch can store up to 30 “Timestamps”.

It sounds good, this Time Memo function, but what can you do with it? For myself, I didn’t had any idea when I got my first. The Time Memo also replaced my so loved Count Down Timer function. When you work on a lab, a countdown timer is a very useful instrument when working on several experiments. The alarm at the end of the Count Down time is pretty essential. The Time Memo doesn’t give a signal. It is just a number, a date and a time. After about 8 years, I still didn’t have a use for this function, though I have read several suggestions over the years.

What to think about: Record the time you start and end working, or when you go to work and get home, start sporting and stop, etc. Hmm, nice, but the watch got a 24h stopwatch. You don’t have to calculate the elapsed time and also, you don’t have to remember what number your Timestamp has.

Somehow the Timestamp does make me think of hospital series like ER. The birth or death of a human being is often recorded. I remember when Bram was born, the doctor said, please write on the documents 10 minutes before 11 (10:50 a.m.). When you see someone die in a hospital in a television show, the doctor always says “Time of death, ….” Or in forensic series they always talk about “Estimated Time of Death”. Right, maybe that are good occasions to use a Timestamp, but be honest, unless you are a doctor with a high birth or death rate, how often will you use this function?

 Some of my Tough Solar Waveceptor models that have the "Time Memo" function.

Over the years, members on the G-Shock forum came with some ideas for the Time Memo Function. Freediver told once he used it to record the time he gave his children medication when they were seriously ill. There had to be a certain time span between the medications, to prevent medication poisoning. A good idea, but why not use the 24 hour Stopwatch, unless you want to record more than one “Timestamp”.

The most funny use for the “Timestamp“ came from Leewmeister. This is the text he posted on the G-Shock forum: “My '86 Toyota Tercel wagon clicked over 210,000 miles this morning at 08:04:11 AM!  My last legitimate use for the timestamp was on 06 May 2005 at 12:32:55 PM when she made 200,000 miles”. Well, I can’t argue with that. That’s a useful function. The use of the Timestamp is good for rare occasions, like these.

Just over a month ago Mickeymoto posted a very clever use for the Timestamp. “I listen to the radio often and I use the timestamp feature on occasion to mark the time I heard a new song I liked so later I could check the playlist and find out what it was.” That’s a real useful idea. I often listen to the radio station called Studio Brussel. This radio station is known worldwide for it’s music. They often play music that can’t be heard anywhere else or months before other radio station pick up the music. Studio Brussel also have an on-line playlists. Using Shazam is not an option. The music is sometimes so new, it has not even distributed on any source yet. I think this is the only real good use I have seen for the Time Memo function (although, I still like Leewmeisters idea too) up to date. In fact, Mikeymoto’s post inspired me to make this small article. Do you think you have a good use for a “Timestamp? Well, share it with us by writing a comment on this article. Meanwhile, enjoy G!