Obama’s arrived in Turkey just in time to catch a free exhibition on time. Of course, I doubt he’ll be going, though he is pictured above with the Turkish president (who speaks English, unlike the PM), with a grand 19th century clock between them. (Photo: CNNTurk).

The most moving  part of the exhibition for me was learning that Ottoman time, or Islamic time, was actually set based on the light available, and not standardized like European time. So 5am in July had the same amount of light as 5am in December, while in European time I think most of us will agree that there is no light at 5am in December, or at 8am for that matter.

Obama’s timeless message ways rings true with the “can’t we all just get along’ maxium. As Twitter writer Thandelike surmised: “I’m not naive,” Obama said to Turkish univeristy students today, ”but what things we all share are more important than what makes us different.”

Agreed. I wish that we could all just adjust our clocks back to Ottoman time frame. Standardization of time may have led to more meetings being arranged and better understanding, but who wouldn’t love to keep their biological clock adjusted to the amount of light.

How’s that for a loose association between time, standarized time zones, Turkey, free events in Istanbul and Obama.