UPDATE: Looks like the clock has ticked to 11:59 p.m. tonight. Read the latest here.
Remember the Doomsday Clock? It was established by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago in 1947. It reflects the proximity of the world to nuclear annihilation – midnight – by the use of an analog clock, with the minute hand moving forward or backward in response to international nuclear tensions. The clock has hovered between 11:43 p.m. and 11:58 p.m. since its inception.
As I was reading the Detroit Free Press article today about last-ditch negotiations between the musicians and management of the Detroit Symphony, the phrase “eleventh hour” popped into my head, followed by the image of the Doomsday Clock. There has been little news out of Detroit for most of the month of September, following a massive PR push by the musicians at the end of August into the beginning of September. I would reckon that the Detroit Doomsday Clock is hovering right now around 11:45, and that it will approach closest to midnight as the first concert of the season (on October 8th) comes nigh.