Murphy's Law of Engine-Idling Duration

"If you leave your vehicle's engine running during a delay in proceeding (traffic-jam, road construction, accident-resolution, "stuck" red signal-light, etc.), you will be sitting there for many minutes, just wasting gas. The instant you turn the key off and climb out of your seat to stretch, however, THAT'S when the line of traffic will begin moving again, and thus you will have shut off your engine "for nothing", AND you will now be holding up everyone behind you while you hastily hop back into the driver's seat and re-start the engine so that you can move forward again."

I finally took da plunge and bought a second-hand Toyota Prius because I'd eventually had one too many cases of Murphy's Law of Engine-Idling Duration... the Prius automatically shuts down its power during stand-stills, and then uses its electric motor to provide instant mobility as soon as you're ready to go again.

by QuacksO October 20, 2018

Durationing

Putting yourself in a binbag to meditate when feeling excited or stressed.

I'm feeling really overwhelmed. I think I will go durationing.

by Kpeanut21 July 2, 2023

Long-Duration Motion Machines

Long-Duration Motion Machines are hypothetical devices designed to operate for extremely long periods without external energy input, while still respecting known conservation laws and thermodynamics. Unlike perpetual motion machines, they do not claim infinite operation or energy creation. Instead, they rely on ultra-slow energy dissipation, delayed equilibration, environmental energy harvesting, or probabilistic and extraphysical mechanisms. The key distinction is that long-duration machines eventually stop, while perpetual motion machines violate physical laws by claiming endless motion or energy output. These machines are often discussed in theoretical engineering, speculative physics, and borderline scientific proposals.

Long-Duration Motion Machines — Example

A hypothetical machine uses ultra-low-friction components, cosmic background radiation harvesting, and delayed thermal equilibration to keep moving for millions of years. It never produces excess energy and slowly loses motion over astronomical timescales. Unlike a perpetual motion machine, it obeys thermodynamics but exploits environmental and probabilistic factors to extend operation far beyond conventional machines.

by AbzuInExile January 24, 2026

Short-Duration Motion

Movement that happens so quickly you barely register it, from the blink of an eye to the snap of a finger to the moment your phone slides off the table and you fail to catch it. Short-duration motion is the realm of reflexes, instinct, and regret—the split second when you realize you've said something stupid and watch the other person's face change in slow motion, even though the actual motion was fast. It's the temporal home of accidents, epiphanies, and the exact moment a toast lands butter-side down.

Example: "The short-duration motion of the car accident lasted less than a second, but he replayed it for months—the screech, the impact, the airbag. His therapist said that's normal: short events, long consequences. He said he'd prefer shorter consequences and longer events, like a nice vacation."

by Abzugal February 14, 2026

Medium-Duration Motion

Movement that unfolds over minutes, hours, or days—the commute to work, the slow crawl of a deadline, the gradual realization that the person you're dating is not who you thought they were. Medium-duration motion is the rhythm of daily life, too fast to be geological, too slow to be instantaneous, just right for watching paint dry or grass grow or a relationship deteriorate in slow motion. It's the temporal scale of human experience, where most of life happens and most of it is waiting.

*Example: "The medium-duration motion of his morning routine was carefully optimized: 12 minutes for coffee, 8 for shower, 15 for pretending to read the news while actually scrolling social media. When his therapist asked why he scheduled his life to the minute, he said it was the only way to feel in control of a universe that was, at larger scales, completely indifferent."*

by Abzugal February 14, 2026

Long-Duration Motion

Movement that occurs over years, decades, or centuries—the drift of continents, the erosion of mountains, the slow transformation of a person from eager youth to jaded adult. Long-duration motion is the realm of glaciers, grief, and gradual change, too slow to perceive in real time but undeniable when you look back. It's why your parents seem to have aged overnight (they didn't, you just weren't paying attention) and why the photo of you from ten years ago looks like a different person (it was, basically).

Example: "He didn't notice the long-duration motion of his own aging until he saw a photo from college. The person in the photo had more hair, fewer worries, and a smile that hadn't yet learned what the world was like. He stared for a long time, then went for a walk, aware that even as he walked, he was still moving through time, becoming someone else."

by Abzugal February 14, 2026

Long-Duration Motion Machines

The natural and artificial systems that move things across geological timescales—glaciers that carve valleys over millennia, tectonic plates that rearrange continents over eons, and human institutions that change so slowly they might as well be geological. Long-duration motion machines include the slowly shifting course of rivers, the gradual uplift of mountains, and the federal government, which moves with approximately the same speed and predictability as a continent, just with more paperwork.

Example: "She studied glaciers as long-duration motion machines, watching them inch forward year after year, carving landscapes with patience that humans cannot fathom. When her grant was delayed by government bureaucracy—another long-duration motion machine—she found the irony unbearable. The glacier, she noted, was faster."

by Abzugal February 14, 2026