The television interviewer, having taken a full ninety seconds to plumb the depths of some complicated issue like abortion or the Supreme Court nominating process with two people representing opposing viewpoints, turns to one and says, "We're just about out of time. George, in the fifteen seconds we have left, just what is the future of Western civilization as you see it?"

"We're just about out of time." If we think of it as more than a code phrase from television, meaning a commercial is coming soon, it sounds just a little ominous, doesn't it? How does being near the end change things? How much time do we get, exactly? Is there any chance that — like the television interviewer — we will know when our time has just about expired, or will it sneak up on us, surprising us from behind, like…