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But time is more than just a ruler. It is actually a physical dimension. By physical, I suppose I mean existential, in that it exists independently of any particular perception of it. But it's not a spatial dimension, in the way we think of left-right or up-down.
That, and time really isn't constant. The faster you go, the more time slows down. Think about this:
Two twins synchronize their super-accurate watches. One kicks back here on earth, drinking margaritas and watching T.V. The other climbs into a spacecraft and zips around the galaxy for what he thinks is a year. The only catch: he does it at close to the speed of light.
He gets back when his watch says he's been gone a year. But when he sees his twin, his twin's watch says he's been gone fifty years. And yet both of them are correct.
The closer you get to the speed of light, the greater the differential. The further you are from the speed of light, the lesser the differential. But what this does mean is that time passes more slowly for someone on top of Mount Everest (faster velocity due to the rotation of the earth) than it does for someone at sea level.
It's just a negligible difference, so no one notices. Read the relativity section of Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe" for more.
I know I gave a physics answer in a philosophy forum, but there you go.
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"We must have waffles. We must all have waffles, forthwith. Oh, we must think.
We must all have waffles and think, each and every one of us to the very best of his ability."
-- Professor Goldthwait Higginson Dorr, Ph.D.
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