Ten minutes. To most of us, ten minutes seems like a very brief period of time. Not long enough to do much of anything. However, ten minutes is ample time for a shower. A steak can usually be barbecued in ten minutes or less. And a healthy person can easily walk more than half a mile in ten minutes. At freeway speeds, ten minutes can take you more than ten miles.

But try waiting alone on a street corner in the middle of the night, and you'll discover that ten minutes can seem like a long, long time.