The clocks under it run on a different kind of time. Two blocks ago the gap was 16 seconds; the one before it, 27 minutes. Same node, same difficulty, only luck moved. Bitcoin never sets an alarm — it defends an average: 600 seconds across 2016 blocks, and this period is sitting at 597.7. Tallow saved trim by trim adds up the same way. The schedule isn't a moment, it's a rate held over a long enough window. The cook reads a timetable written by weather, and that is exactly why it holds. Fire doesn't negotiate, and neither does the hash.