Nick wrote:

Proper time isn't a timerate at all. It is the fact
that observing your own clock alone you can't tell
if it has slowed. Proper time is only the appearence
of your own "clock."

If you saw the stay at home clocks; the clocks
that are not moving *through space* rapidly
as you are; you could tell your time is slower
by comaprison.

Let's analyze this a bit.

Scenario A:
Alice stays at home, and Bob takes off at the high speed of .96c.
After 700 seconds, Bob looks at Alice's clock and his own. His own
clock reads 700 seconds * sqrt(1 - .96^2), which is 196 seconds.

Right
now, Alice's clock reads 700 seconds, but that's not what Bob sees.
Bob has traveled 672 light-seconds away from Alice, so it takes the
light 672 seconds to get to him. So Bob sees that Alice's clock reads
28 seconds.

Scenario B:
Bob stays at home, and Alice takes off at the high speed of .96c.
After 196 seconds, Bob looks at Alice's clock and his own. His own
clock reads 196 seconds. Right now, Alice's clock reads 196 seconds *
sqrt(1 - .96^2), which is 54.88 seconds, but that's not what Bob sees.
Alice has traveled far away from Bob, so it takes the light time to get
to him. Let t represent the time when the light starts to head to Bob.
At this time, Alice is a distance .96ct away from Bob. The light
takes a time of .96t to get from Alice to Bob. The total time elapsed
between the time Alice leaves and the time Bob sees the light is equal
to both t + .96t and 196 seconds, which means that t = 100 seconds is
the time the light leaves Alice's clock. At this time, Alice's clock
reads 100 seconds * sqrt(1 - .96^2), which is 28 seconds. This is what
Bob sees when he reads Alice's clock.

Proper time isn't a timerate at all. It is the fact
that observing your own clock alone you can't tell
if it has slowed.