Forum menu
Why isn't time deci...
 

Why isn't time decimalised?

Posts: 1096
Full Member
 

Didn't the forum used to embed YouTube vids automatically? Anyway Dave Allen on time.


 
Posted : 24/06/2022 5:54 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

that and the fact that Amercia is mental.

have you seen their time/date format? animals.

Ha, the Americans are mere amateurs here. For off the scale stupidity, I give you Canada which can't quite shake off the influence of the Brits, the French or the big brother south of the border. Not only do they use metric and imperial standards interchangeably, they also have some sort of schizophrenia about date formats and can never decide whether to use dd-mm-yyyy or mm-dd-yyyy.
I remember filling in at least one official immigration form which swapped between date formats part way thru the form (in that case, at least the form told you which format to use). Other forms, you have to guess. And if I get it wrong, my birthday changes from 7/10 to 10/7....
Personally, I now write dates out in YYYY-MM-DD (with the added bonus that Windows can easily sort folders in chronological order if you use that naming standard)


 
Posted : 24/06/2022 6:52 pm
Posts: 31098
Full Member
 

I now write dates out in YYYY-MM-DD

On the side of the robots.


 
Posted : 24/06/2022 6:59 pm
Posts: 1158
Full Member
 

units that are named after people are upper case

Usage in America can differ in this though (e.g. L in US for liters, l or L used elsewhere (for litres).


 
Posted : 24/06/2022 10:44 pm
Posts: 24858
Free Member
 

^ technically the litre isn't really an SI unit which would be the m^3, or potentially the dm^3 (0.1mx0.1mx0.1m)

But the litre is in common enough usage that it is recognised, and then some do L uppercase to avoid confusion between l and 1


 
Posted : 24/06/2022 10:59 pm
Posts: 1158
Full Member
 

Yes, I think L is recommended by NIST for that reason IIRC.


 
Posted : 24/06/2022 11:01 pm
Posts: 12376
Full Member
 

null


 
Posted : 25/06/2022 6:16 am
Posts: 23596
Full Member
 

I have a plan to carve the year into 73 weeks of 5 days. 3 working days a week, 2 day weekend. The weeks are then perfectly divisible into the year so working dates are fixed. Obvs every 4 years we ratchet on a day.

All you need then is a Gormanuary.


 
Posted : 25/06/2022 6:46 am
Posts: 6362
Free Member
 

If we got rid of months then we could abandon the stupid idea that we register cars twice a year and at silly times. If we Started that on Jan 1st then we would have mid year bulges and even Jan first would be quiet if we imposed bank holidays. Do we even need years . If we all started again on day one hw big a number would we reach in days before the world died anyway or more sensibly when theose who invenetd the idea died? Who cares what mess they will be in in 500 years time?


 
Posted : 25/06/2022 7:32 pm
Posts: 4735
Full Member
 

If we're starting again, can we have Christmas every 18 old months please.


 
Posted : 25/06/2022 7:58 pm
Posts: 33979
Full Member
 

our weird rules for Easter

Only weird due to an attempt to crowbar a pagan celebration into a religious celebration which should be fixed.

Join me in my lifelong campaign to get people to use “cm” rather than “CM”.

Obviously a member as it’s something I do as a matter of course.

I have a plan to carve the year into 73 weeks of 5 days. 3 working days a week, 2 day weekend. The weeks are then perfectly divisible into the year so working dates are fixed. Obvs every 4 years we ratchet on a day.

We all get more weekends and less work stress.

Well, I do a five day shift, followed by a four day ‘weekend’, then another five day shift, followed by a five day ‘weekend’, then a four day shift, then another five day ‘weekend’, so about 70 days off a year, but that doesn’t include my annual holiday allowance of twenty five days, plus an extra day off for my birthday, and a ‘well-being’ day, which I can take at any time.

My work days are twelve hours, but the time off makes up for it. 😎


 
Posted : 25/06/2022 8:35 pm
Posts: 24858
Free Member
 

Yes, I think L is recommended by NIST for that reason IIRC.

Do you know / have dealings with NIST?


 
Posted : 25/06/2022 9:03 pm
Posts: 13001
Free Member
 

Join me in my lifelong campaign to get people to use “cm” rather than “CM”.

Obviously a member as it’s something I do as a matter of course.

The ignorance is strong in this thread.

Correct notation below.

Xcm=X0mm or Xcm=0.0Xm


 
Posted : 25/06/2022 9:23 pm
Posts: 1795
Free Member
 

cm a primary school measurement construct...

mm... thats all there is


 
Posted : 26/06/2022 1:57 am
Posts: 31098
Full Member
 

mm is no more a base unit than cm is

both have SI symbols though

by all means have mm as preference for sub 1m measurements, it’s mine as well, by cm isn’t just a “school thing”… it’s especially useful for estimates, where mm suggests an extra level of precision that isn’t appropriate


 
Posted : 26/06/2022 2:04 am
Posts: 9010
Free Member
 

Where's the love for decimetres in s thread about decimalisation?


 
Posted : 26/06/2022 7:56 am
Posts: 24858
Free Member
 

as above, technically the SI unit is the metre, m

cm and mm and km aren't really SI units in the same way, they are all still the metre but with multipliers added to them. c means 1/100, m means 1/1000, k means 1000.

How many can you name? We can all get kilo and nano and maybe even pico and giga and tera, but what about the others? What is 1/100000000000000 of an ampere better known as?

https://www.npl.co.uk/si-units and scroll down to open up the SI multiples list.


 
Posted : 26/06/2022 8:04 am
Posts: 6703
Free Member
 

Because when we decimalised currency sweet shops took the opportunity to baffle 7-year olds and raise prices. 240 penny chews to the pound became 100 😠
As confused adults we really would "work twenty-nine hours a day down mill" ( https://genius.com/Monty-python-four-yorkshiremen-live-lyrics for the rest of the sketch)


 
Posted : 26/06/2022 8:14 am
Posts: 1158
Full Member
 

Do you know / have dealings with NIST?

No, but if I’m writing a paper for publication in a journal I check the journal style guide and NIST is sometimes referenced there in the case of US journals. Whether ml or mL should be used also comes up in the context of student reports and lab write ups. In this context the biggest sin is to mix both styles rather than sticking to one. We also expect a space between the number and the unit, which is sometimes another bone of contention…


 
Posted : 26/06/2022 9:54 am
Posts: 24858
Free Member
 

Ah, just wondered. NIST is a big organisation but equally it's a small world!


 
Posted : 26/06/2022 10:21 am
Posts: 35074
Full Member
 

Do all nations agree on a 12 month calendar system too?

The Hebrew year is 12 months alternating between 29 and 30 days, there's a extra month to take up the slack (Adar) 7 times every 19 year cycle. Also it's the year 5782.

What d'you mean complicated..?


 
Posted : 26/06/2022 11:11 am
Posts: 13594
Free Member
 

We also expect a space between the number and the unit, which is sometimes another bone of contention…

I much prefer a space, just scans more easily. I always add one in all my software tool GUIs etc.


 
Posted : 26/06/2022 11:57 am
Posts: 3558
Free Member
 

Personally I find the time/maritime navigation thing really interesting, especially the history of timepieces developed for exactly that. Longitude by Dava Sobel is well worth a read if you are interested in that sort of thing

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4806.Longitude


 
Posted : 26/06/2022 12:11 pm
Posts: 1410
Free Member
 

dont lets forget degrees. I mean in a circle, not temperature. 100 is enough.
and spokes. why not 10? or 100?


 
Posted : 26/06/2022 8:29 pm
Posts: 23596
Full Member
 

dont lets forget degrees. I mean in a circle, not temperature. 100 is enough.
and spokes. why not 10? or 100?

its about making accurate divisions (and most imperial meausre are about physical dividing something up rather than adding units together)- you can very simply divide a circle into 6 with the tool you drew it with and from there keep dividing accurately.

Time and navigation is all about plotting our place of a spinning sphere circling a sun so again its about accurately and reliably dividing circles.

Mathematics is a language that elegantly describes reality - if you try to make measurement of  time or circles conform to base 10 or 100 your ignoring reality of what you're trying to measure or describe

Anyway time is decimalised if you're measuring  in milliseconds 😉


 
Posted : 26/06/2022 10:00 pm
Posts: 91169
Free Member
 

Only weird due to an attempt to crowbar a pagan celebration into a religious celebration which should be fixed.

No, it's because Easter is actually fixed in the Hebrew calendar. It's based on Passover and that is entirely and rationally fixed in the calendar used by the people who invented it


 
Posted : 26/06/2022 10:19 pm
Posts: 6703
Free Member
 

Time and navigation is all about plotting our place of a spinning sphere circling a sun so again its about accurately and reliably dividing circles.

Whatever you do, don't get into the military thing of mils.
Sounds simple, must be 1000 in a circle, right?
No, there are 6283. Or between 6000 and 6400 depending on whose gang you belong to


 
Posted : 26/06/2022 10:31 pm
Page 2 / 2