It’s time to change the year on your headed paper. 4.5b & 24??

I’m wondering how best to write the real year rather than the strange religious random number currently used.

Is there a better way to write ‘approximately 4.5billion and 24 ish’ as it’s a bit wordy for my new stationary?

?

Too much sherry

Just come back when you’ve sobered up🍷

the question is more – what century are you in if you still have stationary?

Just follow the same two thousand year old convention as everyone else does. A uniformly incrementing sequence of numbers isn’t random by the way.

I’m wondering how best to write the real year

How do you suppose you measure that accurately enough that we don’t end up with a similarly arbitrary number?

rather than the strange religious random number currently used.

It’s a baseline, nothing more. I mean, you could use the beginning of written history (but see above), the industrial revolution or the beginning of the atomic age but they would all be similarly strange and arbitrary.

You might as well decimalise time whilst you’re at it. Let us know how you get on, I’d suggest writing your new standard in Esperanto.

the strange religious random number currently used.

Its actually referred to as the ‘Civil Calendar’ in that all sorts of societies, not just Christian ones or even abrahamic ones, use the Gregorian calendar because its administratively convenient to use dates that are universally recognised, there’s only four countries that don’t use the Civil calendar or a modified version of it as their principle system of dates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601

If we ant a more secular calendar, counting from a point that defines our modern era, giving us a suitable point to couunt backwards into the past from, or forwards into the future I suggest we simply call this new year “34”

Its 34 years since Marathons became Snickers

I use ABY and BBY. Wife thinks I’m a nerd, but she gets the reference .

We’re now 47 ABY

Pol Pot tried to start a new calendar in Cambodia from Year Zero and look how well that went.

I think I’d rather continue with the current method, thanks.

Just use the Japanese Imperial era system modified for English monarchs. This year will be year Charles III 2. Last year started as year Elizabeth II 71, but ended as year Charles III 1.

the question is more – what century are you in if you still have stationary?

Obviously something stood still for them.

Obviously something stood still for them.

👍

But how would you define the Gregorian period 1930-67 before Snickers became Marathons?

but she gets the reference

I got the reference.

Modern history begins in 1817, when Karl Drais invented his ‘running machine’

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandy_horse#/media/File:Draisine_or_Laufmaschine,_around_1820._Archetype_of_the_Bicycle._Pic_01.jpg

It could do with being a bit longer, lower, and slacker, but it’s not bad.

That makes this year 207

Well since last year, this year is 01 so just use that if 2024 bothers you.

But how would you define the Gregorian period 1930-67 before Snickers became Marathons?

The first dark age

the second dark age is what we currently call 1998 when Coco Pops were renamed Coco Krispes before being renamed Coco Pops again in 1999

I’d go with MMXXIV, adds a certain gravitas.

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. How do you feel about Mayan numerals? Mesoamerican Long Count: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_Long_Count_calendar

Radiocarbon dates are often related to ‘Before Present’ (BP) where ‘Present’ is taken as 1950. So this year would be -74 years BP

Hope this helps but doubt it does

Modern history begins in 1817, when Karl Drais invented his ‘running machine’

Actually that seriously would be year 1 of quite a significant modern common era – year zero would the ‘Year without a Summer’ which was 1816. The driving force behind what became the bicycle was in part the global famine that resulted from a volcanic eruption that year. Crop failures meant amongst other things there was no oats for horse feed and that drove the development of mechanical means of transport.

At this time of year theres quite a signfifcant echo of that event in the way we decorate our houses at christmas, all around the world, to look like the Christmases Charles Dickens remembers from his childhood in the 1810s. Even though it rarely snows at chairmas in the UK we much of our Christmas imagery is snowy – even Australian Christmas cards have snow on them.

We still have quite a lot of cultural echos from that year

You can even date artwork by the use of certain pigments in becuase sunsets looked different before and after 1816

‘approximately 4.5billion

Eh? If you start from the actual beginning it’s more like 13.7 billion. Why is your arbitrary calendar start date any better than the commonly accepted one?

I honestly thought the thread title was a reference to font and size. We should wipe the slate clean every hundred years and start back at zero. It would make history very confusing but is no less mad than the OP’s suggestion.

@thols2

Last year started as year Elizabeth II 71, but ended as year Charles III 1.

In England certainly, but in Scotland presumably it started as Elizabeth R 71? Or perhaps Elizabeth I 71?

There’s certainly room for doubt in that system. 

It’s time to add a bit of science to my headed paper is all.

I was going with 4.5 billion as the beginning of earth’s formation but I’m happy to go with the best sciencey guess for the big bang if it pleases others. Though that is very likely to change so maybe earth’s formation would be best for now. I suppose I could still keep 2024 in there but add a lil’something in front.

How could I write that in a compact and catchy way so not to upset the traditionalists too much.

Any numbers people able to come up with something for me?

Just use the number of seconds since 1st January 1970.

This was posted at Epoch 1704121485.

It’s time to add a bit of science to my headed paper is all.

So go with a full ISO 8601 format.

Posted at 20240101151436

I would like to lose the religious focus if possible and represent the real best guess scientific date where ISO 8601 still uses the Gregorian calendar as it’s base iiuc.

In England certainly, but in Scotland presumably it started as Elizabeth R 71? Or perhaps Elizabeth I 71?

There’s certainly room for doubt in that system.

Sure, every kingdom will have its own calendar. You’ll just need a set of conversion tables to convert back and forth between the different systems.

I’m not a monarchist either so that wouldn’t be suitable at all🤔

Just use the number of seconds since 1st January 1970.

This was posted at Epoch 1704121485.

That’ll give you 14 good years, but be careful in 2038 as there might be all sorts of confusion.

The only time is now.
The future will always be the future.
The past will be whenever and whatever we choose to write it as.

The time is now, only now and always now. Worry not about your imaginings of the past or future. You only have the now.

@thols2

Sure, every kingdom will have its own calendar. You’ll just need a set of conversion tables to convert back and forth between the different systems.

That works.
Though I quite like the idea that the 1000 from Kings Cross might arrive at Waverley 400 years before it set off. A good couple of hundred years before the station was built to receive it.

Tell me you work for LNER without telling me etc etc

It’s called 2024 CE meaning Christian Era.  You may not like it, but it is the Christian era, since Christianity exists whereas it did not before.

You could use one of the many other known calendar systems but no-one would know what you were on about so that would be awkward.

It’s time to add a bit of science to my headed paper is all.

The time for the creation of the Earth is nowhere near accurate enough – I mean it probably took a billion years to go from cloud of dust to planet, and the creation of the Earth is somewhere in that time period. You’d be better off going by the number of orbits since the earliest supernova was observed in a calendar system that can be correlated to our own which was in 185 CE by the Chinese.

CE doesn’t stand for Christian Era.

I don’t think a billion years or 2 matters for accuracy, best guess will be fine,  removing the religious focus is more important

I could just go with something like A4.5B2024 for now I guess. It would stop any confusion with historical records and allow for simple changes as the accuracy improves.

Anything better or are we happy with that?

Isn’t CE current era and BCE is before current era?