5 ms·
In "Deepness in the Sky" a spaceship's computer is still running on Unix time many thousands years into the future. It is generally believed that the calendar s
by shantara 6y ago
In "Deepness in the Sky" a spaceship's computer is still running on Unix time many thousands years into the future. It is generally believed that the calendar starts with the first Moon landing, and only the main character as a "programmer-archeologist" discovers a small difference between it and true Unix time 0.
- divbzero 6y agoLittle is known about “Unix” but it is believed he or she was a charismatic spiritual leader who brought hope, healing, and comfort to countless humans on Earth and inspired numerous disciples including “BSD”, “Linux”, and “System V”.
- throw0101a 6y ago> Little is known about “Unix” but […] As opposed to eunuchs.
- ithkuil 6y agoWell, isn't Unix a castrated Multics?
- gerikson 6y ago"A Deepness..." also used SI multiples of seconds to denote something approximating 24 hours, a week, a month etc.
- fanf2 6y agoA megasecond is a useful quantity: it's a bit less than 12 days. I mentally approximate it to a fortnight, partly because of the VMS bootloader which used microfortnights as an approximation for seconds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Microfortnight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_units_of_measu... Another handy time_t approximation is that a year is about 2^25 seconds, or 32 megaseconds.
- thinkmassive 6y agoVernor Vinge sounds like an intriguing author! “Most years, since its inception in 1999, Vinge has been on the Free Software Foundation's selection committee for their Award for the Advancement of Free Software.”[0] Since “A Deepness in the Sky” was written in 1999 as a prequel to “A Fire Upon the Deep” (from 1992), which do you recommend to read first? [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernor_Vinge https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernor_Vinge
- moonbug 6y agoFire, then Deepness, then stop.
- ncmncm 6y agoOr Fire, then The Peace War. Maybe dip into True Names, followed by Shockwave Rider by John Brunner. Many people didn't like Deepness much. But the sequel to Fire, Children of the Sky, was interesting.
- mindcrime 6y agoIn either case, definitely read The Shockwave Rider by Brunner.
- aftbit 6y agoI quite enjoyed Rainbow's End as well.
- jessaustin 6y agoThere's an extra apostrophe there... this is addressed toward the end of the novel.
- hrnnnnnn 6y agoYes, it's not "The end of this particular rainbow", it's "rainbows have an end". It bugged me until I got to that part of the book.
- ncmncm 6y agoHe should have said what that difference is.