4 ms·
I will say this, sometimes there needs to be a "bad guy" who says what we're all thinking, even if it comes across as mean. Otherwise, how would any of us know
by coolso 5y ago
I will say this, sometimes there needs to be a "bad guy" who says what we're all thinking, even if it comes across as mean. Otherwise, how would any of us know what behaviors of ours that other people find irritating, so we can adjust accordingly (since most people don't purposely want to irritate others, usually, and within reason)?
- kragen 5y agoSure, if I had bad breath or if I was walking around with my fly open, your comment would apply. But, in this case, the only useful information conveyed is that I'm violating an arbitrary date formatting convention, and that some people become unreasonably angry whenever they see an arbitrary convention being violated. But, obviously enough, I already know I'm violating the date formatting convention, and I could hardly be more aware of those people. My theory is that, like Carmen Ortiz, they like attacking people because it makes them feel powerful, and violations of arbitrary conventions give them the opportunity.
- coolso 5y agoI think it's less that you're violating an "arbitrary date formatting convention" and more that you know the formatting convention everyone uses (4 digits), and decide to use your own arbitrary convention that maybe a hundred people in the world use. In fact, you're putting in extra effort just to use this convention that, by the time it's relevant, the earth probably won't even exist anymore. Most people will interpret this sort of thing as extremely pretentious and also assume that you're fishing for "compliments" and trying to look cooler than everyone else. Like an inside joke only you know about, so will someone please ask you about it? This type of behavior is typical in a classroom but becomes a lot less culturally acceptable the older you get.
- kragen 5y agoThe convention "everyone" uses doesn't stop being arbitrary just because most people use it. Who cares what most people think? And, yeah, it's true that most human cultures are very conformist, although I'm not sure I agree with your assertion that social groups full of old people are the most conformist. That conformism is why, for example, it took the humans 2000 years from recognizing that light darkens silver chloride until they invented photography, and they're constantly killing each other en masse in warfare, and 50 years after the first Moon landing there are still no cities off Earth. So, lighten up. Play a little. Violate arbitrary conventions. The mind you save could be your own.
- astrange 5y agoThe problem with yours is that I can't help but read numbers starting with 0 in octal. How do they write BCE years?
- kragen 5y agoYeah, I have the same problem with octal. At least I'm young enough that I don't automatically do the conversion in my head. I commonly say things like "Troy fell around 01100 BCE". Except that usually I look up the date so I don't get it wrong like that. I don't know what the Long Now folks do.
- abrax3141 5y agoI'm so glad that I'm getting karam for all this polite discourse! :-)
- School-Cotton 5y agoHow do you express years beyond 99999?
- kragen 5y agoMaybe 099999, 0100000, 0100001, ...? Dunno! Ask me again in 97976 years.
- feoren 5y ago> The convention "everyone" uses doesn't stop being arbitrary just because most people use it. Except conventions derive their value from the proportion of people using it. If a convention is stupid for other reasons, it may be worth trying to convert people. But writing numbers without a leading 0 is not stupid; in fact the opposite is. Why not write the current year as 0000000000002022 to preemptively protect against the Y(10^16)k problem? Why not write your age as 027 so that you're prepared when you hit 100? > The mind you save could be your own. You telling people you're liberating their sheeple mind, like literally every conspiracy theorist says, is not helping your case.
- jimmaswell 5y ago> by the time it's relevant, the earth probably won't even exist anymore. On what account is the Earth disappearing in a mere 8000 years?
- enw 5y agoIt doesn't make me feel powerful, I feel bewildered that you waste other people's time by having to parse an uncommon 5-digit format, rather than using the near-universal convention of only displaying the minimum digits needed. It's superior in every way: minimal, unconstrained, universal.
- kragen 5y agoYou know, in base 36, 2022 is "1k6". That's one digit less!