3 ms·

Funny you should use 15:39 as your example. I find the translation I have to do from 15:39 to 3:39 pm to have much more friction than reading a digital or anal

by js2 4y ago

Funny you should use 15:39 as your example. I find the translation I have to do from 15:39 to 3:39 pm to have much more friction than reading a digital or analog clock in the first place, both of which I can do with equal ease. The problem of course is that I'm not used to 24-hour times, so I don't equate 15 with any particular time of day. Similar to how I have to translate C to F to make sense of C temperatures. Now, a 24-hour analog clock with an embedded digital temperature read-out in C, that would really hurt. Apparently 24-hour analog clocks are thing: https://www.amazon.com/Navaris-Hour-Wall-Clock-Non-Ticking/dp/B09F2YJXDQ/ https://www.amazon.com/Navaris-Hour-Wall-Clock-Non-Ticking/d... Ouch.

pikminguy 4y ago
I didn't pick 15:39 that's the quote from Douglas Adams. He pretty clearly went with a hard to read digital time to emphasize the point that he (and according to him everyone else) can more readily get useful information from an analog readout. My own watch is a digital 12 hour display and that is more useful to me.
- Lio 4y ago
  At the time of writing 24 hour digital clocks were very common in UK train stations. All rail services in the UK are always in 24 hour form. So there’s a good chance he just picked 15:39 as a familiar train time.
joemi 4y ago
Counter example: I grew up using 12-hour time and still do to this day, with plenty of analog clocks all around, and yet I find it much easier and faster to convert between 24-hour and 12-hour time (just remove the leading 1 and subtract 2, if the hour is more than 12) than to parse an analog clock (identify which hand is which, convert the minutes to get an approximation, even more work if it's a stylized clock that might use roman numerals or not have any labels at all).
parenthesis 4y ago
In the context of hours of time, I perceive `15' as just an alternative symbol for `3pm'. Likewise, I perceive 1539 as an alternative symbol for 1536, as I like to keep my clocks three minutes fast.

by js2 4y ago

pikminguy 4y ago

I didn't pick 15:39 that's the quote from Douglas Adams. He pretty clearly went with a hard to read digital time to emphasize the point that he (and according to him everyone else) can more readily get useful information from an analog readout. My own watch is a digital 12 hour display and that is more useful to me.

Lio 4y ago
At the time of writing 24 hour digital clocks were very common in UK train stations. All rail services in the UK are always in 24 hour form. So there’s a good chance he just picked 15:39 as a familiar train time.

joemi 4y ago

Counter example: I grew up using 12-hour time and still do to this day, with plenty of analog clocks all around, and yet I find it much easier and faster to convert between 24-hour and 12-hour time (just remove the leading 1 and subtract 2, if the hour is more than 12) than to parse an analog clock (identify which hand is which, convert the minutes to get an approximation, even more work if it's a stylized clock that might use roman numerals or not have any labels at all).

parenthesis 4y ago

In the context of hours of time, I perceive `15' as just an alternative symbol for `3pm'. Likewise, I perceive 1539 as an alternative symbol for 1536, as I like to keep my clocks three minutes fast.