4 ms·

I was hoping this was a more radical proposal like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time was. Our

I was hoping this was a more radical proposal like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time was. Our current way of measuring time is absurd. It starts as base 1000 with milliseconds, then base 60 with seconds and minutes, then 24 for hours, 7 for days, 4.3whatever for months or 28-31 however you want to track it. I like that China only has one time zone for the entire country. We should all go by UTC times regardless of our geographical position. But we should also change our means of measuring time to work around whole base 10 numbers.

pixie_ 14y ago
Swatch Internet Time sounds awful. Your idea to go from intuitive measurements of time to abstract measurements sounds awful. A single timezone for a 3,000 mile wide country sounds awful.
- lmm 14y ago
  Single timezone for a large country works very well. It makes it much easier to arrange a phone call or meeting with someone on the other side of it (you still need to know what the difference is to know you're not asking them to be there before breakfast or after supper, but you never get the failure mode where you both think you've arranged a different time). And it can encourage businesses to be flexible about working hours, since mandating 9-5 in all their branches is obviously insane.
- adjwilli 14y ago
  Admittedly, a single timezone for the world might be a bit far fetched. But there's nothing intuitive about 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in a hour, then all of a sudden 24 hours in a day, and roughly 4.3 weeks in a month or somewhere between 28 and 31 days in a month. The only numbers in our calendar that are vaguely intuitive is 3 months in a season and 265 days in a year, and even those have problems.
macspoofing 14y ago
Our current way seems to work fairly well. Certainly it's not bad enough to have a complete, worldwide paradigm shift.

pixie_ 14y ago

Swatch Internet Time sounds awful. Your idea to go from intuitive measurements of time to abstract measurements sounds awful. A single timezone for a 3,000 mile wide country sounds awful.

lmm 14y ago
Single timezone for a large country works very well. It makes it much easier to arrange a phone call or meeting with someone on the other side of it (you still need to know what the difference is to know you're not asking them to be there before breakfast or after supper, but you never get the failure mode where you both think you've arranged a different time). And it can encourage businesses to be flexible about working hours, since mandating 9-5 in all their branches is obviously insane.
adjwilli 14y ago
Admittedly, a single timezone for the world might be a bit far fetched. But there's nothing intuitive about 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in a hour, then all of a sudden 24 hours in a day, and roughly 4.3 weeks in a month or somewhere between 28 and 31 days in a month. The only numbers in our calendar that are vaguely intuitive is 3 months in a season and 265 days in a year, and even those have problems.

macspoofing 14y ago

Our current way seems to work fairly well. Certainly it's not bad enough to have a complete, worldwide paradigm shift.