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Swatch Internet Time

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61–70 of 103 posts

Re: Swatch Internet Time

#61
post #38

I was a 14 year old who attended the initial launch at MIT. I remember at the time thinking: why have a random synthetic time, perhaps we can just accept GMT as internet time. I still don't understand why you'd have Beil Mean Time - perhaps I haven't grown.

What would the internet time be when GMT areas are on BST? Surely you mean accept UTC time.

Re: Swatch Internet Time

#62

I've always loved this idea. It just makes sense. People argue against the "circular notation" of a clock face and how it relates to 60 minutes/seconds, but all that analog stuff is dead.

And as long as we're discussing "out there" time notations, I'll throw out my support for a calendar system that makes more sense. 12 30-day months with a 5 (or 6) day "Holiday Month" at the end. Adjusting the "week" to be 10 days instead of 7. 3 weeks a month, 9 weeks a quarter, 36 weeks a year. Work 7 of the 10 days in a week would be the same as a 5-day work week (2 more days off a year actually).

[deleted]

Re: Swatch Internet Time

#63
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jan 1 is a entirely arbitrary demarcation that's not actually terribly useful to the way we actually experience time and the year. IMO a better place would be one of the solstices or equinoxes (I'm partial to the spring equinox). Also breaking the year into quarters, from equinox to solstice would be a better match for to scale we live an think on. Also it's just the right amount of time for a good portion of a large…

It's only the spring equinox on your half of the planet! You'd have to call it the March equinox which is arbitrary again. Or maybe the Northward equinox.

Waxing and Waning? depending the length of the daylight at whatever location is going to control said time standard.

Re: Swatch Internet Time

#64
post #61
post #38

I was a 14 year old who attended the initial launch at MIT. I remember at the time thinking: why have a random synthetic time, perhaps we can just accept GMT as internet time. I still don't understand why you'd have Beil Mean Time - perhaps I haven't grown.

What would the internet time be when GMT areas are on BST? Surely you mean accept UTC time.

GMT doesn't change twice a year. GMT doesn't mean "the time people in Greenwich observe", it means, roughly, the solar mean time of Greenwich.

Re: Swatch Internet Time

#65
post #55
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"grassroots movement" Having lived thru it, it was astroturf at most. It was a marketing gimmick to solve a problem that still doesn't exist. "Here, try this, its just like things that work perfectly such as UTC or Eastern Time, but way more confusing"

Eastern time means nothing to me. How many hours do I go forward or back? How do I know if you're in daylight savings? What if I'm in saylight savings? Sensible time for wod wode use is still a problem for casual users.

That's kind of the point. NASDAQ trading hours are 0930 to 1600 eastern. At a former job thats what mattered, although we were not in the eastern zone and had sites spread across 5 or 6 timezones. Live where you want but production hours on the production boxes were 0930-1600 eastern. A large chunk of financial world workers live in eastern standard time. They might live anywhere in the world, but that doesn't matter.

With the almost sole exception of the financial world, the rest of the world wide users stick with UTC.

Re: Swatch Internet Time

#66
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"but all that analog stuff is dead." I still wear a analog Watch

Just curious — aesthetics aside, what other advantages do you think an analog watch provides?

> aesthetics aside, what other advantages do you think an analog watch provides?

* Appreciation of craftsmanship. Look at a watch with 10+ complications and try not to be impressed. Do not get me started on the Patek Philippe Calibre 89.

* Sentimental attachment/Nostalgia, e.g. the family heirloom.

* EMP resistance

* Permitted inside testing room during LSAT administration

Re: Swatch Internet Time

#67
post #64
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would the internet time be when GMT areas are on BST? Surely you mean accept UTC time.

GMT doesn't change twice a year. GMT doesn't mean "the time people in Greenwich observe", it means, roughly, the solar mean time of Greenwich.

Who uses GMT in the summer? My bigger point is that metrologists and/or people that care about time use UTC not GMT.

Re: Swatch Internet Time

#68

I think the biggest problem with time keeping systems is that they counts up, but our lives are not infinite. For us, time is really counting down. After trying to reconcile the solar year with decimal time in a way that made sense, I abandoned my effort and created a time keeping system with 1095 units of time of time per year (1098 in leap years). The units are 8 hours long, because no progress on hard problems is…

I really like this idea of maker time. Counting down in general seems like a good way to encourage me to get things done.

Re: Swatch Internet Time

#69

Handy tip: one .beat (or a milliday, if you like) is about 1.5 minutes. This means that one percent of one day is about fifteen minutes. Try thinking of tasks in terms of percentages of a day. You spend about 30 percent, give or take, sleeping. You spend 30-40% working most days. How does one spend the remaining 30-40%? One percent showering. Three or four percent preparing meals. Adds up.

God this system would have been beautiful.

Re: Swatch Internet Time

#70
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jan 1 is a entirely arbitrary demarcation that's not actually terribly useful to the way we actually experience time and the year. IMO a better place would be one of the solstices or equinoxes (I'm partial to the spring equinox). Also breaking the year into quarters, from equinox to solstice would be a better match for to scale we live an think on. Also it's just the right amount of time for a good portion of a large…

I agree with you cosmically, but January first has real meaning for me because its the start of a new tax year. Feel free to create your own fork: https://github.com/willholloway/makertime

On the other hand, 6th April is the first day of the tax year in the UK, so that would work out quite well.
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