Matthew Miller
I say we go back to local solar time for everyone. And I mean _everyone_. Your phone knows where you are, and sets your clock so 12:00 happens when the sun is at the highest point in the sky for your location.
Mar 11, 2024 at 2:36pmWeb
Show threadMatthew MillerMar 11, 2024

This will work perfectly for things like "meet me for coffee" because people in the same place will have the same time within any meaningful precision.

It isn't good for scheduling online meetings, but this is a feature.

Show threadMatthew MillerMar 11, 2024
There is no way to have a meeting where it is not the middle of the night somewhere in the world. We need better ways to collaborate globally anyway.
Show threadMatthew MillerMar 11, 2024

What about things like server log timestamps?

Swatch Internet Time.

Show threadMatthew MillerMar 11, 2024

OMG Swatch still has a page about this

https://www.swatch.com/en-us/internet-time.html

I change my mind. SWATCH INTERNET TIME FOR ALL!

INTERNET TIME

What is a Swatch .beat? We have divided up the day into 1000 ".beats". So, one Swatch ".Beat" is equivalent to 1 Minute 26.4 Seconds.

Show threadBen SluskyMar 11, 2024
@mattdm Ah, that takes me back to when I had an internet time plugin for gkrellm
Show threadFarce MajeureMar 11, 2024
@mattdm aka French Revolutionary Metric time. That's right, you've found the metric unit that was so painful even France stopped using it.
Show threadFarce MajeureMar 11, 2024
@mattdm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_time
Decimal time - Wikipedia

Show threadMatthew MillerMar 11, 2024

@vathpela

Or we could go the other way and convert all of our systems to base 12 or base 24. Much better for cutting things into thirds.

Show threadScott Williams 🐧Mar 12, 2024

@mattdm @vathpela I did just format several FAT12 disks a few days ago.

I also often estimate things in dozens (eg, about 4 dozen people were in the audience).

Show threadMatthew MillerMar 11, 2024

@vathpela

Apparently also ancient China. There go the Jesuits, ruining things again.

Show threadBob McWhirterMar 11, 2024
@mattdm http://www.yak.net/rickdate/
RickDate

Show threadQwijib0Mar 12, 2024
@mattdm .beats might have actually had a fighting chance if they had used GMT as 0 rather than swatch HQ
Show threadLuiz CostaMar 11, 2024
@mattdm man, I almost lost my first meeting of the week because of that... No great when this happens to a country that is not mine but I'm affected by it.
Show threadGoatsLiveMar 11, 2024
@mattdm Yes please!
Show threadMiroslav SuchýMar 11, 2024
@mattdm Very floating time definition. Please meet the Equation of Time https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/equation-of-time.html
Equation of Time

The difference between the time measured by the Sun and the time measured by our clocks is known as the equation of time.

Show threadZaid HumaimidiMar 11, 2024
@mattdm Alternative proposal: a dynamically shifting clock where sunset time remains consistent as much as realistically possible. Leap seconds/minutes are added at end of week or month to keep sunset time consistent. The changes will be so small and gradual that they will hardly be noticeable. This way the clock works with our biological clock and not against it.
Show threadMatthew MillerMar 11, 2024

@zaidka

Yes, this is also excellent. Sunset at, say, 7pm every day, for everyone, everywhere.

(And before anyone disagrees, please remember that the benchmark is the current timezone status quo.)

Show threadBjörn LindströmMar 11, 2024
@mattdm @zaidka incidentally this is roughly how hours were counted until some time in antiquity. That is, the length of hours depended on the length of the day.
Show threadMatthew MillerMar 11, 2024

@bkhl @zaidka

I'm open to combining this with fixed 12:00pm as solar noon and 7am as dawn. Scale the hours to make them fit.

Show threadLars Marowsky-Brée 😷Mar 11, 2024
@zaidka @mattdm https://mastodon.online/@larsmb/112072444112062905
Lars Marowsky-Brée 😷 (@[email protected])

Leap Days should be in winter. Everywhere. I propose the Southern hemisphere holds theirs on August 32. #DateTime

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