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Comment First we should learn the correct terminology (Score 1) 990

You'd think the Slashdot nerds could at least be intelligent about this subject.

Many of the posts here refer to "Daylight Savings Time". For that matter, go to Options at the top of this page, and even Slashdot calls it "Daylight Savings Time". Yet there is no such thing.

I can't help but laugh. People aren't as smart as they often pretend to be :P

--Randall

Comment Time is already too complex (Score 1) 990

I'm in total agreement. What really needs to be rectified is the 24 hour days, 30/31 day months, etc. which are impractical for anything other than perhaps astronomical observations or zodiac readings.

When I was in high school I devising a comprehensive metric-based system of civic time measurement. I don't remember what the units were called, but the average length of the day was derived as a decimal and the annual calendar was based on degrees of revolution around the sun (with five extra days distributed evenly through the year). I'll have to go through my piles of notes to find that project again :)

--Randall

Comment Re:The 24 hour clock and the 25th hour (Score 1) 990

It drives me nuts when people use decimal points to refer to times and dates. It is called a decimal point for a reason, it refers to a base 10 system. Clocks are not based 10. Thus we use a colon as the standard. As for the calendar, we use a dash or a forward slash :P

Geeks use decimals everywhere because it looks cooler even though it defies the standard. What then is the point of a convention if it has no basis in effective communication?

--Randall

Comment Re:Time zones were created to fix local noon (Score 1) 990

Timezones are an absolute necessity not just for global communication. If we eliminate timezones, it still does not obviate the need for a local standard to ensure effective interaction. Imagine if every city were then entitled to define a new standard by which its general populous is expected to adhere.

So in Los Angeles businesses would arbitrarily open an hour earlier than San Diego and two hours earlier than San Francisco, simply because the City of Los Angeles decided to establish 0:00 to 8:00 as the operational day for city government. Thus we've come full circle by obfuscating the system of measurement that was designed specifically to simplify our lives in both a local and global context.

--Randall

Comment Re:It's Internet Time all over again... (Score 1) 990

Not necessarily so. The "second" could remain for scientific use, and a separate metric unit could be designated for civic use. That's not much different than how it is now for length and weight measurement in the U.S. As long as they are separate units, they could be phased in over time (no pun intended) without interfering with the current system of measurement. --Randall

Comment Re:Racketeers (Score 1) 100

I guess those numbers would mean something if the revenue streams were there.

Yet for some reason, in this country only Webcasters (and cable and satellite to a much lesser extent of course) remunerate the recording artists while every other commercial user is free and clear of paying paying ANY royalties for sound recordings played. Terrestrial radio? Nope. Nightclubs and Bars? Nothing. Amusement parks? Nada. Music on hold? Don't even think it.

Seems there could be an awful lot of other sources of revenue for rights holders, but here in the U.S. we only care about hammering the small guys. The Internet radio business model is hardly lucrative except for a select few. Even satellite and cable, which does have to pay royalties to SX, enjoys a sweet deal in comparison to those businesses that derive all their revenue from digital broadcasting.

Copyright law in this country pretty messed up if you ask me. You theoretically could get a lot of money, but instead you make license fees inordinately high for one very niche and still nascent industry with limited income, and every time you meet at the bargaining table (i.e. CRB or formerly CARP), you refuse any offers and forestall any negotiation unless your demands are met. Isn't that known as extortion?

Comment I've already marked my calendar (Score 1) 376

It's interesting that it took so long for the wave of interest to catch on about this date. I remember blogging about the rollover to 1,111,111,111 back in March of 2005. And I've been looking forward to February 13, 2009 ever since.

Unix Time's 1111111111 Second Countdown

It's actually quite exhilarating -- esp. for us hardcore tech geeks -- to think that we will soon witness the last significant numerological date in computer history during our lifetime (using decimal notation at least, so long as the standard for Unix time maintains signed 32-bit integers).

--Randall

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