2867: DateTime - Revision history

82.132.237.234: /* Explanation */ Rewinding all the improperly added smartquotes (MOS:QUOTEMARKS). Some other tidying up, mainly involving spaces.

2025-10-08T15:07:53Z

‎Explanation: Rewinding all the improperly added smartquotes (MOS:QUOTEMARKS). Some other tidying up, mainly involving spaces.

134.60.67.135: /* Explanation */

2025-10-08T07:19:12Z

‎Explanation

2601:404:D080:6E10:0:0:0:E8DA: I didn't like how negative the falsehoods list is, so I added some guidelines to balance it out.

2025-08-26T22:21:31Z

I didn't like how negative the falsehoods list is, so I added some guidelines to balance it out.

172.71.242.219: /* Explanation */ I'm wondering if the news in the wind of this official request prompted thoughts that turned into this comic? But maybe just coincidence.

2024-05-04T09:26:02Z

‎Explanation: I'm wondering if the news in the wind of this official request prompted thoughts that turned into this comic? But maybe just coincidence.

GreatWyrmGold: Calendars, man.

2024-02-19T15:43:04Z

Calendars, man.

172.70.91.11: /* Explanation */

2024-01-03T12:01:47Z

‎Explanation

B for brain: /* Explanation */

2023-12-24T20:31:37Z

‎Explanation

BunsenH: Undo revision 331151 by 162.158.230.92 (talk) page is still being edited several times a day

2023-12-20T00:36:20Z

Undo revision 331151 by 162.158.230.92 (talk) page is still being edited several times a day

162.158.230.92: /* Explanation */

2023-12-19T19:54:19Z

‎Explanation

172.71.254.223: /* Explanation */ Replace one of two identical Python links with a JavaScript link.

2023-12-19T17:17:10Z

‎Explanation: Replace one of two identical Python links with a JavaScript link.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 [[Ponytail]] asks [[Cueball]] how to calculate the time elapsed between two instants. A Cueball not intimately familiar with the complexities of the way humans measure time naively assumes that this is given by the difference of the timestamps. A Cueball who is familiar panics and states that it is impossible to know, and further that it is forbidden to even ask the question.
-Randall’s use of the term “DateTime systems” covers [https://metacpan.org/pod/DateTime any] [https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html number] [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.datetime?view=net-8.0 of] [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date situations], and the complexities are hardly confined to any particular programming language, or indeed computers as a whole. Some of these complexities include time zones (and changes to time zones), the international date line, daylight saving time and differing observation (or non-observation) thereof in different areas (and changes to the observation of daylight saving time over time), leap days and leap seconds, etc.  Another complexity is found in relativistic effects, in which the flow of time varies depending on how deep in a gravity well one is; {{w|Barycentric Coordinate Time}} and {{w|Geocentric Coordinate Time}} (in French, TCB and TCG respectively—the reference to TGC in the title text appears to be a typo) are time systems used for space missions and orbit calculations that handle this and shortly after this comic was published it was announced that [https://www.space.com/white-house-nasa-time-zone-moon Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC)] would be established. A partial list of such minutiae may be found at [https://gist.github.com/timvisee/fcda9bbdff88d45cc9061606b4b923ca Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Time]. The title text of the comic also references some of them. Depending on when T<sub>1</sub> and T<sub>2</sub> are, changes in calendar system may also be a relevant consideration—perhaps most famously, the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, two calendar systems which are nearly identical but nearly two weeks apart, and which different countries changed at different times.
+Randall's use of the term "DateTime systems" covers [https://metacpan.org/pod/DateTime any] [https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html number] [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.datetime?view=net-8.0 of] [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date situations], and the complexities are hardly confined to any particular programming language, or indeed computers as a whole. Some of these complexities include time zones (and changes to time zones), the international date line, daylight saving time and differing observation (or non-observation) thereof in different areas (and changes to the observation of daylight saving time over time), leap days and leap seconds, etc. Another complexity is found in relativistic effects, in which the flow of time varies depending on how deep in a gravity well one is; {{w|Barycentric Coordinate Time}} and {{w|Geocentric Coordinate Time}} (in French, TCB and TCG respectively — the reference to TGC in the title text appears to be a typo) are time systems used for space missions and orbit calculations that handle this and shortly after this comic was published it was announced that [https://www.space.com/white-house-nasa-time-zone-moon Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC)] would be established. A partial list of such minutiae may be found at [https://gist.github.com/timvisee/fcda9bbdff88d45cc9061606b4b923ca Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Time]. The title text of the comic also references some of them. Depending on when T<sub>1</sub> and T<sub>2</sub> are, changes in calendar system may also be a relevant consideration — perhaps most famously, the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, two calendar systems which are nearly identical but nearly two weeks apart, and which different countries changed at different times.
-The statement that “it is impossible to know” is because Ponytail did not provide enough information in the question: She needed to specify the location and time zone of both observations, and possibly the exact values of T<sub>1</sub> and T<sub>2</sub> to the nanosecond.  Considering the restrictions imposed by relativity on two observers agreeing on the timing of events, it may be literally impossible to determine a value of T<sub>2</sub> − T<sub>1</sub> that is absolutely “correct” to arbitrary levels of precision.
+The statement that "it is impossible to know" is because Ponytail did not provide enough information in the question: She needed to specify the location and time zone of both observations, and possibly the exact values of T<sub>1</sub> and T<sub>2</sub> to the nanosecond. Considering the restrictions imposed by relativity on two observers agreeing on the timing of events, it may be literally impossible to determine a value of T<sub>2</sub> − T<sub>1</sub> that is absolutely "correct" to arbitrary levels of precision.
-The addition of “and a sin to ask” is hyperbolic. It implies that asking such questions is akin to attempting to acquire forbidden knowledge of the nature of God or the Universe, for example, through practices such as {{w|Numerology}}, which some may consider heretical. It is an expression of the fact that determining the answer accurately can be complicated, and programming systems that attempt to do this can be frustrating.
+The addition of "and a sin to ask" is hyperbolic. It implies that asking such questions is akin to attempting to acquire forbidden knowledge of the nature of God or the Universe, for example, through practices such as {{w|Numerology}}, which some may consider heretical. It is an expression of the fact that determining the answer accurately can be complicated, and programming systems that attempt to do this can be frustrating.
-“T<sub>2</sub> − T<sub>1</sub> = [God doesn’t know and the Devil isn’t telling.]”: This is a colloquial expression that riffs on the more common “God only knows” as well as “Hell knows and Heaven suspects”, to suggest that the thing in question is even more unknowable than the usual type of unknowable thing, to the point where it may be an evil invention of the Devil designed to cause complexity and frustration for the people having to deal with it.
+"T<sub>2</sub> − T<sub>1</sub> = [God doesn't know and the Devil isn't telling.]": This is a colloquial expression that riffs on the more common "God only knows", as well as "Hell knows and Heaven suspects", to suggest that the thing in question is even more unknowable than the usual type of unknowable thing, to the point where it may be an evil invention of the Devil designed to cause complexity and frustration for the people having to deal with it.
-Programmers coming here in despair should refer to their language standards and [https://www.w3.org/International/wiki/WorkingWithTimeZones#Guidelines_Summary|the W3’s reasonably complete guidelines for those of us planetside]. Space programmers coming here in despair should note that on long enough timescales, it doesn’t matter what time it is ''anywhere.''{{Citation needed}}
+Programmers coming here in despair should refer to their language standards and [https://www.w3.org/International/wiki/WorkingWithTimeZones#Guidelines_Summary|the W3's reasonably complete guidelines for those of us planetside]. Space programmers coming here in despair should note that on long enough timescales, it doesn't matter what time it is ''anywhere''.{{Citation needed}}
 ==Transcript==

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 [[Ponytail]] asks [[Cueball]] how to calculate the time elapsed between two instants. A Cueball not intimately familiar with the complexities of the way humans measure time naively assumes that this is given by the difference of the timestamps. A Cueball who is familiar panics and states that it is impossible to know, and further that it is forbidden to even ask the question.
-Randall's use of the term "DateTime systems" covers [https://metacpan.org/pod/DateTime any] [https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html number] [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.datetime?view=net-8.0 of] [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date situations], and the complexities are hardly confined to any particular programming language, or indeed computers as a whole. Some of these complexities include time zones (and changes to time zones), the international date line, daylight saving time and differing observation (or non-observation) thereof in different areas (and changes to the observation of daylight saving time over time), leap days and leap seconds, etc.  Another complexity is found in relativistic effects, in which the flow of time varies depending on how deep in a gravity well one is; {{w|Barycentric Coordinate Time}} and {{w|Geocentric Coordinate Time}} (in French, TCB and TCG respectively - the reference to TGC in the title text appears to be a typo) are time systems used for space missions and orbit calculations that handle this and shortly after this comic was published it was announced that [https://www.space.com/white-house-nasa-time-zone-moon Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC)] would be established. A partial list of such minutiae may be found at [https://gist.github.com/timvisee/fcda9bbdff88d45cc9061606b4b923ca Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Time]. The title text of the comic also references some of them. Depending on when T1 and T2 are, changes in calendar system may also be a relevant consideration—perhaps most famously, the change from the Julian calendar and the Gregorian calendar, two calendar systems which are nearly identical but nearly two weeks apart, and which different countries changed at different times.
+Randall’s use of the term “DateTime systems” covers [https://metacpan.org/pod/DateTime any] [https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html number] [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.datetime?view=net-8.0 of] [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date situations], and the complexities are hardly confined to any particular programming language, or indeed computers as a whole. Some of these complexities include time zones (and changes to time zones), the international date line, daylight saving time and differing observation (or non-observation) thereof in different areas (and changes to the observation of daylight saving time over time), leap days and leap seconds, etc.  Another complexity is found in relativistic effects, in which the flow of time varies depending on how deep in a gravity well one is; {{w|Barycentric Coordinate Time}} and {{w|Geocentric Coordinate Time}} (in French, TCB and TCG respectively—the reference to TGC in the title text appears to be a typo) are time systems used for space missions and orbit calculations that handle this and shortly after this comic was published it was announced that [https://www.space.com/white-house-nasa-time-zone-moon Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC)] would be established. A partial list of such minutiae may be found at [https://gist.github.com/timvisee/fcda9bbdff88d45cc9061606b4b923ca Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Time]. The title text of the comic also references some of them. Depending on when T<sub>1</sub> and T<sub>2</sub> are, changes in calendar system may also be a relevant consideration—perhaps most famously, the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, two calendar systems which are nearly identical but nearly two weeks apart, and which different countries changed at different times.
-The statement that "it is impossible to know" is because Ponytail did not provide enough information in the question: She needed to specify the location and time zone of both observations, and possibly the exact values of T1 and T2 to the nanosecond.  Considering the restrictions imposed by relativity on two observers agreeing on the timing of events, it may be literally impossible to determine a value of T2 - T1 that is absolutely "correct" to arbitrary levels of precision.
+The statement that “it is impossible to know” is because Ponytail did not provide enough information in the question: She needed to specify the location and time zone of both observations, and possibly the exact values of T<sub>1</sub> and T<sub>2</sub> to the nanosecond.  Considering the restrictions imposed by relativity on two observers agreeing on the timing of events, it may be literally impossible to determine a value of T<sub>2</sub> − T<sub>1</sub> that is absolutely “correct” to arbitrary levels of precision.
-The addition of "and a sin to ask" is hyperbolic. It implies that asking such questions is akin to attempting to acquire forbidden knowledge of the nature of God or the Universe, for example, through practices such as {{w|Numerology}}, which some may consider heretical. it's an expression of the fact that determining the answer accurately can be complicated, and programming systems that attempt to do this can be frustrating.
+The addition of “and a sin to ask” is hyperbolic. It implies that asking such questions is akin to attempting to acquire forbidden knowledge of the nature of God or the Universe, for example, through practices such as {{w|Numerology}}, which some may consider heretical. It is an expression of the fact that determining the answer accurately can be complicated, and programming systems that attempt to do this can be frustrating.
-"T2 - T1 = [God doesn't know and the Devil isn't telling.]": This is a colloquial expression that riffs on the more common "God only knows" as well as "Hell knows and Heaven suspects", to suggest that the thing in question is even more unknowable than the usual type of unknowable thing, to the point where it may be an evil invention of the Devil designed to cause complexity and frustration for the people having to deal with it.
+“T<sub>2</sub> − T<sub>1</sub> = [God doesn’t know and the Devil isn’t telling.]”: This is a colloquial expression that riffs on the more common “God only knows” as well as “Hell knows and Heaven suspects”, to suggest that the thing in question is even more unknowable than the usual type of unknowable thing, to the point where it may be an evil invention of the Devil designed to cause complexity and frustration for the people having to deal with it.
-Programmers coming here in despair should refer to their language standards and [https://www.w3.org/International/wiki/WorkingWithTimeZones#Guidelines_Summary|the W3's reasonably complete guidelines for those of us planetside]. Space programmers coming here in despair should note that on long enough timescales, it doesn't matter what time it is ''anywhere.''{{Citation needed}}
+Programmers coming here in despair should refer to their language standards and [https://www.w3.org/International/wiki/WorkingWithTimeZones#Guidelines_Summary|the W3’s reasonably complete guidelines for those of us planetside]. Space programmers coming here in despair should note that on long enough timescales, it doesn’t matter what time it is ''anywhere.''{{Citation needed}}
 ==Transcript==

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:21, 26 August 2025
Line 20:		Line 20:

	"T2 - T1 = [God doesn't know and the Devil isn't telling.]": This is a colloquial expression that riffs on the more common "God only knows" as well as "Hell knows and Heaven suspects", to suggest that the thing in question is even more unknowable than the usual type of unknowable thing, to the point where it may be an evil invention of the Devil designed to cause complexity and frustration for the people having to deal with it.		"T2 - T1 = [God doesn't know and the Devil isn't telling.]": This is a colloquial expression that riffs on the more common "God only knows" as well as "Hell knows and Heaven suspects", to suggest that the thing in question is even more unknowable than the usual type of unknowable thing, to the point where it may be an evil invention of the Devil designed to cause complexity and frustration for the people having to deal with it.
		+
		+	Programmers coming here in despair should refer to their language standards and [https://www.w3.org/International/wiki/WorkingWithTimeZones#Guidelines_Summary\|the W3's reasonably complete guidelines for those of us planetside]. Space programmers coming here in despair should note that on long enough timescales, it doesn't matter what time it is ''anywhere.''{{Citation needed}}

	==Transcript==		==Transcript==

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 [[Ponytail]] asks [[Cueball]] how to calculate the time elapsed between two instants. A Cueball not intimately familiar with the complexities of the way humans measure time naively assumes that this is given by the difference of the timestamps. A Cueball who is familiar panics and states that it is impossible to know, and further that it is forbidden to even ask the question.
-Randall's use of the term "DateTime systems" covers [https://metacpan.org/pod/DateTime any] [https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html number] [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.datetime?view=net-8.0 of] [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date situations], and the complexities are hardly confined to any particular programming language, or indeed computers as a whole. Some of these complexities include time zones (and changes to time zones), the international date line, daylight saving time and differing observation (or non-observation) thereof in different areas (and changes to the observation of daylight saving time over time), leap days and leap seconds, etc.  Another complexity is found in relativistic effects, in which the flow of time varies depending on how deep in a gravity well one is; {{w|Barycentric Coordinate Time}} and {{w|Geocentric Coordinate Time}} (in French, TCB and TCG respectively - the reference to TGC in the title text appears to be a typo) are time systems used for space missions and orbit calculations that handle this. A partial list of such minutiae may be found at [https://gist.github.com/timvisee/fcda9bbdff88d45cc9061606b4b923ca Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Time]. The title text of the comic also references some of them. Depending on when T1 and T2 are, changes in calendar system may also be a relevant consideration—perhaps most famously, the change from the Julian calendar and the Gregorian calendar, two calendar systems which are nearly identical but nearly two weeks apart, and which different countries changed at different times.
+Randall's use of the term "DateTime systems" covers [https://metacpan.org/pod/DateTime any] [https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html number] [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.datetime?view=net-8.0 of] [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date situations], and the complexities are hardly confined to any particular programming language, or indeed computers as a whole. Some of these complexities include time zones (and changes to time zones), the international date line, daylight saving time and differing observation (or non-observation) thereof in different areas (and changes to the observation of daylight saving time over time), leap days and leap seconds, etc.  Another complexity is found in relativistic effects, in which the flow of time varies depending on how deep in a gravity well one is; {{w|Barycentric Coordinate Time}} and {{w|Geocentric Coordinate Time}} (in French, TCB and TCG respectively - the reference to TGC in the title text appears to be a typo) are time systems used for space missions and orbit calculations that handle this and shortly after this comic was published it was announced that [https://www.space.com/white-house-nasa-time-zone-moon Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC)] would be established. A partial list of such minutiae may be found at [https://gist.github.com/timvisee/fcda9bbdff88d45cc9061606b4b923ca Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Time]. The title text of the comic also references some of them. Depending on when T1 and T2 are, changes in calendar system may also be a relevant consideration—perhaps most famously, the change from the Julian calendar and the Gregorian calendar, two calendar systems which are nearly identical but nearly two weeks apart, and which different countries changed at different times.
 The statement that "it is impossible to know" is because Ponytail did not provide enough information in the question: She needed to specify the location and time zone of both observations, and possibly the exact values of T1 and T2 to the nanosecond.  Considering the restrictions imposed by relativity on two observers agreeing on the timing of events, it may be literally impossible to determine a value of T2 - T1 that is absolutely "correct" to arbitrary levels of precision.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 [[Ponytail]] asks [[Cueball]] how to calculate the time elapsed between two instants. A Cueball not intimately familiar with the complexities of the way humans measure time naively assumes that this is given by the difference of the timestamps. A Cueball who is familiar panics and states that it is impossible to know, and further that it is forbidden to even ask the question.
-Randall's use of the term "DateTime systems" covers [https://metacpan.org/pod/DateTime any] [https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html number] [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.datetime?view=net-8.0 of] [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date situations], and the complexities are hardly confined to any particular programming language, or indeed computers as a whole. Some of these complexities include time zones (and changes to time zones), the international date line, daylight saving time and differing observation (or non-observation) thereof in different areas (and changes to the observation of daylight saving time over time), leap days and leap seconds, etc.  Another complexity is found in relativistic effects, in which the flow of time varies depending on how deep in a gravity well one is; {{w|Barycentric Coordinate Time}} and {{w|Geocentric Coordinate Time}} (in French, TCB and TCG respectively - the reference to TGC in the title text appears to be a typo) are time systems used for space missions and orbit calculations that handle this. A partial list of such minutiae may be found at [https://gist.github.com/timvisee/fcda9bbdff88d45cc9061606b4b923ca Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Time]. The title text of the comic also references some of them.
+Randall's use of the term "DateTime systems" covers [https://metacpan.org/pod/DateTime any] [https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html number] [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.datetime?view=net-8.0 of] [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date situations], and the complexities are hardly confined to any particular programming language, or indeed computers as a whole. Some of these complexities include time zones (and changes to time zones), the international date line, daylight saving time and differing observation (or non-observation) thereof in different areas (and changes to the observation of daylight saving time over time), leap days and leap seconds, etc.  Another complexity is found in relativistic effects, in which the flow of time varies depending on how deep in a gravity well one is; {{w|Barycentric Coordinate Time}} and {{w|Geocentric Coordinate Time}} (in French, TCB and TCG respectively - the reference to TGC in the title text appears to be a typo) are time systems used for space missions and orbit calculations that handle this. A partial list of such minutiae may be found at [https://gist.github.com/timvisee/fcda9bbdff88d45cc9061606b4b923ca Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Time]. The title text of the comic also references some of them. Depending on when T1 and T2 are, changes in calendar system may also be a relevant consideration—perhaps most famously, the change from the Julian calendar and the Gregorian calendar, two calendar systems which are nearly identical but nearly two weeks apart, and which different countries changed at different times.
 The statement that "it is impossible to know" is because Ponytail did not provide enough information in the question: She needed to specify the location and time zone of both observations, and possibly the exact values of T1 and T2 to the nanosecond.  Considering the restrictions imposed by relativity on two observers agreeing on the timing of events, it may be literally impossible to determine a value of T2 - T1 that is absolutely "correct" to arbitrary levels of precision.

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:31, 24 December 2023
Line 10:		Line 10:

	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
−	~~{{incomplete\|Created by a RUSSIAN DATE-TIME SYSTEM BETWEEN Tа AND Tб - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}~~

	[[Ponytail]] asks [[Cueball]] how to calculate the time elapsed between two instants. A Cueball not intimately familiar with the complexities of the way humans measure time naively assumes that this is given by the difference of the timestamps. A Cueball who is familiar panics and states that it is impossible to know, and further that it is forbidden to even ask the question.		[[Ponytail]] asks [[Cueball]] how to calculate the time elapsed between two instants. A Cueball not intimately familiar with the complexities of the way humans measure time naively assumes that this is given by the difference of the timestamps. A Cueball who is familiar panics and states that it is impossible to know, and further that it is forbidden to even ask the question.

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:36, 20 December 2023
Line 10:		Line 10:

	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
		+	{{incomplete\|Created by a RUSSIAN DATE-TIME SYSTEM BETWEEN Tа AND Tб - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

	[[Ponytail]] asks [[Cueball]] how to calculate the time elapsed between two instants. A Cueball not intimately familiar with the complexities of the way humans measure time naively assumes that this is given by the difference of the timestamps. A Cueball who is familiar panics and states that it is impossible to know, and further that it is forbidden to even ask the question.		[[Ponytail]] asks [[Cueball]] how to calculate the time elapsed between two instants. A Cueball not intimately familiar with the complexities of the way humans measure time naively assumes that this is given by the difference of the timestamps. A Cueball who is familiar panics and states that it is impossible to know, and further that it is forbidden to even ask the question.

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:54, 19 December 2023
Line 10:		Line 10:

	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
−	~~{{incomplete\|Created by a RUSSIAN DATE-TIME SYSTEM BETWEEN Tа AND Tб - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}~~

	[[Ponytail]] asks [[Cueball]] how to calculate the time elapsed between two instants. A Cueball not intimately familiar with the complexities of the way humans measure time naively assumes that this is given by the difference of the timestamps. A Cueball who is familiar panics and states that it is impossible to know, and further that it is forbidden to even ask the question.		[[Ponytail]] asks [[Cueball]] how to calculate the time elapsed between two instants. A Cueball not intimately familiar with the complexities of the way humans measure time naively assumes that this is given by the difference of the timestamps. A Cueball who is familiar panics and states that it is impossible to know, and further that it is forbidden to even ask the question.

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 [[Ponytail]] asks [[Cueball]] how to calculate the time elapsed between two instants. A Cueball not intimately familiar with the complexities of the way humans measure time naively assumes that this is given by the difference of the timestamps. A Cueball who is familiar panics and states that it is impossible to know, and further that it is forbidden to even ask the question.
-Randall's use of the term "DateTime systems" covers [https://metacpan.org/pod/DateTime any] [https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html number] [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.datetime?view=net-8.0 of] [https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html situations], and the complexities are hardly confined to any particular programming language, or indeed computers as a whole. Some of these complexities include time zones (and changes to time zones), the international date line, daylight saving time and differing observation (or non-observation) thereof in different areas (and changes to the observation of daylight saving time over time), leap days and leap seconds, etc.  Another complexity is found in relativistic effects, in which the flow of time varies depending on how deep in a gravity well one is; {{w|Barycentric Coordinate Time}} and {{w|Geocentric Coordinate Time}} (in French, TCB and TCG respectively - the reference to TGC in the title text appears to be a typo) are time systems used for space missions and orbit calculations that handle this. A partial list of such minutiae may be found at [https://gist.github.com/timvisee/fcda9bbdff88d45cc9061606b4b923ca Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Time]. The title text of the comic also references some of them.
+Randall's use of the term "DateTime systems" covers [https://metacpan.org/pod/DateTime any] [https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html number] [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.datetime?view=net-8.0 of] [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date situations], and the complexities are hardly confined to any particular programming language, or indeed computers as a whole. Some of these complexities include time zones (and changes to time zones), the international date line, daylight saving time and differing observation (or non-observation) thereof in different areas (and changes to the observation of daylight saving time over time), leap days and leap seconds, etc.  Another complexity is found in relativistic effects, in which the flow of time varies depending on how deep in a gravity well one is; {{w|Barycentric Coordinate Time}} and {{w|Geocentric Coordinate Time}} (in French, TCB and TCG respectively - the reference to TGC in the title text appears to be a typo) are time systems used for space missions and orbit calculations that handle this. A partial list of such minutiae may be found at [https://gist.github.com/timvisee/fcda9bbdff88d45cc9061606b4b923ca Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Time]. The title text of the comic also references some of them.
 The statement that "it is impossible to know" is because Ponytail did not provide enough information in the question: She needed to specify the location and time zone of both observations, and possibly the exact values of T1 and T2 to the nanosecond. The statement "and a sin to ask" is obviously hyperbolic; it's an expression of the fact that determining the answer accurately can be complicated and programming systems that attempt to do this can be frustrating. Considering the restrictions imposed by relativity on two observers agreeing on the timing of events, it may be literally impossible to determine a value of T2 - T1 that is absolutely "correct" to arbitrary levels of precision.