Talk:2050: 6/6 Time

This is actually how time worked in ancient Greece, minus the 6 o'clock part. Sunrise was at 12, sunset at 12 and the length of each hour varied depending on the part of the year 172.68.189.163 16:15, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Not just Greece but most of medeaval Europe. The concept of a fixed length hour only arises with clockwork. that Noon, the ninth hour, now occurs at the sixth hour - that we call 12 - is mainly due to post black death labour shortages. -- Arachrah (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Also ancient Rome. I think Romans borrowed this system from Greeks and it later spread along with the Roman Empire's influence. 172.68.10.22 16:52, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

To be fair, the Romans "borrowed" (stole) a lot of other things from the Greeks, not the least of which was their pantheon. 108.162.216.172 18:21, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Before clockwork (as mentioned above) was created, variable hours/minutes/seconds were necessary (at least during daylight hours) as the sundial obviously ^{(citation needed)} is just based off of the sun's angle in the sky.Raj-a-Kiit (talk) 17:42, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Some facts: September equinox was at 01:54 UTC on September 23 when in the entire US it still was September 22 as can be seen here: U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department (Apsides and Seasons 2018). This comic was released two days later. --Dgbrt (talk) 16:32, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Could the timing of this comic be related to the EU voting to end DST within its borders? 108.162.241.100 16:51, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

This isn't about daylight saving time, which just moves clocks forwards and backwards by one hour in most cases. Cueball refers to an equinox when day and night are both 12 hours. --Dgbrt (talk) 17:05, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

This comic is about "unfixably messy and complicated" time standards (of which DST is one) at least as much as equinoxes (which aren't quite what you say they are; I won't get a 12-hour interval between sunrise and sunset at my latitude for another few days yet). 108.162.241.220 19:51, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

The hours/minutes/seconds get really short/long in the polar regions. 162.158.74.243 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

The caption can also be referring to the alteration of time zones for political reasons, such as China having only one now rather than the five it used to use, or the Republic of Kiribati pushing the International Date Line east of its entire territory.172.69.22.140 17:50, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Here is a YouTube video explaining the Japanese system (and how they created mechanical clocks to support it) - Begin Japanology - Clocks and Watches. -- Dhericean (talk) 18:15, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Swatch time: Still more sensible than any other division of the day I've ever heard.

Seriously though, isn't it about time we all switched to metric? 10 segments in a day, not 24. 100 units in a segment. Straightforward, easy to figure pay rates, & pretty simple to convert to & from.

Increments of 24 & 60 have no relevance to anything these days. The only reason to continue using a 24hr day is because "that's how it's been done for ages" & that's no excuse for anything.

ProphetZarquon (talk) 18:23, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

I wouldn't mind redefining the division of a day. My problem would be with redefining the second, which would necessarily be a consequence of switching to metric time, and thus also the three base and nineteen derived SI units that depend on the current definition of s.

If you can switch us to metric time without redefining the length of a second, nor having an excessive number of leap seconds, I'm all for that. 108.162.241.118 21:19, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

The length of a day isn't even constant. If you had even divisions, the length of those divisions would be changing constantly. "'It's been done that way for ages' is no excuse" is irrelevant reasoning. A consistent system of time is needed (because good luck updating every computer constantly), and any one consistent method is as good as another because they can all be converted to each other (much like feet and meters can be). The one that's been in use the longest tends to have the most support. It's similar to how people don't have much of a reason to change keyboard layouts even though QWERTY or AZERTY or whatever regional preference may not actually be the most efficient. 172.69.210.34 23:52, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Here's a Youtube video that talks about just how bad time systems can get. 172.69.210.34 23:52, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

From Wikipedia

“In Judaism, an hour is defined as 1/12 of the time from sunrise to sunset, so, during the winter, an hour can be much less than 60 minutes, and during the summer, it can be much more than 60 minutes. This proportional hour is known as a sha'ah z'manit (lit. "temporal hour" [[1]]). A Jewish hour is divided into 1080 halakim (singular: helek) or parts. A part is 3⅓ seconds or 1/18 minute. The ultimate ancestor of the helek was a small Babylonian time period called a barleycorn, itself equal to 1/72 of a Babylonian time degree (1° of celestial rotation).[6] These measures are not generally used for everyday purposes.”