Talk:1179: ISO 8601

Apparently there are some mistakes in the Roman numerals in the comic, the year MMXII is 2012. Also LVII/CCLXV = 57/265, whereas February 27th is the 58th day of the year (which has 365 days). --ulm (talk) 07:55, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Just guessing, but could this have something to do with the divergence of various Roman calendars, e.g. Julian vs. Gregorian? 98.122.166.235 13:55, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Another error: Obviously 1330300800 is intended to be Unix time, but it corresponds to 2012-02-27 00:00:00 UTC. --ulm (talk) 08:10, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

The day part "57" is not wrong: Since Feb 27 is the 58th day of the year, at the beginning of that day, 57 days have gone by since the year started. (At the end of the day, 58 days have gone by) Since we associate days with their beginning (like we do with e.g. hours and minutes), 57 is the correct number (or else Dec 31 would be 2013+365/365 = 2014, and therefore in the wrong year) -- Xorg (talk) 13:53, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

The day part is ambiguous. It could be as Xorg suggests, the fraction of the year past at the start of the day. On the other hand it could be interpreted as "day 57 or 365," as with pieces in a shipment or page numbers. In the latter case it should be 58/265. But then, that (ambiguity) is the point, isn't it? Jqavins (talk) 17:40, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Meanwhile the comic was replaced, with CCLXV corrected to CCCLXV. --ulm (talk) Prima vigilia, XVI Kal. Mar. MMDCCLXVI

Can anyone explain 01237 (last interpretation before the cat)? Thanks 68.230.38.154 08:04, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

The small numbers above and below the larger ones show which digit is used where. For example, the 2nd and 5th digit is a 0, the 3rd digit is a 1 etc. 82.115.151.1 08:15, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

01237 are the digits used in the date, and the numbers above and below them reflect the order in which they are written; 0 is the second and fifth digit, 1 is the third digit, 2 is the first, sixth and seventh digit, 3 is the fourth digit, and 7 is the eighth digit: 20130227 Bdemirci (talk) 08:15, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Someone can explain me what means: ((3+3)×(111+1)-1)×3/3-1/3³? -- 95.23.147.48 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Read the comic explanation. Davidy²²[talk] 10:58, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

A strange thing is that he forgot the form mostly used in Europe: 27.01.2013. --DaB. (talk) 12:44, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

That form is mostly used in Germany. Belgium and France use 27/01/2013 more, Netherlands use 27-01-2013. No idea what the UK prefers although I could imagine 01.27.2013.62.159.14.62 12:58, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

The UK prefers 27/02/2013 --H (talk) 13:20, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

That form (27.02.2013) is also common in all of Scandinavia. --Buggz (talk) 14:15, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

The image text has a subtle twist as "12/01/04" offers no contextual clues to it meaning at all, can be read three different ways : "December 1st 2004", "January 12, 2004" or "January 4th, 2012" (as opposed to, for example, "01/15/98" which could only be interrupted as "January 15th, 1998") JamesCurran (talk) 14:29, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Technically speaking, it could also be interpreted as April 1st 2012 or April 12th 2001, though that would be the least likely interpretation. I personally like spelling out 3 letters of the month and using an apostrophe before the year, such as 27 Feb '13. --Joehammer79 (talk) 15:07, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

And of course December, 4th 2001 Sebastian --178.26.118.249 19:54, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Is there any way to convert the time-stamp placed on these comments to the YYYY-MM-DD format? --16:17, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

I feel like the cat thing is a reference to something, but I'm not sure what... is it something? A quick google image search pulls up nothing. --Jeff (talk) 17:26, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Seems to me that Randall missed an opportunity: Why a cat? Why not a bobcat? It still could be some other reference that I'm missing too.

Black cats are considered unlucky. I don't see any reference beyond that. Mattflaschen (talk) 17:59, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

It's taking the last two digits from 2013 and emphasizing triskaidekaphobia. Doing a web image search on "Cat 13" will pull up similar artwork of hissing black cats combined with the number 13, including both flyers for Friday 13th drink specials at bars, and combat airplane noseart. Apparently combining the unlucky "13" with an unlucky black cat emphasized that they were bad luck for the enemy. Columbus Admission (talk) 19:20, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Cool, this is my birthday. Mattflaschen (talk) 17:59, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

"However the list then starts listing formats ranging from uncommon to absurd, such as writing the date partly in Roman numerals [...] " - My math teacher uses a very similar format (in reverse order, d/m/yy, with m being in Roman numerals, because this is Germany (see above)), so I wouldn't call it absurd. She is the only person I know who uses it though. 87.189.150.212 19:36, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

What can we learn from this?

I've learned that no matter the system we use today to communicate with others, it's probably seems silly for someone else. It's great to document what we do and propose it as an option to others, but it will be next to impossible to force them to adopt. When someone will develop a time reference that makes sense to everyone, it will be adopted all over the world without much effort. - e-inspired 24.51.197.187 19:07, 27 February 2013 (UTC)