Conversation

My random take today:

Everyone who can read a clock should learn to read 24 hr time as well

Not just nerds, engineers, and mil. *Everyone*

Normally I'm not pushy about my personal life hacks[1], but this one is diff. It'd simplify so many systems if designers could rely on ppl knowing it

It also makes math easier

Quick: how long is it from 3 AM to 6:30 PM?
Now: how long is it from 03:00 to 18:30?

Fin

[1] I'll never live to see most ppl use the correct calendar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_week_date

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@jhwgh1968 Yup! 24 hour time is really useful.

I'd combine that with removing time zones, so everyone is on the same page on the planet.

Travelling? Find out the sunrise and sunset times where you're visiting and you're done.

A meeting at 1200 would be at the same time for everyone around the world, with no confusion.

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@matoakit I agree with removing timezones, and I'd be fine with that sort of research. The unification of the clock is def worth it IMO as you suggest

But I recognize that would be a harder lift for a lot of ppl. Just being able to do math with the offsets better would be a huge improvement, as well as a step toward that

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@jhwgh1968 both 24h time and weeks starting on Monday are widely used outside of the us (sometimes interchangeably with 12h time)
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@jhwgh1968 It's one of those things that would be hard for people now to adapt for a few months, but it would save countless future generations trouble.

Same thing with global proper lockdowns to wipe out most transmissible diseases. A year for everyone now to save untold billions or trillions of people in the future suffering forever?

I love to play the long game, relatively tiny costs now save huge amounts later.

Once I'm Empress I'll fix everything whether people like it or not.

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@jhwgh1968 @charlotte At least for me we usually use 12h time (without am or pm) when speaking and just use the context to figure out if it is am or pm. And then mostly use a 24h time when writing.
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@jhwgh1968 @charlotte Here in Germany both systems are used and understood by (almost) everybody. Some people may prefer to use the 12 hour format when talking, but overall younger people seem to tend to use the 24 hour format way more than older people.

The 12 hour format actually causes more misunderstandings than the 24 hour system over here.

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@jhwgh1968 you know some people put the month before the day of the month! How dumb is that?

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