Date and Time


In these Web pages I use two of the international notations for the presentation of date and time. The date and time present as a series of digits with the most significant parts listed first, e.g., the "year" part represents a "higher mathematical ordering" than the "month" part. For example, a date like (in usual USA presentation) "Jan 14, 2001" would present as "20010114" or "2001-01-14". If one intends to represent only a month, e.g., Jan 2001, one would write it as "200101" or "2001-01". When writing a time, simply add more digits to the other parts: e.g., Jan 14, 2001 at 2:30pm, one would write "200101141430" or "2001-01-14 14:30". Many would, no doubt, argue for the latter's higher readability. I recommend adoption of the international standards for date and time. Since the USA stands virtually alone among the world's nations not using a 24-hour clock, I think we should adopt it. Using it eliminates confusion as to which 12-hour period one refers. Also, the confusion of whether 12:00am means midnight or noon would disappear. I use the two presentations of the date/time above interchangeably in my web pages.


Internet Time

I found an interesting idea on the Web for a new global time and present "Internet Time" here. This method divides a 24-hour day into 1,000 decimal "beats" of duration 1 minute 26.4 seconds each. When the "beat" equals "000", it is midnight in Biel, Switzerland. The "beat" time stays the same over the entire planet. If the Internet time is "500" (04:00 MST), then that is also the Internet time in Biel, New York, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo, Seoul, Paris, Bogata, Lima, Sydney and London.

    Internet Time       Mountain Standard Time
         000                        16:00
         125                        19:00
         250                        22:00
         375                        01:00
         500                        04:00
         625                        07:00
         750                        10:00
         875                        13:00
For more information on this idea, click on the Swatch clock above.

Swatch BIG Internet Clock

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Last update: 2001-01-14 Su 10:10 MST