memes

At least our hours are the same length regardless of latitude now, so let's be grateful for that.

IIRC they counted the bones in their fingers using their thumb and that gives 12. The first sundial was around the equator and there is always light for half a day, so half a day becomes 12 hours.

To count large numbers often one hand was used to count using 5 fingers and the other to count the bones, so you get 5x12 for 60 minutes.

If the day started at 1:00 then by the second hour you would be at 2:00, even though only 1 hour has passed. Effectively the day starts at 0. In fact in 24-hour time that is how it's depicted, 00:00 with midday being depicted as 12:00, so it isn't confusing

I only recently learned the etymology of the word: "second"

Its name comes from being the "second" division of the hour, with the minute being the first.

Days start at 0h, not 12h

It can't start at 12 hours if there are 24 segments.

And keep your letters out of it too.

We have Babylon to thank for this

Somebody never had a clock with roman numerals and it shows

I remember getting into an argument with a grade school teacher over IIII because most such clocks put that for 4 instead of IV because of some fuckin reason

Clocks should use 24h format. AM/PM is completely useless.

Sundials.

Now if you want to get really pissed, the magnetic North Pole is actually the South Pole of the Earth’s magnetic field. We call it the North Pole because the north side of a magnet points to it.

It's the same logic that was used by ancient astronomers to arrive at 360 degrees for a full revolution.

The math is easier if you have to do it by hand.

Also why clockwise?

Earth rotates and orbits counter clockwise. It just seems more right

The 6 means 30, both of which also mean 1/2

When I become dictator of the world, this will be the new time unit: https://metric-time.com/

The year will also have 13 months: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Fixed_Calendar

The year will be 12025: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_calendar

Because these things just make more sense. You will thank me after a few generations, because habits are hard to change.

If you want to be mad about time then I'd like to introduce you to a little thing I like to call the Gregorian calendar.

I'll be there at H:00.

Hour hand -> hour = n
Minute hand -> minute = n * 5
It makes sense, there's just an algorithm attached to each pointer.

Hour -> 3 = 3
Minute -> 3 = 3 * 5 = 15

sub.wetshaving.social?

What is this?

Well it’s because noon means nine because the day starts at six o’ clock, so three is noon, but we use it to mean twelve which is closer to midday, obviously

Relatively funny but gets worse the more you think about it.

The 6 stands for 6, not 30.

When we have AM and PM it would be dumb to have 1-24.

1 is the end of the 1st hour. 2 the end of the second. This is why it starts at 0.