Re: 08:09:10 11/12/13

2013-11-12 Thread Peter Mayer 

Hi,

	My father told me that during WWII in London, the 'date problem' was a 
constant hazard between the British and the American commands, and that, 
as in John Pickard's herbarium, they eventually standardised on using 
Roman Numerals for the months.


best wishes,

Peter

On 13/11/2013 10:17 AM, John Pickard wrote:

I couldn't agree more about the confusion Paul. But as an Australian, I find 
the US system close to an abomination. But the non-US system(s) will gradually 
fade as Bill Gates continues his inexorable Americanisation (i.e. 
bastardisation) of the English language, and people are too lazy or stupid to 
change the formats to e.g. Australian English and dates rather than accept his 
defaults.

For many years I worked in a herbarium where we had plant collections going 
back to the 1700s. Dates were always given as day / month / year in an 
unambiguous format using roman numerals for month: 13.xi.2013. Because the 
collections covered several centuries, the year was never abbreviated to two 
digits.

It's not just dates that are confusing, it's also time of day. I can only shake 
my head at Virgin Airlines which lists all the departure and arrival times on 
their website in 12-hour format, but uses 24-hour on the e-tickets. At least 
the new urban public transport timetables released in Sydney a few weeks ago 
have changed from 12-hour to 24-hour format.

I have to confess to arriving at Sydney airport for a 6:30 flight, but when I 
tried to
check-in, I was told it was only possible 4 hours before departure, and my flight was at 
18:30! As Homer J. would say "D'oh!"

Cheers, John

Dr John Pickard

john.pick...@bigpond.com

 Sunclocks North America  wrote:

=
This has always been a pet peeve of mine!
All of these differing date formats are confusing, as you can never really be 
sure
which one people are using.  Here in Canada, it's even worse because some 
people put
the month first like in the USA and others put the day first and yet others put 
the
year first!  Nobody can be sure if something like 10/11/12 means October 11th 
2012,
November 10th 2012 or November 12th 2010!  At least now that we're in 2013, 
some of
that confusion is gone for the next 87 years.
I think that the best way which everyone in the world understands is to start a 
four
digit year: /mm/dd, and all the confusion goes away with the simple 
addition of two
characters.  Plus the dates can be easily sorted numerically.  It's pretty much 
the
only date format I ever use unless I spell out the month.

Paul Ratto
SunClocks North America


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School of History & Politics
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Re: 08:09:10 11/12/13

2013-11-12 Thread John Pickard 
I couldn't agree more about the confusion Paul. But as an Australian, I find 
the US system close to an abomination. But the non-US system(s) will gradually 
fade as Bill Gates continues his inexorable Americanisation (i.e. 
bastardisation) of the English language, and people are too lazy or stupid to 
change the formats to e.g. Australian English and dates rather than accept his 
defaults. 
 
For many years I worked in a herbarium where we had plant collections going 
back to the 1700s. Dates were always given as day / month / year in an 
unambiguous format using roman numerals for month: 13.xi.2013. Because the 
collections covered several centuries, the year was never abbreviated to two 
digits. 
 
It's not just dates that are confusing, it's also time of day. I can only shake 
my head at Virgin Airlines which lists all the departure and arrival times on 
their website in 12-hour format, but uses 24-hour on the e-tickets. At least 
the new urban public transport timetables released in Sydney a few weeks ago 
have changed from 12-hour to 24-hour format. 
 
I have to confess to arriving at Sydney airport for a 6:30 flight, but when I 
tried to 
check-in, I was told it was only possible 4 hours before departure, and my 
flight was at 18:30! As Homer J. would say "D'oh!" 
 
Cheers, John 
 
Dr John Pickard 
 
john.pick...@bigpond.com 
 
 Sunclocks North America  wrote: 
 
= 
This has always been a pet peeve of mine! 
All of these differing date formats are confusing, as you can never really be 
sure 
which one people are using.  Here in Canada, it's even worse because some 
people put 
the month first like in the USA and others put the day first and yet others put 
the 
year first!  Nobody can be sure if something like 10/11/12 means October 11th 
2012, 
November 10th 2012 or November 12th 2010!  At least now that we're in 2013, 
some of 
that confusion is gone for the next 87 years. 
I think that the best way which everyone in the world understands is to start a 
four 
digit year: /mm/dd, and all the confusion goes away with the simple 
addition of two 
characters.  Plus the dates can be easily sorted numerically.  It's pretty much 
the 
only date format I ever use unless I spell out the month. 
 
Paul Ratto 
SunClocks North America 


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Re: 08:09:10 11/12/13

2013-11-12 Thread Sunclocks North America 
This has always been a pet peeve of mine!
All of these differing date formats are confusing, as you can never really be 
sure which one people are using.  Here in Canada, it's even worse because some 
people put the month first like in the USA and others put the day first and yet 
others put the year first!  Nobody can be sure if something like 10/11/12 means 
October 11th 2012, November 10th 2012 or November 12th 2010!  At least now that 
we're in 2013, some of that confusion is gone for the next 87 years.
I think that the best way which everyone in the world understands is to start a 
four digit year: /mm/dd, and all the confusion goes away with the simple 
addition of two characters.  Plus the dates can be easily sorted numerically.  
It's pretty much the only date format I ever use unless I spell out the month.

Paul Ratto
SunClocks North America

> On Nov 12, 2013, at 1:53 PM, David Patte ₯  wrote:
> 
> In Canada, I am waiting for 13-12-11 10:09 = 2013, December 11th at 10:09 in 
> the morning.
> 
> 
> 
>> On 2013-11-12 13:43, Willy Leenders wrote:
>> You can also come to Europe, Bill.
>> In my country, 11/12/13 is the eleventh day of December 2013
>> 
>> Willy Leenders
>> Hasselt in Flanders (Belgium)
>> 
>> Visit my website about the sundials in the province of Limburg (Flanders) 
>> with a section 'worth knowing about sundials' (mostly in Dutch): 
>> http://www.wijzerweb.be
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> Op 12-nov-2013, om 19:18 heeft Bill Gottesman het volgende geschreven:
>>> 
>>> Did anyone catch this auspicious moment, 08:09:10 11/12/13?  I missed it, 
>>> but will go for   another try this PM.
>>> 
>>> -Bill
>>> ---
>>> https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ---
>> https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
>  
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Re: 08:09:10 11/12/13

2013-11-12 Thread Thibaud Taudin Chabot 
Come over to Europe and get a second chance. Here we have 11/12/13 in 
December (and be present at 14:15!)

Thibaud

At 19:18 12-11-2013, Bill Gottesman wrote:
Did anyone catch this auspicious moment, 08:09:10 11/12/13?  I 
missed it, but will go for another try this PM.


-Bill
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Re: 08:09:10 11/12/13

2013-11-12 Thread David Patte ₯ 
In Canada, I am waiting for 13-12-11 10:09 = 2013, December 11th at 
10:09 in the morning.




On 2013-11-12 13:43, Willy Leenders wrote:

You can also come to Europe, Bill.
In my country, 11/12/13 is the eleventh day of December 2013

Willy Leenders
Hasselt in Flanders (Belgium)

Visit my website about the sundials in the province of Limburg 
(Flanders) with a section 'worth knowing about sundials' (mostly in 
Dutch): http://www.wijzerweb.be








Op 12-nov-2013, om 19:18 heeft Bill Gottesman het volgende geschreven:

Did anyone catch this auspicious moment, 08:09:10 11/12/13?  I missed 
it, but will go for another try this PM.


-Bill
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Re: 08:09:10 11/12/13

2013-11-12 Thread Willy Leenders 
You can also come to Europe, Bill.
In my country, 11/12/13 is the eleventh day of December 2013

Willy Leenders
Hasselt in Flanders (Belgium)

Visit my website about the sundials in the province of Limburg (Flanders) with 
a section 'worth knowing about sundials' (mostly in Dutch): 
http://www.wijzerweb.be







Op 12-nov-2013, om 19:18 heeft Bill Gottesman het volgende geschreven:

> Did anyone catch this auspicious moment, 08:09:10 11/12/13?  I missed it, but 
> will go for another try this PM.
> 
> -Bill
> ---
> https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
> 

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08:09:10 11/12/13

2013-11-12 Thread Bill Gottesman 
Did anyone catch this auspicious moment, 08:09:10 11/12/13?  I missed it,
but will go for another try this PM.

-Bill
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A special soirée at the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments

2013-11-12 Thread Schechner, Sara 
Dear History of Science Community,

The Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments (CHSI) at Harvard 
University would like to invite you to an informal gathering during this year's 
HSS Annual Meeting, held in Boston. We will open our museum doors on Friday, 22 
November 2013 from 7:30pm to 9:30pm. Wine and cheese will accompany the visit 
of our two current exhibits: Time, Life & Matter: Science in Cambridge AND Time 
& Time Again: How Science & Culture Shape the Past, Present, & Future. For more 
information, go to our website: 
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hsdept/chsi-exhibitions.html

We are located on the Oxford Street side of the Science Center at Harvard 
University:

Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments
Science Center 136 and 251
1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA.
(map: http://hmsc.harvard.edu/files/museums/files/hmsc_map.pdf)

Please join us for this special occasion. We are eager to see old friends and 
make new ones!

Please RSVP to either Dr. Sara Schechner 
(sche...@fas.harvard.edu) or myself, your two 
hosts.

Looking forward to seeing you in great number. All the best, jfg

Jean-François Gauvin, Ph.D.
Director of Administration / Lecturer

Harvard University | Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments
1 Oxford St, Science Center 371, Cambridge, MA 02138
Ph: 617.496-1021 | cell: 857.998-8523
gau...@fas.harvard.edu
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hsdept/chsi.html
jfgauvin2008.wordpress.com

Sara J. Schechner, Ph.D.
David P. Wheatland Curator of the Collection of Historical Scientific 
Instruments
Department of the History of Science, Harvard University
Science Center 251c, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617-496-9542   |   Fax: 617-496-5932   |   sche...@fas.harvard.edu
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hsdept/chsi.html

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