<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">DST changes are a b*tch. I've had a number of lovely multi-day support calls dealing with all the wonderful things that happen when you have a system with independent devices that assume all days are 24-hours long<br>
</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Sep 30, 2013 at 11:03 AM, Scott Plante <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:splante@insightsys.com" target="_blank">splante@insightsys.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">I hadn't replied because I took all this as a tongue-in-cheek suggestion. Just in case you're serious, I'll have to say this is a really bad idea. When under Bush, they just changed the Daylight Savings Time dates, it caused a huge amount of work for us. They just changed the <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Business/Business-Features/Israel-does-the-time-warp-daylight-savings-glitch-wreaks-havoc-325560" target="_blank">DST dates in Israel</a> and it again caused us to waste many, many needless hours of support, and I'm not sure we're done with the fallout yet. The amount of wasted effort across the US and the World to deal with a change of this magnitude in computer systems for so little (if any) benefit would be outrageous. <div>
<br></div><div>Scott<br><br><hr><div style="font-size:12pt;font-style:normal;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal"><b>From: </b>"Sid Lane" <<a href="mailto:jakes.dad@gmail.com" target="_blank">jakes.dad@gmail.com</a>><br>
<b>To: </b>"Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux!" <<a href="mailto:ale@ale.org" target="_blank">ale@ale.org</a>><br><b>Sent: </b>Friday, September 27, 2013 1:20:44 PM<br><b>Subject: </b>[ale] [OT] Googlian Calendar<br>
<br><div dir="ltr"><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">being in an interfaith marriage my frighteningly precocious daughter recently asked me why we have two New Years as well as how we can go from the year 2013 in January to 5774 a couple of weeks ago which got me to thinking that Google’s 15th birthday today seems like the perfect opportunity to separate that most deeply rooted of all church/state violations: the Gregorian Calendar! what does that have to do with Google? glad you asked! let me answer in three parts:</span><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">
<br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px"><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">1. any calendar requires an epoch (this is self-evident)</span><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">
<span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">2. most (if not all) alternatives’ epochs are tied to respective religion’s creation stories (still violating separation just in different flavors)</span><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">
<span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">3. name a more secularly significant event than google launching*</span><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">
<br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px"><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">think about it - how often do you wonder: “how did the world work before Google?” when Googling obscure error messages or edge case symptoms we often quip at work: “isn’t it weird to think there was a time when you used to have to actually KNOW stuff?”. the fact that “Googling”, the present tense of the verb “to Google”, is recognized by spell check (at least mine) just underscores my point (though admittedly I’ve yet to see a full conjugation)! honestly, I am convinced that Google is the new library of Alexandria and when they eventually crash it will plunge humanity into another dark age though that’s a topic for another time…</span><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">
<br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px"><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">anyway, in conclusion I encourage everyone to write your congress critter (enclosing the obligatory campaign contribution - another topic for another time), MP, Ayatollah (well, maybe not him), etc to petition that September 27, 2013 be internationally recognized as 15.000, the 0th day of the 15th** year A.G. (Anno Googli). at a minimum I hope we can get formal adoption from the Pastafarians…</span><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">
<br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px"><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">Happy New Year!</span><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">
<br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px"><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">*which can be identified with any precision - I’m not keen on a Kelvin calendar based on a big bang SWAG, not to mention the relativistic effects get really nasty as you approach absolute zero (though an argument can be made that does seem appropriate given what quantum mechanics does approaching 0K temp).</span><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">
<br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px"><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:17px">**unlike Pope Gregory Googlers are smart enough to realize that days and years should start with ZERO instead of one! not to mention that we don’t even need a B.G.! we just go negative - September 26, 1998 becomes -1.364 (though this admittedly requires signed variables). we can figure out the subdivisions (“months”, “weeks”, etc) later but it seems like an opportunity to standardize & bring sanity while we’re at it!</span><br>
</div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>Ale mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Ale@ale.org" target="_blank">Ale@ale.org</a><br><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>
See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br></div><br></div></div></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>
Ale mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Ale@ale.org">Ale@ale.org</a><br>
<a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>
See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br>
<a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Pete Hardie<br>--------<br>Better Living Through Bitmaps
</div>