The 6 means 30, both of which also mean 1/2
this post was submitted on 20 May 2025
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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
Weird, I've seen many analog clocks with Roman numerals but always IV for 4.
It's actually called the "clockmakers four" or "watchmakers four." it's a thing.
False. I had a clock that used IIII instead.
Clocks should use 24h format. AM/PM is completely useless.
Somebody gave me this clock…I just need the time.
ten ten
Sounds like a Michael McIntyre bit
The french:
Goddamn metric time
Why the 'IIII' insted of 'IV'?
Prevents confusion between the four and the six: III, IV, V, VI, when the watch is not held perfectly vertically for viewing.
Actually very common in watches with roman numbers iirc
i'm pretty sure that IV is a modern typographic thing
I've also heard that, because in Latin IV is the beginning of "IVPPITER" (Jupiter), there’s a theory that people avoided using "IV" as to not “disrespect” the god’s name. 🤷♀️
Also, on a 12 hour clock, 3 sets of four, e.g.:
- I, II, III, IIII
- V, VI, VII, VIII
- IX, X, XI, XII
looks clean af I guess.
Now I really want a .beats watch. That's so retro cool.
If you're ok with a screwdriver, you can mod a Casio F91-W and add a .beat watchface https://www.sensorwatch.net/docs/watchfaces/clock/#beat-time
Don't listen to OP's bullshit.
They work for big clock. They're trying to convince you 12 hour clock is useless so they can sell you double the clock.
Look at this guy, only one clock. I keep two analog clocks in each room, the AM 12-11, and PM 12-11. The way it was meant to be.
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.
AIUI there was an aspect in the divisibility of the numbers being convenient.
12 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. 60 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30.
10 is divisible by 2 and 5. 100 is divisible by 2, 4, 5, 10, 20, 25, and 50.
If you want to minimize dealing with fractions, 12 and 60 are far more convenient than 10 and 100.
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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.
Seems a bit odd to not use a base 10 number of months.
Redefining the definition of a second sounds very problematic.
If you make the 13th month a holiday with no work, you have my support .
Team 13-month-calendar assemble!
I haven't done enough digging on metric time, but if it's implemented as a UTC/global time I can get behind that. I'm sick of timezones and DST.
Nah, instead we'll go back to the local noon standard where the time zone is set by when the sun is directly above you. Instead of a couple dozen time zones we'll have thousands.
Don't forget about π
At least our hours are the same length regardless of latitude now, so let's be grateful for that.
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.
It’s funny how we go straight to metric when dividing seconds
I honestly hate this.
It's like bad world building for some throwaway fiction story.
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.
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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.
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.
Where am I?? 🫨🌀😵💫
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