Metric Calendar

A few SF writers have amused themselves by having their far-future space-faring characters abandon our “months” and “years”, and do everything in days or hours. This makes a certain sense when you get away from Earth; the daily rhythm is the one most deeply built into us, and we probably will keep something like 24-hour days on ships. And we’ll certainly keep the “second”, if it’s really “us” spreading out to the stars, because it’s basic to all our science and engineering; and completely arbitrary, so it’s as good as anything else.

I’ve wanted a table of time conversions for decoding such stories for some time, and finally wrote a Perl script to create one. So, for amusement, reference, and so forth, here they are.

The actual difficulty is primarily deciding how to format them. I don’t think this is optimal yet, but it’s much better than some things I tried.

The “year” length is the official solar year. All calculations are done from seconds.

The first set of tables are powers of 10 in one of the units.

Seconds    Minutes      Hours       Days      Weeks      Years
 1e+03       16.7      0.278     0.0116    0.00165   3.17e-05
 1e+04        167       2.78      0.116     0.0165   0.000317
 1e+05   1.67e+03       27.8       1.16      0.165    0.00317
 1e+06   1.67e+04        278       11.6       1.65     0.0317
 1e+07   1.67e+05   2.78e+03        116       16.5      0.317
 1e+08   1.67e+06   2.78e+04   1.16e+03        165       3.17
 1e+09   1.67e+07   2.78e+05   1.16e+04   1.65e+03       31.7
 1e+10   1.67e+08   2.78e+06   1.16e+05   1.65e+04        317
 1e+11   1.67e+09   2.78e+07   1.16e+06   1.65e+05   3.17e+03
 1e+12   1.67e+10   2.78e+08   1.16e+07   1.65e+06   3.17e+04
 1e+13   1.67e+11   2.78e+09   1.16e+08   1.65e+07   3.17e+05
 1e+14   1.67e+12   2.78e+10   1.16e+09   1.65e+08   3.17e+06

 Seconds    Minutes      Hours       Days      Weeks      Years
 6e+04      1e+03       16.7      0.694     0.0992     0.0019
 6e+05      1e+04        167       6.94      0.992      0.019
 6e+06      1e+05   1.67e+03       69.4       9.92       0.19
 6e+07      1e+06   1.67e+04        694       99.2        1.9
 6e+08      1e+07   1.67e+05   6.94e+03        992         19
 6e+09      1e+08   1.67e+06   6.94e+04   9.92e+03        190
 6e+10      1e+09   1.67e+07   6.94e+05   9.92e+04    1.9e+03
 6e+11      1e+10   1.67e+08   6.94e+06   9.92e+05    1.9e+04
 6e+12      1e+11   1.67e+09   6.94e+07   9.92e+06    1.9e+05

 Seconds    Minutes      Hours       Days      Weeks      Years
 3.6e+03         60          1     0.0417    0.00595   0.000114
 3.6e+04        600         10      0.417     0.0595    0.00114
 3.6e+05      6e+03        100       4.17      0.595     0.0114
 3.6e+06      6e+04      1e+03       41.7       5.95      0.114
 3.6e+07      6e+05      1e+04        417       59.5       1.14
 3.6e+08      6e+06      1e+05   4.17e+03        595       11.4
 3.6e+09      6e+07      1e+06   4.17e+04   5.95e+03        114
 3.6e+10      6e+08      1e+07   4.17e+05   5.95e+04   1.14e+03
 3.6e+11      6e+09      1e+08   4.17e+06   5.95e+05   1.14e+04
 3.6e+12      6e+10      1e+09   4.17e+07   5.95e+06   1.14e+05
 3.6e+13      6e+11      1e+10   4.17e+08   5.95e+07   1.14e+06

 Seconds    Minutes      Hours       Days      Weeks      Years
 8.64e+04   1.44e+03         24          1      0.143    0.00274
 8.64e+05   1.44e+04        240         10       1.43     0.0274
 8.64e+06   1.44e+05    2.4e+03        100       14.3      0.274
 8.64e+07   1.44e+06    2.4e+04      1e+03        143       2.74
 8.64e+08   1.44e+07    2.4e+05      1e+04   1.43e+03       27.4
 8.64e+09   1.44e+08    2.4e+06      1e+05   1.43e+04        274
 8.64e+10   1.44e+09    2.4e+07      1e+06   1.43e+05   2.74e+03
 8.64e+11   1.44e+10    2.4e+08      1e+07   1.43e+06   2.74e+04
 8.64e+12   1.44e+11    2.4e+09      1e+08   1.43e+07   2.74e+05
 8.64e+13   1.44e+12    2.4e+10      1e+09   1.43e+08   2.74e+06

 Seconds    Minutes      Hours       Days      Weeks      Years
 3.16e+07   5.26e+05   8.77e+03        365       52.2          1
 3.16e+08   5.26e+06   8.77e+04   3.65e+03        522         10
 3.16e+09   5.26e+07   8.77e+05   3.65e+04   5.22e+03        100
 3.16e+10   5.26e+08   8.77e+06   3.65e+05   5.22e+04      1e+03
 3.16e+11   5.26e+09   8.77e+07   3.65e+06   5.22e+05      1e+04
 3.16e+12   5.26e+10   8.77e+08   3.65e+07   5.22e+06      1e+05
 3.16e+13   5.26e+11   8.77e+09   3.65e+08   5.22e+07      1e+06

Or, in a variant presentation, sorted by actual length of each period:

  Seconds    Minutes      Hours       Days      Weeks      Years
    1e+03       16.7      0.278     0.0116    0.00165   3.17e-05
  3.6e+03         60          1     0.0417    0.00595   0.000114
    1e+04        167       2.78      0.116     0.0165   0.000317
  3.6e+04        600         10      0.417     0.0595    0.00114
    6e+04      1e+03       16.7      0.694     0.0992     0.0019
 8.64e+04   1.44e+03         24          1      0.143    0.00274
    1e+05   1.67e+03       27.8       1.16      0.165    0.00317
  3.6e+05      6e+03        100       4.17      0.595     0.0114
    6e+05      1e+04        167       6.94      0.992      0.019
 8.64e+05   1.44e+04        240         10       1.43     0.0274
    1e+06   1.67e+04        278       11.6       1.65     0.0317
  3.6e+06      6e+04      1e+03       41.7       5.95      0.114
    6e+06      1e+05   1.67e+03       69.4       9.92       0.19
 8.64e+06   1.44e+05    2.4e+03        100       14.3      0.274
    1e+07   1.67e+05   2.78e+03        116       16.5      0.317
 3.16e+07   5.26e+05   8.77e+03        365       52.2          1
  3.6e+07      6e+05      1e+04        417       59.5       1.14
    6e+07      1e+06   1.67e+04        694       99.2        1.9
 8.64e+07   1.44e+06    2.4e+04      1e+03        143       2.74
    1e+08   1.67e+06   2.78e+04   1.16e+03        165       3.17
 3.16e+08   5.26e+06   8.77e+04   3.65e+03        522         10
  3.6e+08      6e+06      1e+05   4.17e+03        595       11.4
    6e+08      1e+07   1.67e+05   6.94e+03        992         19
 8.64e+08   1.44e+07    2.4e+05      1e+04   1.43e+03       27.4
    1e+09   1.67e+07   2.78e+05   1.16e+04   1.65e+03       31.7
 3.16e+09   5.26e+07   8.77e+05   3.65e+04   5.22e+03        100
  3.6e+09      6e+07      1e+06   4.17e+04   5.95e+03        114
    6e+09      1e+08   1.67e+06   6.94e+04   9.92e+03        190
 8.64e+09   1.44e+08    2.4e+06      1e+05   1.43e+04        274
    1e+10   1.67e+08   2.78e+06   1.16e+05   1.65e+04        317
 3.16e+10   5.26e+08   8.77e+06   3.65e+05   5.22e+04      1e+03
  3.6e+10      6e+08      1e+07   4.17e+05   5.95e+04   1.14e+03
    6e+10      1e+09   1.67e+07   6.94e+05   9.92e+04    1.9e+03
 8.64e+10   1.44e+09    2.4e+07      1e+06   1.43e+05   2.74e+03
    1e+11   1.67e+09   2.78e+07   1.16e+06   1.65e+05   3.17e+03
 3.16e+11   5.26e+09   8.77e+07   3.65e+06   5.22e+05      1e+04
  3.6e+11      6e+09      1e+08   4.17e+06   5.95e+05   1.14e+04
    6e+11      1e+10   1.67e+08   6.94e+06   9.92e+05    1.9e+04
 8.64e+11   1.44e+10    2.4e+08      1e+07   1.43e+06   2.74e+04
    1e+12   1.67e+10   2.78e+08   1.16e+07   1.65e+06   3.17e+04
 3.16e+12   5.26e+10   8.77e+08   3.65e+07   5.22e+06      1e+05
  3.6e+12      6e+10      1e+09   4.17e+07   5.95e+06   1.14e+05
    6e+12      1e+11   1.67e+09   6.94e+07   9.92e+06    1.9e+05
 8.64e+12   1.44e+11    2.4e+09      1e+08   1.43e+07   2.74e+05
    1e+13   1.67e+11   2.78e+09   1.16e+08   1.65e+07   3.17e+05
 3.16e+13   5.26e+11   8.77e+09   3.65e+08   5.22e+07      1e+06
  3.6e+13      6e+11      1e+10   4.17e+08   5.95e+07   1.14e+06
 8.64e+13   1.44e+12    2.4e+10      1e+09   1.43e+08   2.74e+06
    1e+14   1.67e+12   2.78e+10   1.16e+09   1.65e+08   3.17e+06

You may download a zip file containing the script.

Time Again for New Time

The old watch is rapidly approaching its freshness date.

The Old Watch

In particular, something I’ve never seen before—the lower two buttons have worn all the way through!  And the functions they invoke have stopped working.

Buttons worn through

So there is a new watch.

New Watch

Has anybody ever had a Casio Waveceptor watch actually pick up the radio time signal?  Outside of Colorado, say?  Just curious. The instructions make it clear that it doesn’t work very well, and thinking about wavelengths and antenna sizes makes that not terribly surprising.

I love modern marketing categories.  “WR50M” means water resistant to 50 meters.  Which, according to the manual, means that it’s safe in the rain and when washing the car.  Okay, and when swimming; but not for snorkeling and scuba diving; those require the 200M certification.

ETA: Twice now it’s managed to sync while I’m wearing it at work — in a steel-frame building.  It does have lots of glass, and I’m right by a window. It couldn’t sync when set on a windowsill at home as specified in the instructions, and it’s never synced overnight (underground).

Synchronized!