Tag Archives: Time

Time Capsules

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My Time Capsule

You’re always hearing about time capsules being dug up in places across the country. One in Mississippi was almost 100 years old and contained still-legible newspapers. Another in Pennsylvania was just bottles and containers from the day. And so on. Communities and individuals – All have created time capsules.

Today is my turn – After ten years, it’s time to replace/update the kitchen tile. The installer won’t let me place a plastic bag containing documents under the floor – The thinset won’t set. Any he won’t allow anything with thickness for obvious reasons. So I’m doing the next best thing – I’m writing my note right on the back of the tile.

It’ll be sealed for years – Who knows when it’ll see the light of day again? And what will be their reaction?

I’m just bummed I won’t be around to see it!

Happy Omni Numeral Day!

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unixtimeSpend any time with Unix and you’ll come across Unix Time. Most logs and time stamps use Unix Time and unless you know what you’re looking for, you might miss it.

Unix Time is quite simple – It’s the number of seconds since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970. Every day has 86,400 seconds so 00:00:00 UTC on 2 January 1970 would have been Unix Time 86400. Simple, eh?

Unix time assumes every day has 86,400 seconds regardless of atomic clock adjustments and leap second insertions. So if leap seconds are introduced (as was recently), it’s possible for time to repeat. Tell that to your quantum physics friends!

Anyway, today is a bit of a special day. Later today, we will pass Unix Time one billion, 234 million, 567 thousand and 890 seconds. Or written out, we will pass Unix Time 1234567890.

Specifically, Unix Time 1234567890 will occur at 23:31:30 UTC on 13 February 2009. For you fellow Californians, that’s 3:51:30 PM PST. Break out the champagne!

(Like most people, if I have to convert back and forth, I use an online tool. My favorite is the epochconverter. It even has a live clock if you really think 1234567890 is interesting enough to watch!)  ;-)