# Time & Date: Why Can't We All Agree? 13:00 5/4/06 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 20, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-date-why-cant-we-all-agree-13-00-5-4-06/309130 "2005-06-20T23:05:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-date-why-cant-we-all-agree-13-00-5-4-06/309130/21 "2005-06-21T21:34:18Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Currently working for a law firm that bills only in 6 minute increments. So .4 is 24 minutes, .8 is 48 minutes and apparently it is impossible to work on something under 6 minutes. My sister works on a similar basis, and sometimes tries to see how many ‘six-minute’ tasks she can actually complete in six minutes. (I’m guessing you don’t fill out your pay claim by hand? 😛 ) ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-date-why-cant-we-all-agree-13-00-5-4-06/309130/22 "2005-06-21T21:43:56Z")
> [@Lillith Fair](#): > > Well, I for one would be totally confused most of the time after noon. I just can’t get used to it. > > It’s like the date books that start with Monday as the first day of the week. For me it has always been Sunday. When I had a date book like that I put things on the wrong dates all the time. It was a mess. Saturday & Sunday = Weedend. Monday is the first day of the new week. You people are going to hate it when the revolution comes and you are required to use the [Hex Clock](http://www.intuitor.com/hex/hexclock.html). Personally, I hate it when I set an alarm clock only to find out that it’s 12 hours ahead or behind, and the little LED in the corner is for PM rather than AM. 24 hour time is much less confusing, as are DD/MM/YY or YY/MM/DD conventions (though, like **sewalk** I write my dates as DDMonthYYYY.) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-date-why-cant-we-all-agree-13-00-5-4-06/309130/23 "2005-06-21T22:49:11Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > You people are going to hate it when the revolution comes and you are required to use the [Hex Clock](http://www.intuitor.com/hex/hexclock.html). > Stranger Na…look, as per the website you linked, it is easy: How do I convert between standard time and hex time? The scientific definition of a second is 9,192,631,77010 vibrations of an atom of Cesium-133. In hex time, we define one day as 2,D25,C32,D2E,70016 (794,243,384,928,00010) vibrations of an atom of Cesium-133. You can use the following approximate conversion factors: 1 hexsecond = 1.3110 (1.5216) seconds 1 second = 0.75910 (0.C2316) hexseconds 1 hexminute = 0.35210 (0.5A016) minutes 1 minute = 2.8410 (2.D816) hexminutes 1 hexhour = 1.510 (1.816) hours 1 hour = 0.66710 (0.AAB16) hexhours I am sure this will all catch on an be a huge hit with the general public. It is only a matter of time. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-date-why-cant-we-all-agree-13-00-5-4-06/309130/24 "2005-06-21T23:00:23Z")
My work for the past 20 years has revolved around multiple time zones, date conventions, etc. I always spell it out so there is no ambiguity. Eg. Please meet my flight which arrives on 20 June 05 at 20:00 Tokyo/13:00 Berlin. It may be awkward, but if I had a dollar for each time someone screwed up on the date that resulted in at least a major inconvenience… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-date-why-cant-we-all-agree-13-00-5-4-06/309130.md?page=1)