A Conversation for Ask h2g2

What's the year where YOU are?

Post 61

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

"The Julian Day system used by astronomers ignores years altogether and uses a count of days since a date way back in 4713 BC." [Gnomon]

Do they adjust for Leap Years?


What's the year where YOU are?

Post 62

Baron Grim

smiley - erm.......................


What's the year where YOU are?

Post 63

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

smiley - frogsmiley - frog


What's the year where YOU are?

Post 64

Gnomon - time to move on

The Julian Day system ignores years, leap or otherwise. Each date in history has a day number. So for example today is day 2456895.

It's slightly more complicated in that the Julian day starts at midday rather than midnight, because that's more useful for astronomers. It just means that you have to be careful what time of day you're talking about. 12:00 midday is 0.0, 6pm is 0.25. 12:00 midnight is 0.5 and 6am is 0.75 added to the date. This means that a whole night's observations will all be within the one Julian day.


What's the year where YOU are?

Post 65

Baron Grim

But... That makes too much sense.


What's the year where YOU are?

Post 66

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

People who can't remember more than six digits will have trouble remembering the date, though.


What's the year where YOU are?

Post 67

ITIWBS

Used to use Julian date when working with the USAR Quartermaster's Corp, once much favored as means of avoiding confusion.

Never could make sense of the 'Star Date' system used in Star Trek.


What's the year where YOU are?

Post 68

~ jwf ~ scribblo ergo sum

The trouble with concepts of an expanding universe
(resulting from a Bigga Banga) is that it depends on
our pre-conceived notions of balloons and explosives.
We assume we live in a spherical cosmos with everything
radiating outward from some origin central point.

Better to see the shape of the Cosmos as more likely
that of a digestive system in some unknown beast. We
could be anywhere along the chain looking up and/or down.
The gases and lumpy bits are typical of the lower bowel.

Spacial realities like nebulae, dark matter, solar systems
may just be the organs in the cosmic body. They are taking
nourishment, producing energy and materiel all along this
digestive tract. We can't even see the musculature, the bone
structure or the outer flesh of this beast.

Black holes are the end view of long circulatory veins that
siphon off and distribute assorted by-products of digestion.
We may be stuck near the liver or pancreas... or worse.

I call this the General Theory of Digestion or God's Guts.

smiley - biggrin
~jwf~


What's the year where YOU are?

Post 69

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

Sylvia said that Depression was like being in God's digestive tract. smiley - yuk


What's the year where YOU are?

Post 70

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

Sylvia *Plath* said that.


What's the year where YOU are?

Post 71

~ jwf ~ scribblo ergo sum

Yeah, she even lived (and died) in a bell shaped jar.
smiley - winkeye
~jwf~


What's the year where YOU are?

Post 72

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

I have never been able to understand or finish much of her writing. I did, however, enjoy "Birthday Letters," which were poems written about her and her relation with her husband, Ted Hughes. Sylvia had her demons. Ted had his demons. As far as I can tell, the children turned out all right. One of them became a poet in her own right.

So9meone once described Sylvia Plath as a blend of Medea and Emily Post. I can't even imagine what it might have been like to be married to such a mercurial person. Ted may have been no bargain either, given that his wife and one of his lovers committed suicide. This is a case where it might be really hard to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. Ah, poets! What well-adjusted people they are! smiley - biggrin


What's the year where YOU are?

Post 73

ITIWBS

If you're looking for a change of pace, you might dig up a copy of Phillip K. Dick, "The Man In The High Castle".

Warning, not for the faint of heart.


What's the year where YOU are?

Post 74

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

I've been meaning to read something by Dick. Not sure where to start, though.


What's the year where YOU are?

Post 75

ITIWBS

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32032

There's one of his pulp magazine stories here.

Possibly his most famous story, after "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep", on which the film "Blade Runner" was based, is "Counter-Clock World", founded on the premise that the human conception of passage through time is an illusion, that our actual progess is from the future toward the past, a difficult write and a difficult read, but generally considered a minor classic of science fiction.


What's the year where YOU are?

Post 76

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

"Through a glass darkly" was based on a Dick story.


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