question on dates b.c to ad

[Rilder]

Wait what date is it today based off that Olympic game date thing... I wanna run by that format.

I wonder how many people I can annoy by using this olympic time format.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Clocks?



Wasn't that the ancient Greek way? Counting from Olympic Games dates? Like 5th century BOG (Before Olympic Games)

Clocks run on base 12 because 12 was easier to divide than 10, these days a lot of people see that as inconvenient.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I for one am also sick of the 12 month years we have, its just so roman and european!

We should go to that metric time that France tired right after the French Revolution. Ten days a week. Thirty-six weeks a year (every other year-37).

And metric time: ten hours a day, 100 minutes in each hour, 100 seconds a minute. And seconds are 86.4% the length of modern seconds.

Clocks run on base 12 because 12 was easier to divide than 10, these days a lot of people see that as inconvenient.

I love base 12, it makes so much more sense. You can do half, third, quarter.
Half of 12 is 6, half of 6 is 3, stop.
Third of 12 is 4. Still not a prime number.
Quarter of 12 is 3. 3 is still a useful number yet is small - also one of the only odd numbers that seems complete.
vs.
Half of 10 is 5, stop. Can't divide five, prime number.
Third, can't do...
Quarter, can't do...
A fifth of 10 is 2, and that's really just half backwards.

But we should use some sort of absolute. Like base pi. Or base c (speed of light). Or just a system of prime numbers.

[Tellos Athenaios]

12, 24, and 60 are the typical numbers dating as far back as the Babylonians at least. (Because of their numerical system.) And why should our days be devided in parts of 60? Exactly...

[Tellos Athenaios]

@MAA:

60 is the most efficient base number - mathematically speaking. However, we've got only 2 fingers. Another highly efficient number would be 2. (Multiplying, adding and substacting is way easier with 2 as base number - however dividing get's messy.)

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Based on both usefulness and practicality I would say the best bases would be in order: 12, 60, 2, 24or36, 4, 9, 10, 5 (60, 24, & 36 are basically a more confusing 12, to me, though)
IMHO

(I really wanted to make pi equal 1 in a theoretical system. But if pi is 1, then diameter is a never ending decimal.)

[Boyar Son]

Hmm.. from a holy war to a math quiz... jk

But who came up with the modern clock?

[Watchman]

If you mean mechanical clocks, the first ones were made in Medieval monasteries to keep track of prayer times.

[Intranetusa]

We should just add 4.5 billion to all of our years.

Happy New Year 4,500,002,007 everyone!!!

Considering most religious fundies believe in the literal intrepretation of the old testament...meaning the world was created by the Abrahamic God(s)
~7000 years ago.

Exactly, that's the reason why they are trying to change it. They hate anything Christian, because: (a) They hate Christianity. (b) They claim it offends other religions.

Now those are pretty lame excuses for changing it. However, there is an irony that they can't remove the division of BC and AD, because otherwise famous dates like 1066 and 1415 would be different.

How about because people think AD means "after death" and BC & AD aren't accurate anyways because Jesus wasn't born on the year 1. Also, BC & AD don't have the year 0, so we actually have to add a year...this is the year 2008 AD/CE technically

[Boyar Son]

Considering most religious fundies believe in the literal intrepretation of the old testament...meaning the world was created by the Abrahamic God(s)
~7000 years ago.

God(s)??

What do you mean I thought only one?

Click to see funny Arab people!!

[Intranetusa]

God(s)??

What do you mean I thought only one?

Click to see funny Arab people!!

Technically, the Trinity of the father, the son, and the holy spirit is one God. However, I hear many people consider Hinduism a polytheistic religion, even though Hinduism has the same concept - many dieties that make up the face of one God, Brahaman.

So if you consider Hinduism polytheistic, that applies to Christianity as well.
Needless to say, this is up for debate...

[antisocialmunky]

5000 BC depending on your interpretation as the intepretation of day can be a literal day or a figrative day -> see Genesis 2:4.

Technically the Trinity of the father, the son, and the holy spirit is the result of religious fusion caused by the spread of Christianity as a state religion. The Trinities of gods in Asia and Europe were given a update to 'Christianize' them when the government officially sactioned Christianity as the de facto state religion.

That's why you have Mary mother of god and the divine Trinity of father son and holy spirit. That's why the birth of Christ was set to be in the middle of the Levant winter during the darkest days of winter and there is an Easter bunny - a old hold over from the fertility symbol days.

[Intranetusa]

^ yup, 5000 BCE = ~ 7000 years ago
don't forget that Christmas is actually a pagan Celtic holiday. :)

Averni/Aedui with Christmas trees :)

[antisocialmunky]

Or the Roman Saturnalia. Evergreens were used in festivals all throughout the north and then some. It usually meant rebirth of the sun(hence it being on the darkest days of the year) or something.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

But who came up with the modern clock?

Probably the Sumerians, who used base 12 and base 60. They put a slanted stick in the ground, noticed that the shadow moves in nearly a circle around the base. Then they put down numbers (1-12, being base 12) 12/0 being north. The sundial was born. When mechanical clocks were made, it was just easiest to make the 12 that was once north, now up.




I think the original "God(s)" comment meant Jewish God, Christian God, and Allah.

The Trinity is a big reason that countless people have died. The first interChristian holy wars were between Arian Christians (who believed God & Jesus were separate with Jesus under God) and the Athenisians(sp) (who believed that God/Jesus/Holy Spirit were the same being that manifest themselves in different ways). One of the reasons "The Vandals" are looked down on so much is because they were Arian and killed those they saw as heretics. Also in the early Frankish kingdom, there were conflicts between Arians and Athenisians (often called the first purely Christian wars).

Then there is the Trinity and Islam. Muhammad wrote that all those who followed one god were brothers to Muslums and that, while they were less than Muslums, they were not to be persicuted. Early Islamic kingdoms forced polytheistic peoples to convert, flee, or die. But Christians and Jews were allowed to live in Islamic countries as long as they paid a "non-Islam" tax. But there were tensions between the Turks and the Byzantines...then after the Crusades any hope of multirelgion cooperation died. But the Trinity played a part. Since Mohammad had said it was bad to kill monotheistic, Muslums got around this rule by saying that Christians were not monotheistic, following three gods. Thus, they were allowed to attack Christian kingdoms. Conflicts between Christians and Muslums have been costing lives for centuries, justified on one side by a technicallity. (Just to be fair, most Christian v Islam "holy wars" seem to have been started or instigated by Christians. Though countries that happened to be Islamic have done a good amount of conquering areas that were mostly Christian.)

This uncomfortable and esoteric arguement free of charge...

[Zim]

Sorry if yoiu took my comment as somewhat agressive. However, they can't exactly change the dating system now as others have mentioned. You're stuck with it being based off something religious whether you like it or not... kinda like wedding rings or clocks.

It's my fault. No sleep plus extra hours at work + hectic final semester of university = constant irritability.

[L.C.Cinna]

Wait what date is it today based off that Olympic game date thing... I wanna run by that format.

I wonder how many people I can annoy by using this olympic time format.

Problem with counting in Olympiads is that there were no games between 393 and 1896. The ones in 1916, 1940 and 1944 were left out.

Now we have the 3rd year after the last Olympic games. If all games since 1896 would have been held 2007 would be

3rd year of the 108th Olympiade since reinstallment lol

[Intranetusa]

" think the original "God(s)" comment meant Jewish God, Christian God, and Allah."

The Jewish God, Christian God, and Allah are the same God = Abrahamic God

I was just referring to the council of nicea's & later ideas of the Trinity. 3 beings in 1.

[Boyar Son]

(Just to be fair, most Christian v Islam "holy wars" seem to have been started or instigated by Christians. Though countries that happened to be Islamic have done a good amount of conquering areas that were mostly Christian.)

This uncomfortable and esoteric arguement free of charge...................

Whats so fair about that? Muslim didnt get a wag of the finger...

[Teleklos Archelaou]

I think I'll start dating my checks 108.3 now. Thanks! Looks like a radio station! Power 108.3 FM!

[abou]

Caesar is the really messiah. All dates should be adjusted by 100 years to mark the momentous occasion of his birth.

... well, at least he is my messiah.

[Watchman]

Why not start dating from the traditional date of founding of Rome, the Eternal City, as the Romans did ? Ab urbe condita or however they now put it.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Cause they're just one faction. If we really did go with another dating system, it'd be one that was common over more of the map at our starting time roughly. That wouldn't be A.U.C. for sure. It probably would be Olympiad dating or something like that, but that really wouldn't do either, so we just use dating most players will understand. We've had serious discussions over this and realized it's just not possible to change this part of the game engine (if you could alter dating based upon faction or culture, now *that* would be awesome).

[alatar]

Maybe someone should release a minimod for the roman campian changing the dates? If I rember there is a mod that enances rome alot. Which I'll play onece a) I get a unsolvable ctd or 2) I rule the world.

[-Praetor-]

A good idea would be to count the turns instead of years (instead of 271BC, turn 4) Thus, it would eliminate inconcistencies like conquering the carthagineans with the romans in 250BC...

Hey... now that I think about it...

how do muslims and jews count their years???

[Rilder]

^ yup, 5000 BCE = ~ 7000 years ago
don't forget that Christmas is actually a pagan Celtic holiday. :)

Averni/Aedui with Christmas trees :)

It might be but the whole name signifies a certain Monotheistic god's son... as such I refuse to celebrate the bloody holiday, if it was true Celtic Pagan holliday I would celebrate it with vigour as such I don't.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Now we have the 3rd year after the last Olympic games. If all games since 1896 would have been held 2007 would be

3rd year of the 108th Olympiade since reinstallment lol

I thought the Olympiad is the period between two Olympic games? So we would be in the third year of the 28th modern Olympiad.

Following the myth, Rome was founded in 753 BC, so for Romans we have the year 2760 a.u.c., at least following the Gregorian Calendar. Jews are in +/- 5500, muslums in about 1400, all counting since the appearence of their prophet.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Yeah, that sounds right CN. It's not 108 years it's 28 olympiads. Good catch.

[Brightblade]

Zaknifien, my respect for you just went into the toilet. As ridiculous as religion? If you were in any way smart you'd recognize that faith is important to the vast majority of people in the world, in one form or another, and always has been and always will be.

go cry about your anger with religion on the more appropriate forum that also wants the law to allow people to marry dogs and government to disappear. sigh...

[antisocialmunky]

Couldn't you record the 'faction' year like you do the 'this year in history?'

That would be fun and tedious.