Best case for metric time
You might have confused metric time (which is basically just seconds, the SI unit for measuring time) with decimal time, a way of keeping time that’s more in line with the base-10 numbering system.
(Yes I found out about this just now)
🫡 thx xD
Best case for duodecimal based numbering system. ;)
so did they assume a colon was I between those? like this
1:20instead of120?if not, the microwave probably either has a bad display, is is badly programmed… or im missing something.
It’s just the way microwaves are programmed. Same reason 99 cooks longer than 100. It interprets a 100, 200, etc as minutes. I think most microwaves handle anything over 100 as minute + seconds, treating it like it had a : in there.
Honestly a great case for "I have no idea why we chosen 60 as a random ass base for time "
Also im aware that base is not the proper term in this case since the base is still 10, but I have not idea how you would call the switch to the bigger unit treshhold
I’ve always assumed it’s because of the usefulness in its divisibility, with 60 able to be subdivided evenly in halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, and sixths, and because 24 is just 12x2 and 60 is just 12x5, that remains the case (save for fifths) for all subdivisions of the day in its 60/60/24 configuration.
My guess is that it’s simply an issue of working with something like a day, defined by cosmic forces rather than human sensibilities or control, where you don’t always get something that can be decimalized and still have useful units of time. I’ve done zero research on the actual reason, though, so that’s just a guess.
That’s essentially the correct answer:
Oooh Sexagesimal. That’s hot.
Also why a circle is 360, lots whole number divisors.
Also im aware that base is not the proper term in this case since the base is still 10, but I have not idea how you would call the switch to the bigger unit treshhold
Actually “base” is entirely the correct term in this case. The first group to write down a really systematic method for timekeeping were the Sumerians, and they used base-60 math. This worked really well with solar and lunar cycles, which were important for crop planting, and with astronomical studies (mapping the stars had major applications for both navigation and religion, so it was culturally significant). Empires that came after the Sumerians copied and expanded their system, so it eventually spread to everyone.
Fun fact you can count to 12 on one hand and 60 on two hands,bits how the Babylonians traded.
Is it possible to learn this power?
Edit: I can count to 9 on one hand and 99 on two hands. This is superior when using two hands, but 12 on one hand?
You can count to 31 on one hand and 1023 on two hands if you get really good at counting and adding with binary
One of the many reasons I made the switch.
People like give shit to the US for not using the metric system (“you have 12 inches in a foot and 5,280 feet in a mile? how do you even remember that?”) but see no irony in using a random ass base for time (“it’s easy you just have 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day.”)
I actually developed a metric time for that reason, alongside with an International Fixed Calendar using the Holocene Era. It works on a libreoffice spreadsheet. The calendar itself isn’t metric, but it’s highly regular, and that makes it nice imo. The spreadsheet auto-updates the time once you edit the spreadsheet (put random character somewhere, remove). But I sadly don’t know how to put that on a working site or whatever, or as software…
I picked the Holocene Era because it’s globally actually relevant, and it’s not tied to a controversial figure (2026 being tied to Christ).
Basically, it’s right now, according to my calendar:
Year: 11’726
Month: 1
Week: 2
Day of year: 12Hour: 8
Minute: 1
How does the calendar work?
There are 364 days in a year. There are 13 months of 28 days each, divided in weeks of 7 days. There are two additional days, New Year’s Eve and Leap Day. They don’t belong to any day of the week. (Religious groups that object, can just have an extra day of prayer, or use their own calendar). The extra month can be called Midsummer, or Solsticy. (Or just name the months “first, second month” and days likewise).
The first day after New Year’s Eve is the first day that days lengthen again in the North. That day will always be a Monday, starting the year proper.
How does the day work?
There are 100’000 seconds (instead of 86,400).
There are 10’000 tenths.
There are 1’000 minutes.
There are 100 quarters.
There are 10 hours.
And that is 1 day.Left is new unit, right their old equivalent:
second: 0.864 old second
tenth: 8.64 old seconds
minute: 1.44 old minute (1 min, 26.4 sec)
quarter: 14.4 old minutes (14 min, 24 sec)
hour: 2.4 old hours (2 hr, 24 min)It works out relatively niftily, to be honest.
I’m always looking for a fun little project, I could dev that into a desktop app or website if you wanted.
The thing that fascinates me is that every single digital microwave I’ve ever used behaves the same way, and allows the “seconds-place” to be 0-99.
My best guesses are
- There’s some ASIC that’s been around forever and everyone uses it (a cockroach chip like the 555)
- The first digital microwave did this and all subsequent ones followed
- There’s actually some implementation reasons why this is way more sensible.
Writing it in software, there are different ways that folks would probably implement it, for example, “subtract one, calculate minutes and seconds, display” seems reasonable. But nope, every one I’ve ever used is just the Wild West in the seconds department.
So you’re saying they accept up to 99 in the seconds place when typed in but go from 2:00 to 1:59? (I don’t have a digital microwave at home)
yes
Why does OOP’s microwave go from 60 to 1:20 when the “+60”” button is pressed?
I don’t think it does—I think OOP is doing the math and then inputting the sum.
ok seriously what kind of microwave does everyone have? none i’ve ever used had a builtin calculator that let you add 60 to 60
the only thing i’ve ever seen that was addable was +30 on the turn on button, and that one when pressed twice always adds a minute
As a side note, I’m glad my early teen Yahoo Answers account was purged before I became an adult and the internet archived everything
And it takes a second or so before the magnetron starts generating energy.
My microwave waits to start counting down until it’s been energized
Well, on a more serious note, it is odd that some microwaves let you type in
90and time down from “90” instead of “1:30”. I should type in something like190and see what it does. My bet is it only does the weird seconds format when it’s 99 seconds or less. Because obviously100would be a minute, not 100 seconds.I tried 190. Its counts down 90 seconds to 1:00 before rolling over to 0:59.
190 is 2 minutes and 30 seconds.I’ve also tried 0 and it just beeps.
Its counts down 90 seconds to 1:00 before rolling over to 0:59.
I love that someone made that feature.
“Look, people are morons, just let them enter up to 99 seconds”
It’s just a display that’s 00:00 to 99:99 it’s the simplest possible logic for the use case.
That’s why 00:90 is longer then 01:00. And +1:00 is less than +00:60 sometimes. You have to roll over 00:99 with +00:01 to hit 01:00.
Iv rarely seen some microwaves with a +1 second button and they act this way.
Like microwaves best as I can tell have worked like this since the 70s the expections are absurdly rare.
Honestly it’s a nice feature.
I have a thing that takes 45 seconds to warm. I take two of them, type in 90 and it just works!
Of course that breaks down if I take four of them and type in 180, but meh. Worst case is that it’ll be a little cold.
Well hold your horses, why does heating up two take exactly twice as long? Your microwave heats everything inside. I can understand it being longer, but exactly twice as long? Hmmm… I think we need more data.
why does heating up two take exactly twice as long?
A microwave works by exciting the water molecules in an object. They start to vibrate from the microwave energy hitting it, and vibrating molecules is what heat is. The microwave energy mostly bounces around inside the metal microwave until it hits something that has water (which is why you should never turn it on empty), so it doesn’t really get wasted.
So, if you put twice as much stuff inside, it will take twice as much energy to heat it to the same temperature, so at the same setting it will take twice as much time.
If you want to get nitpicky, it will require very slightly over twice as long, because by needing more time to warm up, it will give off more energy to the air around it, so you need to compensate. But the question of “how much will my food cool down in 90 seconds compared to 45 seconds” should be answered by “shut up dude” and not with a number.
I used to have an old digital 24h clock and one time I was watching close to midnight. It went from 23:58 to 23:59, then a minute later 24:00 blinked for a second before it went to 0:00.
ISO-8601 has some cases where 24:00 is allowed in place of 0:00, or at least it used to. Maybe new editions removed it.
Sure, but not for one second before reconsidering. That was some weird jank in the way the clock was put together.
And despite all this, Remmy P. can still form babby.
(And vote. And drive a car, keep and bear a firearm, etc.)
Scary.
No, it’s not.
Scary is the guy who can form babby, and drive and own a gun, who is also absolutely and completely convinced that they are right about everything.
Remmy P is not the problem, because Remmy P encountered a situation where their poor information didn’t mesh with reality and immediately stopped and asked for help. Remmy P is learning. Remmy P recognizes their ignorance.
There are people with PhDs who do not have this basic life skill.
Those people scare me. Remmy P just needs a little help.
Remember, everyone is a fucking idiot sometimes. Even (especially) smart people.
You know what, that’s a fair point. It does take some humility to be able to admit that one might be wrong. And it seems like that kind of humility is somewhat hard to come by these days.










