Editing 2050: 6/6 Time

{{comic
| number    = 2050
| date      = September 24, 2018
| title     = 6/6 Time
| image     = 6_6_time.png
| titletext = You know how Einstein figured out that the speed of light was constant, and everything else had to change for consistency? My theory is like his, except not smart or good.
}}

The original image has a link to a previous comic [https://xkcd.com/1061/ 1061: EST] which is explained [[1061: EST|here]].

==Explanation==

[[Cueball]] suggests a regional time system similar to that used in many societies prior to the invention of [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-time-division-days-hours-minutes/ mechanical time keeping], such as [https://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Telling_Time Japan during the Edo period] or the {{w|Roman timekeeping|Roman Empire}}, where the day is separated into two parts based on night and day and then subdivided by hour, minute, and second to give season-variable lengths for each. This method is also named [[wikt:temporal hour|temporal hour]], and still in use in the Jewish religion time table.

Midpoints in time such as noon and midnight vary on the {{w|longitude}} from east and west, while the length of day and night depends on the {{w|latitude}}. The first problem is solved today by using {{w|time zone}}s in which at noon the sun is in most cases at or close to the {{w|zenith}} and sunrise/sunset happens at different times. The second issue is attributed to the tilt of Earth's axis and the curvature of its surface; in summer days are longer than nights and vice versa in winter. In the polar regions, there are very long days (and nights) and by Cueball's suggestion the entire months-long polar day would last only 12 of the newly defined "hours".

The caption lays out the punchline in which [[Randall]] has very strong feelings and opinions on how standards of time ''should'' be measured (his feelings on Daylight Savings Time have been well-documented in other comics), but as bad as he believes the official standards are he also recognizes that his own rules would not be popular with other people. After coming to recognize this he has made a hobby or game out of making the worst possible system of measuring time and sharing it with other people.

The caption, though vague, can also be assumed to relate to the gradual deviation of certain regions from the {{w|Coordinated Universal Time}} (UCT) zones with "{{w|Daylight Saving Time}}" that is observed inconsistently and smaller regions opting for awkward fractional increments of deviation from Coordinated Universal Time.

The title text refers to Einstein's {{w|Special relativity|special theory of relativity}} which postulates that the speed of light is the same for all observers, regardless of the motion of the light source (or the observers). An observer at high speed measures the same speed of light as an observer with no motion, measured from the same light source. In classical physics, the speed of the moving observer would be added up, but in special relativity, this isn't true. Instead, the time runs slower for the moving observer. Additionally to this {{w|time dilation}}, there is also a {{w|length contraction}}, without which the geometry wouldn't work.

"Today is one of the two days each year when my clocks run at the same speed as everyone else's" refers to the autumnal and vernal equinoxes when day and night are the same lengths, therefore causing his clocks to match the world. The comic was released one day after that year's September equinox, which would be the autumnal equinox for Randall.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and White Hat are walking to the right.  Cueball has his hands up in an explaining position.]
:Cueball: Under my time system, the sun rises at 6 am and it sets at 6 pm, as it '''''should'''''.
:Cueball: The length of the second is different each day and night, and the current time shifts with your latitude and longitude.
:Cueball: Today is one of the two days each year when my clocks run at the same speed as everyone else's.

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Time standards are so unfixably messy and complicated that at this point my impulse is just to try to make them worse.

==Trivia==
*In the title text the name Einstein was originally miscapitalized as "einstein".
*This comic was released two days after the {{w|September equinox}} 2018 in the [http://aa.usno.navy.mil/seasons?year=2018&tz=-5&dst=1 US]
*The topic of creating new standards making things worse was also topic in [[927: Standards]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Time]]