Series
The Time Series
Eight posts about the deceptively simple question of what time it is — from sundials and shipwrecks to atomic clocks and black holes, time travel and distributed systems. Part of Under the Hood.
Under the Hood · Time
What Time Is It?
The hour on your phone is a fragile compromise between the sun and politics. Sundials, shipwrecks, railway time, DST, and the volunteer-maintained database that keeps the world's clocks roughly honest.
Read articleWhat Day Is It?
The date next to the time on your phone is its own kind of fragile. Calendars argue with the moon, the sun, and each other; whole days have been deleted by decree; and the year number on your screen depends on which monk's arithmetic your ancestors trusted.
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