Don't put anything too young, or it will.probably block access to email, social media and possibly red hot XXX Audax sites.
There's also that weird thing with booze sites that makes you put in you DoB to confirm that you're over eighteen.
I figure the kids have that one sorted, though I think licking the screen will be marginally less effective than drinking 24 cans of Top Deck Shandy, something that from experience I don't recommend.
There's also that weird thing with booze sites that makes you put in you DoB to confirm that you're over eighteen.
I figure the kids have that one sorted, though I think licking the screen will be marginally less effective than drinking 24 cans of Top Deck Shandy, something that from experience I don't recommend.
Whereas our local artisan beer emporium just asks if you are over 18 with two options to click on. Perhaps the kids around here are a bit thick.
In practice, of course, they might just as well ask "Are you over 18", since that would provide evidence nearly as strong. The only additional evidence provided by asking DoB is that the subject is able to do maths well enough to invent a date that actually is more than 18 years ago.
I think it's a hangover from the US, all the shops there have the if you're born after this date in whatever year, you can buy booze and cigarettes (in those states where there's still a state monopoly of boozohol, I think they're often the law, you buy them from the booze authority).
In practice, of course, they might just as well ask "Are you over 18", since that would provide evidence nearly as strong. The only additional evidence provided by asking DoB is that the subject is able to do maths well enough to invent a date that actually is more than 18 years ago.Not always 18 though. Different minimum ages for different things and different places and occasionally varying by other factors, such as your sex or even your date of birth (see example below).
I think it's a hangover from the US, all the shops there have the if you're born after this date in whatever year, you can buy booze and cigarettes (in those states where there's still a state monopoly of boozohol, I think they're often the law, you buy them from the booze authority).In a twist on this, NZ is considering a law to make it illegal for anyone born after 2004 to buy tobacco. Ever. "Smoke-free generation". https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/the-detail/300282141/tobacco-ban-for-those-born-after-2004--smokefree-generation-plan
There's also that weird thing with booze sites that makes you put in you DoB to confirm that you're over eighteen.
I figure the kids have that one sorted, though I think licking the screen will be marginally less effective than drinking 24 cans of Top Deck Shandy, something that from experience I don't recommend.
Whereas our local artisan beer emporium just asks if you are over 18 with two options to click on. Perhaps the kids around here are a bit thick.
I think it's a hangover from the US, all the shops there have the if you're born after this date in whatever year, you can buy booze and cigarettes (in those states where there's still a state monopoly of boozohol, I think they're often the law, you buy them from the booze authority).
I figure this means that most Americans do not know how old they are, or that they really have been counting the days till they get their paws on their first legal forty-ouncer. Possibly both.
And the cashier couldn’t understand the d.o.b. field on either a BRITISH passport or driving licence.
I had this bizarre thing in the local Co-Op a few weeks ago...
Junior ( age:21 ) and I went around the shop and picked up this and that.
At the checkout, I asked for a bottle of gin that was behind the counter.
'I need to see ID for junior', in case you are buying it for him.
We don't have such ID, so can't buy.
Purchase other items, go to car, return to shop myself one minute later, purchase gin from same person, just fine.
107Unsupervised sale of alcohol by a child or young person
(1)Any responsible person who F8... allows alcohol to be sold, supplied or served by a child or young person on any relevant premises commits an offence.
108Delivery of alcohol by or to a child or young person
(1)This section applies where alcohol is sold on any relevant premises for consumption off the premises.
(2)Any responsible person who allows the alcohol to be delivered by a child or young person commits an offence.
(3)Any responsible person who—
(a)delivers the alcohol, or
(b)allows it to be delivered,to a child or young person commits an offence.
I use 1 Jan 1900, easy to remember.or 1st february 1934....1234
And the cashier couldn’t understand the d.o.b. field on either a BRITISH passport or driving licence.
Ha! I hadn't considered that problem.
Mind you, after too long communing with the babbage-engines, I've been known to reach a state where I can make a reasonable guess at what a unisex spaceadmin timestamp might mean, but have to pull my BRANES out, blow into the edge connector and shove it back in a couple of times before I understand BRITISH dates. This is probably what it feels like to be Excel.
(last time I looked which was admittedly a long time ago, you were allowed to buy beer (or porter) in pubs for 14yo anyway, so long as said 14yo stayed out of the bar area (where the carpet isn't). Though that's probably no longer true.)I remember something similar but thought it included cider and the age was 16. I expect the correct version can be produced by combining both our memories, mixing them together, then throwing the result away and consulting the relevant legislation!
ISTR that includes your good self PB...
And the cashier couldn’t understand the d.o.b. field on either a BRITISH passport or driving licence.
Ha! I hadn't considered that problem.
Mind you, after too long communing with the babbage-engines, I've been known to reach a state where I can make a reasonable guess at what a unisex spaceadmin timestamp might mean, but have to pull my BRANES out, blow into the edge connector and shove it back in a couple of times before I understand BRITISH dates. This is probably what it feels like to be Excel.
No matter what the date format, my birthday is on the 13th and even in USAnia there are only twelve months. It'd be pretty hard to interpret “64” as anything other than a year too.
There's also that weird thing with booze sites that makes you put in you DoB to confirm that you're over eighteen.
I figure the kids have that one sorted, though I think licking the screen will be marginally less effective than drinking 24 cans of Top Deck Shandy, something that from experience I don't recommend.
Whereas our local artisan beer emporium just asks if you are over 18 with two options to click on. Perhaps the kids around here are a bit thick.
I think it's a hangover from the US, all the shops there have the if you're born after this date in whatever year, you can buy booze and cigarettes (in those states where there's still a state monopoly of boozohol, I think they're often the law, you buy them from the booze authority).
I figure this means that most Americans do not know how old they are, or that they really have been counting the days till they get their paws on their first legal forty-ouncer. Possibly both.
I had this bizarre thing in the local Co-Op a few weeks ago...
Junior ( age:21 ) and I went around the shop and picked up this and that.
At the checkout, I asked for a bottle of gin that was behind the counter.
'I need to see ID for junior', in case you are buying it for him.
We don't have such ID, so can't buy.
Purchase other items, go to car, return to shop myself one minute later, purchase gin from same person, just fine.
And the cashier couldn’t understand the d.o.b. field on either a BRITISH passport or driving licence.
Ha! I hadn't considered that problem.
Mind you, after too long communing with the babbage-engines, I've been known to reach a state where I can make a reasonable guess at what a unisex spaceadmin timestamp might mean, but have to pull my BRANES out, blow into the edge connector and shove it back in a couple of times before I understand BRITISH dates. This is probably what it feels like to be Excel.
No matter what the date format, my birthday is on the 13th and even in USAnia there are only twelve months. It'd be pretty hard to interpret “64” as anything other than a year too.
I have honestly been asked by a lady scrutinizing the 28 in my DoB 'what month is that supposed to be?'
The discrepancy betweenFTFY. ;)U.K.world and USA dates came in very useful a couple of years ago when I wanted to hire a car. The license I realised standing in The queue had expired on 11/1/2018. This was now September. The agent looked at the license, reminded me that I needed to get it renewed before November and gave me the keys.
And the cashier couldn’t understand the d.o.b. field on either a BRITISH passport or driving licence.
Ha! I hadn't considered that problem.
Mind you, after too long communing with the babbage-engines, I've been known to reach a state where I can make a reasonable guess at what a unisex spaceadmin timestamp might mean, but have to pull my BRANES out, blow into the edge connector and shove it back in a couple of times before I understand BRITISH dates. This is probably what it feels like to be Excel.
No matter what the date format, my birthday is on the 13th and even in USAnia there are only twelve months. It'd be pretty hard to interpret “64” as anything other than a year too.
I have honestly been asked by a lady scrutinizing the 28 in my DoB 'what month is that supposed to be?'
Geldof, obviously.
I have always thought that the "British" format is more logical, as it at least goes from lesser (day) to greater (year) in a logical progression.
Why would you start in the middle with month?
However, neither is satisfactory anywhere likely to be read internationally, since neither gives an unambiguous result, unlike various alternatives, such as 01-Jun-2021 or 2021-06-01 (which no-one reads as YYYY-DD-MM).
Big-endian dates sort properly in ASCIIbetical order.
I like those formats which combine digits with either letters or Roman numerals: 21-IV-2021 or 21-APR-2021. You can put those in any order and it's clear, at least as long as you use a four-digit year (which of course, you sometimes won't).My school, having pretentious to what it once had been, insisted we use roman numerals for the month. The only time I still do that, for reasons I can't explain, is X for October.
I like those formats which combine digits with either letters or Roman numerals: 21-IV-2021 or 21-APR-2021. You can put those in any order and it's clear, at least as long as you use a four-digit year (which of course, you sometimes won't).My school, having pretentious to what it once had been, insisted we use roman numerals for the month. The only time I still do that, for reasons I can't explain, is X for October.
I punctuate inside the quotes.
I do write out month names, on account of regularly communicating with Americans. It's also true that they genuinely cannot do 'military time.' (I'm sort of hoping the US military can do it.)
I think it's common in France and some other parts of ABROAD. And, it seems, pretentious English schools, who presumably like the idea of using something LATIN.I like those formats which combine digits with either letters or Roman numerals: 21-IV-2021 or 21-APR-2021. You can put those in any order and it's clear, at least as long as you use a four-digit year (which of course, you sometimes won't).My school, having pretentious to what it once had been, insisted we use roman numerals for the month. The only time I still do that, for reasons I can't explain, is X for October.
I think this is the first time I've come across it. ???
I only use two-digit years when forced to by form fields. The idea is approximately as abhorrent as putting punctuation inside the quote marks, for broadly similar reasons.
I punctuate inside the quotes.I punctuate inside or outside, depending on the preferences of whoever is paying me. :D
I do write out month names, on account of regularly communicating with Americans. It's also true that they genuinely cannot do 'military time.' (I'm sort of hoping the US military can do it.)'Military time' would be 24-hour clock? US military form would suggest they probably use a 'decimal 12-hour clock' or some such oxymoronic abomination.
AND they don’t have fortnights.Nor surnames
AND they don’t have fortnights.How do they manage with the computer game? Which I've never played, and about which I know nothing.
'Military time' would be 24-hour clock? US military form would suggest they probably use a 'decimal 12-hour clock' or some such oxymoronic abomination.
I wouldn't mind so much, but they also often can't get 12 am/pm correct.Nobody can. Neither of them can be correct. As Wikipedia says:
It is not always clear what times "12:00 a.m." and "12:00 p.m." denote. From the Latin words meridies (midday), ante (before) and post (after), the term ante meridiem (a.m.) means before midday and post meridiem (p.m.) means after midday. Since "noon" (midday, meridies (m.)) is neither before nor after itself, the terms a.m. and p.m. do not apply.[2] Although "12 m." was suggested as a way to indicate noon, this is seldom done[20] and also does not resolve the question of how to indicate midnight.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-hour_clock#:~:text=The%20American%20Heritage%20Dictionary%20of,12%20noon%20and%2012%20midnight."
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language states "By convention, 12 AM denotes midnight and 12 PM denotes noon. Because of the potential for confusion, it is advisable to use 12 noon and 12 midnight."[24]
E. G. Richards in his book Mapping Time provided a diagram in which 12 a.m. means noon and 12 p.m. means midnight.[25]
The style manual of the United States Government Printing Office used 12 a.m. for noon and 12 p.m. for midnight until its 2008 edition, when it reversed these designations[17][18] and then retained that change in its 2016 revision.[26]
Many U.S. style guides, and NIST's "Frequently asked questions (FAQ)" web page,[2] recommend that it is clearest if one refers to "noon" or "12:00 noon" and "midnight" or "12:00 midnight" (rather than to "12:00 p.m." and "12:00 a.m."). The NIST website states that "12 a.m. and 12 p.m. are ambiguous and should not be used."
The Associated Press Stylebook specifies that midnight "is part of the day that is ending, not the one that is beginning."[23]
The Canadian Press Stylebook[21] says, "write noon or midnight, not 12 noon or 12 midnight." Phrases such as "12 a.m." and "12 p.m." are not mentioned at all. Britain's National Physical Laboratory "FAQ-Time" web page[22] states "In cases where the context cannot be relied upon to place a particular event, the pair of days straddling midnight can be quoted"; also "the terms 12 a.m. and 12 p.m. should be avoided."
Likewise, some U.S. style guides recommend either clarifying "midnight" with other context clues, such as specifying the two dates between which it falls, or not referring to the term at all. For an example of the latter method, "midnight" is replaced with "11:59 p.m." for the end of a day or "12:01 a.m." for the start of a day. That has become common in the United States in legal contracts and for airplane, bus, or train schedules, though some schedules use other conventions. Occasionally, when trains run at regular intervals, the pattern may be broken at midnight by displacing the midnight departure one or more minutes, such as to 11:59 p.m. or 12:01 a.m.[27]
Similarly, is midnight 00:00 or 24:00? It's a different case, because both are correct rather than neither, and more importantly because whichever you use, it's not confusing (except to Americans).
I wouldn't mind so much, but they also often can't get 12 am/pm correct.Can you get those correct? am is ante meridian (before midday) and pm is post meridian (after midday), so 12 hours before and after midday both mean midnight. Or, more reasonably, neither time exists, and we go from 11.59am to 12 noon to 12.01pm, and similarly 11.59pm, 12 midnight, 12.01 am. Certainly 12am is not a term I would ever use, because it's not clear what it means.
On our cooker's display noon is 12:00 and midnight is 0:00.
Actually, I may have made that mistake in some code I wrote a while back, will have to check...
Medical research dates will always put the month in letters rather than numbers to remove ambiguity
This reminds me of something I saw in a Victorian travel guide type thingy (not to a particular place), where there was a section on 'When the day begin in different parts of the word?' The possibilities included midnight, midday, sunrise, sunset and a couple of others I can't remember right now. All pretty obvious really though and just as relevant today. 'When you wake up' would be my suggestion.
...
AND they don’t have fortnights. Even just saying the word sends them into paroxysms of helpless mirth. “He said 'fortnight' snk snk splort lolz0rz &, moreover, roffle!”
But that makes sense because when you check a weather forecast you're interested in the predicted temperatures for the future, not what it recently has been or is now.This reminds me of something I saw in a Victorian travel guide type thingy (not to a particular place), where there was a section on 'When the day begin in different parts of the word?' The possibilities included midnight, midday, sunrise, sunset and a couple of others I can't remember right now. All pretty obvious really though and just as relevant today. 'When you wake up' would be my suggestion.
The Met Office website has an offset for their 'Maximum daytime temperature' and 'Minimum nighttime temperature' headline figures. The figures for here for today are 14 degrees max and 2 degrees min. The maximum is fair enough but it is currently zero and has been for some time - the minimum quoted is actually for 0600 tomorrow morning.
I am not sure what they do on one of those occasions where it warms up overnight rather than cooling down.
But that makes sense because when you check a weather forecast you're interested in the predicted temperatures for the future, not what it recently has been or is now.This reminds me of something I saw in a Victorian travel guide type thingy (not to a particular place), where there was a section on 'When the day begin in different parts of the word?' The possibilities included midnight, midday, sunrise, sunset and a couple of others I can't remember right now. All pretty obvious really though and just as relevant today. 'When you wake up' would be my suggestion.
The Met Office website has an offset for their 'Maximum daytime temperature' and 'Minimum nighttime temperature' headline figures. The figures for here for today are 14 degrees max and 2 degrees min. The maximum is fair enough but it is currently zero and has been for some time - the minimum quoted is actually for 0600 tomorrow morning.
I am not sure what they do on one of those occasions where it warms up overnight rather than cooling down.
Rated to the am / pm confusion, when a legal document such as home or car insurance states that the policy commences at midnight on nth of month, is that actually possible?
I always assume it means at the start of the 24 hours of that day but it isn't really cast iron clear in it's meaning to me and it's rarely clarified in any meanings and definitions section of the document.
Rated to the am / pm confusion, when a legal document such as home or car insurance states that the policy commences at midnight on nth of month, is that actually possible?
I always assume it means at the start of the 24 hours of that day but it isn't really cast iron clear in it's meaning to me and it's rarely clarified in any meanings and definitions section of the document.
I'm never quite sure on this, either. At work I set up lots of online assessments for students, and always go for 11.59pm as the deadline (rather than midnight) to avoid any confusion!
A few thoughts about time (further drift from why we need to tell Google our date-of-birth!)
Trains (in Network-Rail land anyway) are never timetabled to arrive or depart at 00:00 hrs, due to the potential confusion as to which day it applies to. If the running time between A and B is such that the arrival at B would be on the dot of midnight, then an extra minute is added so that it arrives at 00:01. (So we don't have a midnight train to Georgia, or anywhere else for that matter.)
I moved between England & Scotland and back, eventually registering with a GP after each move. My medical records failed to materialise, which I couldn't quite understand.This is not as bad as the story that did the rounds recently of someone who was called in to the GP as an emergency obesity case. After some investigation, it emerged that the patient's height had been measured in metres, but recorded in centimetres, or some-such, resulting in a BMI in the 28,000 region.
Eventually it transpired that my DoB of ** Jun **** had been misread as ** Jan ****.
This is not as bad as the story that did the rounds recently of someone who was called in to the GP as an emergency obesity case. After some investigation, it emerged that the patient's height had been measured in metres, but recorded in centimetres, or some-such, resulting in a BMI in the 28,000 region.
I wouldn't mind so much, but they also often can't get 12 am/pm correct.Nobody can. Neither of them can be correct. As Wikipedia says:QuoteIt is not always clear what times "12:00 a.m." and "12:00 p.m." denote. From the Latin words meridies (midday), ante (before) and post (after), the term ante meridiem (a.m.) means before midday and post meridiem (p.m.) means after midday. Since "noon" (midday, meridies (m.)) is neither before nor after itself, the terms a.m. and p.m. do not apply.[2] Although "12 m." was suggested as a way to indicate noon, this is seldom done[20] and also does not resolve the question of how to indicate midnight.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-hour_clock#:~:text=The%20American%20Heritage%20Dictionary%20of,12%20noon%20and%2012%20midnight."
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language states "By convention, 12 AM denotes midnight and 12 PM denotes noon. Because of the potential for confusion, it is advisable to use 12 noon and 12 midnight."[24]
E. G. Richards in his book Mapping Time provided a diagram in which 12 a.m. means noon and 12 p.m. means midnight.[25]
The style manual of the United States Government Printing Office used 12 a.m. for noon and 12 p.m. for midnight until its 2008 edition, when it reversed these designations[17][18] and then retained that change in its 2016 revision.[26]
Many U.S. style guides, and NIST's "Frequently asked questions (FAQ)" web page,[2] recommend that it is clearest if one refers to "noon" or "12:00 noon" and "midnight" or "12:00 midnight" (rather than to "12:00 p.m." and "12:00 a.m."). The NIST website states that "12 a.m. and 12 p.m. are ambiguous and should not be used."
The Associated Press Stylebook specifies that midnight "is part of the day that is ending, not the one that is beginning."[23]
The Canadian Press Stylebook[21] says, "write noon or midnight, not 12 noon or 12 midnight." Phrases such as "12 a.m." and "12 p.m." are not mentioned at all. Britain's National Physical Laboratory "FAQ-Time" web page[22] states "In cases where the context cannot be relied upon to place a particular event, the pair of days straddling midnight can be quoted"; also "the terms 12 a.m. and 12 p.m. should be avoided."
Likewise, some U.S. style guides recommend either clarifying "midnight" with other context clues, such as specifying the two dates between which it falls, or not referring to the term at all. For an example of the latter method, "midnight" is replaced with "11:59 p.m." for the end of a day or "12:01 a.m." for the start of a day. That has become common in the United States in legal contracts and for airplane, bus, or train schedules, though some schedules use other conventions. Occasionally, when trains run at regular intervals, the pattern may be broken at midnight by displacing the midnight departure one or more minutes, such as to 11:59 p.m. or 12:01 a.m.[27]
Similarly, is midnight 00:00 or 24:00? It's a different case, because both are correct rather than neither, and more importantly because whichever you use, it's not confusing (except to Americans).
Sounds like a classic case of doctor's handwriting!