Randall Munroe evidently lives in a world of 12-hs clocks (instead of 24-hs clocks).
Or maybe there’s a message beyond my understanding skills.
Randall Munroe evidently lives in a world of 12-hs clocks (instead of 24-hs clocks).
Or maybe there’s a message beyond my understanding skills.
Even 24 hour clocks don’t have more than 60 minutes in an hour
No, they don’t. But I think Randall meant 13 to be a crazy hour too, but it’s not crazy in other parts of the world. He should have gone for 29 or something like that and be totally crazy everywhere.
Consider also the context of lying awake at night, 13 would be early afternoon, making it at least out of place.
Actually, worldwide about 80% of clocks are 12hr these days, 24hr is an archaic system dropped out of use before digital, and only really making a minor resurgence in most countries. It was dropped before the invention of the digital clock because it was far easier to build 12 hr clocks than 24 because the clockwork needs to be precise, and adding increments makes it harder to build on the small scale of commercial clocks.
I have yet to see a digital clock that can’t do 24hs, so 13 wouldn’t be something unexpected in any digital clock. In Argentina, where I come from, all times when talking about train schedules, tv shows, etc are expressed in 24hs, I think in Europe it’s quite common yet.
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