On Wed, 15 May 2019 at 17:00, WebFreak001 via Digitalmars-d <digitalmars-d@puremagic.com> wrote:
>
> Hey Walter, I think you are a time traveler. [1]
>
> this breaks the ordering in the forum, it looks weird and it breaks our discord bot because it's based on time. [2]
>
> So uh can you come back to the present?
>

It's you who's living in the past. :-)

-- 
Iain

On Thursday, May 16, 2019 4:47:22 PM MDT Walter Bright via Digitalmars-d wrote:
> On 5/16/2019 9:48 AM, H. S. Teoh wrote:
> > Did you check to make sure that the polarity hasn't been inadvertently reversed?
>
> Criminy! I forgot about that! Ju++s+t ++++t++++++r+y++++ng +it++++ n++++++o+w. +HH+++an+++g ++o+++n a +++mo+++++m+++en++t ............... ......... <signal lost>

Uh, oh. We really don't want to lose Walter. :)

- Jonathan M Davis

On Thursday, May 16, 2019 10:43:55 PM MDT Nick Sabalausky (Abscissa) via Digitalmars-d wrote:
> But you bring up the idea of a user setting an alarm...and that raises an interesting wrinkle...As I see it, the problem here stems from the fact that there are potentially *TWO* different perspectives (ie "time zones") involved: (keeping in mind that "time zone" can also refer to daylight-savings status)
>
> Perspective A: The time zone (or daylight-savings status) of the user
> when they set the alarm.
>
> Perspective B: The time zone (or daylight-savings status) of the user
> when the alarm sounds.
>
> (Note that this is NOT an "absolute vs relative" distinction, but a distinction between two different relative perspectives: Kind of like "~" vs "." in filepaths.)
>
> Since all user-input involving time should naturally be considered to be relative to the user's own perspective (unless the user specifically states otherwise), this creates a dilemma because there are *two* user perspectives: Is the user entering a time relative to their current perspective ("time zone") of time? (Ie, "A"). Or are they entering a time relative to their own future self *at the moment of the alarm*? (ie, "B").

A similar though subtly different use case is putting an appointment in your calendar when you're currently in a different time zone than the appointment will be. And the fact that we now carry devices in our pockets that get used for stuff like this makes it far more likely that stuff like this will come up - though it can happen without you even moving time zones. For instance, at a previous job, we were supposed to mark in Outlook when we were taking PTO, and I was in a different time zone from my eomployer. And since Outlook treated makring a day as marking a specific 24 hour period, I'd mark a day on the West Coast and end up with it showing something like 03:00 - 02:59 when folks looked at it on the East Coast. And if you didn't look at the exact times when looking at it on the calendar, I think that it managed to make it look I was taking two days off instead of one.

Coming up with a way to deal with stuff like this in a way that doesn't run afoul of time zone problems can be really hard - especially since people don't tend to think about these things the same way computers do. The absolute vs relative path analogy is an interesting one though.

- Jonathan M Davis

On Thursday, 16 May 2019 at 22:47:22 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:

> Criminy! I forgot about that! Ju++s+t ++++t++++++r+y++++ng +it++++ n++++++o+w. +HH+++an+++g ++o+++n a +++mo+++++m+++en++t ...............   ......... <signal lost>

In your avatar, I swear the tippy-top of your hair is fading away...

On 5/17/2019 4:45 AM, Ron Tarrant wrote:
> In your avatar, I swear the tippy-top of your hair is fading away...

It's been fading away since I was a teenager.

It's nice to not have to worry anymore about hair gels, blow dryers, expensive hair cuts, bed head, helmet hair, getting it caught in the drill press, feathery creatures nesting in it, etc.

On Friday, 17 May 2019 at 14:16:13 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
> On 5/17/2019 4:45 AM, Ron Tarrant wrote:
>> In your avatar, I swear the tippy-top of your hair is fading away...
>
> It's been fading away since I was a teenager.
>
> It's nice to not have to worry anymore about hair gels, blow dryers, expensive hair cuts, bed head, helmet hair, getting it caught in the drill press, feathery creatures nesting in it, etc.

Wait a moment! This has nothing to do with time travel, does it!??! :)