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Conventions Justin uses in email

Page history last edited by Justin Spratt 10 years, 5 months ago

Introduction


I use a variety of (for most people, unusual) conventions in email (and other forms of communication).  This page explains these conventions in the hopes of avoiding confusion while keeping the email I send short yet unambiguous.

 

Time and Date Conventions


I use 24 Hour time (ISO-8601)

I try to use 24 hour time notation exclusively.  I strongly dislike any time formats that can be ambiguous or that do not sort properly (later times should always have larger numbers, for example, 11:00 is certainly after 01:00, but how do we know if it is after 1:00?  There is no way to tell).  If you receive something that says, "I will meet you at 0900," assume I will meet you at 9:00 AM.  I will write 1:25 PM as 1325h, 1325hrs, 1325 hours, 13:25, 1300+/-#### (where #### is the offset in 24 hour time) (for time zone designation), and 1300Z (for UTC+Zero offset).

 

I use UTC (Universal Time, Coordinated)

I prefer to use UTC (Universal Time, Coordinated).  If I write a time as 2246Z, it is UTC time.  UTC is, for all everyday purposes, GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).  Time.gov has an accurate UTC clock.  To calculate UTC, time you subtract the offset from the local time, e.g. for "1500-0330" do 15:00 - (-03:30) to get 18:30 UTC.  To write your time and accurately communicate what time zone you are in (so as not to avoid ambiguity), write the time in your local time and then add your time zone offset, or you can simply use UTC.  Note that minutes can have either 59, 60, or 61 seconds in UTC (but, for all practical purposes, only 60 is used).

 

I don't like daylight savings (summer time)

I prefer not to use daylight saving time (DST), since it is confusing and unnecessary, however, I will use it if it is expected unless otherwise noted.  When I use UTC time, I never use DST.

 

I use the date format YYYY-MM-DD (ISO-8601)

I strongly dislike any date formats that can be ambiguous or that do not sort properly.  Right now, the YYYY-MM-DD gives 2011-01-24 (Monday, January 24, 2011).

 

 

Files


I email compressed files in weird, free formats

I often send files via email or another carrier, and I often compress these.  If you see extensions .zip, .rar, or .7z on files, these files have been compressed and all of them can be uncompressed using the free 7z utility (GNU GPL).

 

I change the extensions of files I email to more reliably get files to you

If you see a file with an extension that has an underscore in it, you may have to remove the underscore (by renaming the file) in order to use the file.  Some files (such as .exe files) are blocked by many email servers, so I will add an underscore to them (e.g., ".exe_") to avoid the file from being stopped by the email servers.  Other commonly blocked file extensions include .msi, .bat, .dll, .zip, and .com.  If you are having trouble opening a file I have sent you, check to see if it has an underscore in the extension.

 


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