Bully Row Timestamps

The Bully system of timestamps (informally Bully Time) is an original research project. Bully timestamps were designed with the following objectives in mind:


 * 1) A timekeeping system which is sufficiently independent of Earth's motions and orientation, so that "leap" seconds, "leap" years, and other correctional adjustments are not required.
 * 2) A timekeeping system which is fundamentally binary and compatible with computer architecture.
 * 3) A timekeeping system with enough scope to uniquely and unambiguously identify each point in time, beginning with the Big Bang, and continuing into the foreseeable future.
 * 4) A timekeeping system with a built-in mnemonic device, to promote education and understanding.

= What is the Bully time system? =



The Bully time system (informally Bully Time) is neither a clock nor a calendar. Clocks are tied to the rotation of the Earth and measure Universal Time (UT) in terms of days and fractions of days (for example: hours, minutes, and seconds). Calendars are tied to changes in the seasons, which result from the orbit of the Earth around the Sun (Ephemeris time), and from the precession of the equinoxes. Calendars measure time in terms of days, weeks, months, and years. Clocks and calendars are used for tracking biological processes such as setting a time to wake up in the morning or determining when to plant crops. It is essential for clocks and calendars to remain correlated with the earth's actual orientation for proper management of life's biological processes.

Since clocks and calendars are tied to the motion of the Earth, and these motions are somewhat irregular, it becomes necessary from time to time to insert leap seconds, or make other corrections, to keep clocks and calendars in sync with the Earth's actual orientation. As shown in figure 1 above, the Earth's rotational motion (UT) can experience variations on the order of 500 milliseconds per year. The Earth's orbital motion (ET) can experience variations on the order of 40 milliseconds per year. During the 110 year period (1930 AD ... 2040 AD) shown in figure 1, the accumulation of Earth's rotational variations resulted in an increase of Delta T (ET-UT) from less than 25 seconds to more than 70 seconds.

The Bully time system (shown on the far right axis in figure 1) is not directly tied to the motions of the Earth, and hence, it is never necessary to insert leap seconds or other corrections into Bully timestamps. The Bully time system measures elapsed time and can be directly related to International Atomic Time (TAI), which is the passage of elapsed time as measured using atomic clocks.

Timespan described by Bully timestamps
$${16}^{12} \cdot 3055\ seconds = 27,249,360,000\ years$$

A unique hexadecimal twelve digit Bully timestamp is realized every 3055 seconds TAI. The universe is currently understood to be less than 13.8 billion years old, which means that there are enough unique Bully timestamps to span the entire age of the universe.

Why do we need Bully timestamps
It is impossible to predict the exact long term relationship that will exist between elapsed time and wall clock time (which is based on the Earth's orientation). Leap second insertions, along with other clock and calendar corrections, were designed to accommodate for uncertainties in Earth's motion, but since these variations are unpredictable, they can not be pre-programmed into computer hardware or software.

The inability of computers to account for unpredictable variations in Earth's motion has resulted in the creation of multiple time standards. Each standard is a reflection of circumstances that existed during the deployment of a particular system. For example, as shown in figure 1 above, The GPS system was deployed January 6, 1980. At that time, there was a Delta T adjustment (TT-UTC) of more than 51 "leap" seconds. The LORAN-C upgrade, on the other hand, occurred in 1972 when the Delta T adjustment (TT-UTC) was closer to 42 "leap" seconds. The resulting timestamps provided by GPS and LORAN-C differ by nine seconds due to the disparate circumstances under which these systems were deployed. Also, LORAN-C timestamps differ by ten seconds from TAI due to the fact that TAI is based on clocks that were deployed in 1958.

Click on the below links for a comparison of six time standards (local, UTC, GPS, Loran, and TAI):

LeapSecond.com

ipses.com

csgnetwork.com

The unpredictability of leap second insertions is an ongoing source of confusion and expense. Click on the following link for more information:

The second is broken

Realized vs. Estimated Bully timestamps
Each Bully timestamp is realized exactly 3055 seconds TAI after the previous one. However, since atomic time standards did not exist prior to the 1950's, any assignment of Bully timestamps prior to 1958 should be viewed as an estimate of how elapsed time might have transpired in the past, rather than an actual realization of Bully time. Bully time should only be considered "realized" when time is measured with an accuracy of $${10}^{-10}$$.

Estimated Bully Time
History of Earth

Realized Bully Time
There have been over 655360 realized Bully timestamps (8209 27FA 0000 ... 8209 2804 0000) during the 66 years of modern atomic time keeping (1958 AD ... 2024 AD). Given the availability of atomic clocks, it is anticipated that Bully timestamps will continue to be realized with great regularity for the foreseeable future. Each Bully timestamp should be considered "realized" after it occurs and is measured using precise clocks.

To avoid uncertainty, the following table (derived from the Wikipedia "Leap Second" article), lists all leap second insertions that have occurred since the introduction of leap seconds. For each leap second insertion, the below table lists the preceding Bully timestamp (that had been "realized" immediately prior to the leap second insertion), and the subsequent Bully timestamp (that was "realized" immediately after the leap second insertion).

A few details are worth noting in the table. The TAI and UTC already differed by 10 seconds at the beginning of 1972, so when Bully Timestamp 8209 28E5 DFFB was realized, the TAI time was 1972-06-30 23:34:45 TAI, whereas UTC time was 1972-06-30 23:34:35 UTC. An additional 27 leap seconds have been inserted into UTC during the fifty year period between 1972 and 2022, making a total of 37 leap seconds difference, so when Bully Row Timestamp 8209 28EC E3C0 was realized, the TAI time was 2017-01-01 00:32:00 TAI, whereas UTC time was 2017-01-01 00:31:23 UTC. You will also note that Bully Row timestamps are realized during TAI times with a seconds value ending in five or zero. The Bully Row and TAI both measure elapsed time as determined by atomic clocks, so these systems will always have this simple relationship.