Dinnertime geology: the present (#1)

[kaberett]

"The present" is commonly defined as "1 January 1950".

For historical reasons.

If you read "before present" in the context of radiocarbon dating? The "present" they're talking about is, yes, 1950.

This is strictly also true in geology, where we use e.g. "Ma" to mean "million years ago" - the "ago" is implicit, because we are champions of explicit usage, and refers to the present as defined above - but on the kind of timescale I work with, well, what's sixty years between friends?

Comments

[sorrillia]

And now your readers---who are admittedly mostly not in the habit of receiving mail from me---understand why I tend to date letters in years "after present".

[redbird]

Now I need a geologist to write to, just so I can date the letters that way.

[sorrillia]

You can always do it with non-geologists. Most of the people I write to are.