Portable general timestamp format, not 2038-limited

[Martin Gregorie]

Ilya Zakharevich wrote:
> [A complimentary Cc of this posting was sent to
> greg 
> <greg at cosc.canterbury.ac.nz>], who wrote in article <5fh0imF3cjte7U1 at mid.individual.net>:
>> Ilya Zakharevich wrote:
>>> In pedantic mode: negative timestamps make sense with Big Bang as the
>>> epoch as well.  (AFAIU, the current way of thinking is that it was
>>> "just too hot" before the big bang, it is not that "there was
>>> nothing".)
>> If Stephen Hawking is right, the shape of the universe
>> is such that there isn't any time "before" the big bang
>> at all. It's like asking what's north of the North Pole.
> 
> I do not remember any statement like this - even from 70s...  Could
> you provide a reference?  There were conjectures about "initial
> singularity", but I do not recollect them related to SH.
>
Its in "A Short History of Time". Sorry I can't quote chapter or page, 
but a friend borrowed my copy and lent me Dawkins "Climbing Mount 
Improbable" before vanishing, never to be seen since. Not an equal 
exchange: I preferred ASHOT to CMI.


-- 
martin@   | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org       |