The start of an event is the first second of EAS. The time until this moment is known as Mere. Mere comes in several different levels ranging from Mere years to Mere seconds.
The biggest problem seems to be deciding when to change from one level of Mere to the next. S.O.D.D.O.M. says that so long as there is > 1 of a certain level, we still call it by this. For example if there is 1 week, 3 days, 12 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds left until EAS there is 1.5 weeks left. Therefore we are still in the weeks level of Mere. We do not change to Mere days until there is less than one week left as then we are into the Mere days level.
Imagine a series of glass containers, suspended one above another in a ladder. We start with the top level of our ladder as full of water – think of this as the Mere months level. As time goes by and we get closer to EAS the water falls through a hole at a steady rate into the next container below it. We declare that the top level is not necessary once it is empty and no longer has any wtaer left in it. The same is with Mere.
We cannot say that we are out of the Mere weeks stage until all of the time remaining in the weeks layer has run out. As this method is decimal, there is no rounding up or down. S.O.D.D.O.M. is exact, to the second.
Mark “Elbonio” Tilbrook
Trivia. Charity. Nonsense. Singing. Are you drinking yet?