Epoch

Time machine from Chrono Trigger. At first only able to travel through time until Dalton, an overzealous emperor from 12000 BC steals it and puts wings on it, dubbing it his "Aero Dalton Imperial". The machine then becomes a transportation device for 4 dimensions (x, y, z, and t). In the end of the game the group is given the option of crashing into Lavos with the Epoch in order to make the final battle easier.

Also, the Epoch can be found, destroyed, in a secret room in Viper's Manor in Another World in Chrono Cross, along with a name-changing creature that I think is meant to be a Nu. Need a hint? Check the prophet's room.

The first Keplerian orbital element, specifying the time at which the other orbital elements were taken. Expressed in most formats as YYDDD.FFFFFFFF (YearDay.Fractionalday).

^ =>

EOU = E = epsilon

epoch n.

[Unix: prob. from astronomical timekeeping] The time and date corresponding to 0 in an operating system's clock and timestamp values. Under most Unix versions the epoch is 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970; under VMS, it's 00:00:00 of November 17, 1858 (base date of the U.S. Naval Observatory's ephemerides); on a Macintosh, it's the midnight beginning January 1 1904. System time is measured in seconds or ticks past the epoch. Weird problems may ensue when the clock wraps around (see wrap around), which is not necessarily a rare event; on systems counting 10 ticks per second, a signed 32-bit count of ticks is good only for 6.8 years. The 1-tick-per-second clock of Unix is good only until January 18, 2038, assuming at least some software continues to consider it signed and that word lengths don't increase by then. See also wall time. Microsoft Windows, on the other hand, has an epoch problem every 49.7 days^* - but this is seldom noticed as Windows is almost incapable of staying up continuously for that long.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.

*This is out of date- Windows 95 and lower had this problem, but newer versions do not.

The term epoch is also used in computer science to refer to a set of iterations over a certain range of data. When training a neural network with backpropagation, an epoch is the period of training in which all training patterns are dealt with. When using a genetic algorithm, an epoch is synonamous with a generation.

German model train purveyors and (to a lesser extent) railfans roughly divide German rail history into Epochs (Epochen, auf Deutsch) in a broad brush approach to classifying German railway equipment and practice. The cut-off dates between Epochs are mostly pivotal moments in German rail history (or indeed German history in general).

The commonly accepted Eras are, with dates:

Epoch I: 1835-1920

In 1920, the German State Railways (Deutsche Reichsbahn Gesellschaft) was formed from merging the former state railways (Länderbahnen). The period prior to 1920, therefore, makes an obvious and logical era distinct from the time after. Some people define an additional era, Epoch 0, from 1835 (the date of the first German railway) until about 1880 or thereabouts, because Epoch I is even more 'broad brush' than the others in terms of time frame.

Epoch II: 1920-1945

The period of the Deutsche Reichsbahn Gesellschaft from its creation from the state railways in 1920 until its dissolution along with the German state in 1945 with the final German defeat of World War 2. Some people further subdivide this into pre-Nazi, Nazi and Wartime periods.

Epoch III: 1945-1970

The post-war railways of a divided Germany. Steam locomotives are used throughout this period in both Germanies, with increasing use of diesel and electric traction, especially in the more prosperous West. Unlike in the United States and Britain, steam traction is not precipitously swept aside; rather it is a more gradual and sensible process of replacement.

Epoch IV: 1970-1985

In approximately 1970, computer based UIC numbering of locomotives and stock is introduced across mainland Europe. From a model railway point of view, this is an important date, since UIC numbered stock is obviously out of place on a layout supposed to be depicting a time before that date, and very soon after 1970 a car carrying an old style number would be an obvious anachronism. In a more general sense, it signified the increasing international flavor of rail freight and travel in Europe. Post 1970, the railway was very different.

Epoch V: 1985-present

German reunification soon resulted in a unification of the railway systems, as well as new corporate images for them. Not too long afterwards began a loosening of the traditional state control over railway companies across Europe; privatization was all the rage. New private company trains and liveries began to take hold.

In addition, some people split off the privatization period and create an Epoch VI starting some time in the mid 1990s, but this is still a matter of debate and not followed by a majority of manufacturers or individuals.

The purpose of the Epochs is simple: to allow those with a poor knowledge of rail history to still assemble a model train collection that reasonably well fits together historically. It's also a great benefit to the railfan's parents/children/spouse trying to buy them model railroad presents.

While based on pivotal moments of German rail history, the Epochs are often used to describe periods in other European countries' history too. Many of those events had parallels in other countries not too long before or after the German dates.

Serious rail historians abhor the whole idea, of course.

Ep"och [LL. epocha, Gr. check, stop, an epoch of a star, an historical epoch, fr. to hold on, check; upon + to have, hold; akin to Skr. sah to overpower, Goth. sigis victory, AS. sigor, sige, G. sieg: cf. F. 'epoque. See Scheme.]

1.

A fixed point of time, established in history by the occurrence of some grand or remarkable event; a point of time marked by an event of great subsequent influence; as, the epoch of the creation; the birth of Christ was the epoch which gave rise to the Christian era.

In divers ages, . . . divers epochs of time were used. Usher.

Great epochs and crises in the kingdom of God. Trench.

The acquittal of the bishops was not the only event which makes the 30th of June, 1688, a great epoch in history. Macaulay.

⇒ Epochs mark the beginning of new historical periods, and dates are often numbered from them.

2.

A period of time, longer or shorter, remarkable for events of great subsequent influence; a memorable period; as, the epoch of maritime discovery, or of the Reformation.

"So vast an epoch of time."

F. Harrison.

The influence of Chaucer continued to live even during the dreary interval which separates from one another two important epochs of our literary history. A. W. Ward.

3. Geol.

A division of time characterized by the prevalence of similar conditions of the earth; commonly a minor division or part of a period.

The long geological epoch which stored up the vast coal measures. J. C. Shairp.

4. Astron. (a)

The date at which a planet or comet has a longitude or position.

(b)

An arbitrary fixed date, for which the elements used in computing the place of a planet, or other heavenly body, at any other date, are given; as, the epoch of Mars; lunar elements for the epoch March 1st, 1860.

Syn. -- Era; time; date; period; age. -- Epoch, Era. We speak of the era of the Reformation, when we think of it as a period, during which a new order of things prevailed; so also, the era of good feeling, etc. Had we been thinking of the time as marked by certain great events, or as a period in which great results were effected, we should have called the times when these events happened epochs, and the whole period an epoch.

The capture of Constantinople is an epoch in the history of Mahometanism; but the flight of Mahomet is its era. C. J. Smith.

 

© Webster 1913.