In the notebook aspect, I noticed while writing repeatedly to a large file that its last modified time was listed as “in a few seconds.” I don’t think I understand this – is there a time during file writing when a file’s last modified time is in the future?
It means in the last few seconds as opposed to an hour ago, a day ago, etc. It’s a relative time.
(if i misunderstood the question let me know)
If everyone’s clock is correctly set, “just modified” is reported as as “seconds ago”.
I suspect that the machine your web browser is on has a clock that is slightly behind the true date. I have never checked, but I would assume that the host machines at IDF and USDF are running NTP or something to ensure their clocks are pretty accurate.
If my suspicion is correct, your local machine (and thus the piece responsible for doing the rendering of the UI) is seeing timestamps in the future relative to its view of the world. (Near future, because your clock is close to right.)
I understood the relative time system, just not the “in a few seconds” descriptor. Adam’s system time idea makes sense, though time.gov says that my computer is less than 1/20 of a second behind. When I set my computer forwards, it no longer occurs.