order of time elements in date-time groups

[BestATN@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/30/1999 10:11:50 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
araizen@newmail.net writes:

> 
>  de'i li 29/09/99 ti'u li 8:34 la xorxes cusku di'e
>  


The order of the time elements in dates and times should be consistent, all 
increasing in size or all decreasing.  Thus if a date is given as 29/09/99, 
as in the above example, then the time after it should be given as 34:8.  
Conversely, if the time is taken as the standard, then the date should be 
99/09/29.  

I prefer the latter order, because all our place-value number systems give 
the largest elements first and decrease to the smallest.  

My understanding is that Lojban gives the smallest unit first because it's 
easier to leave off the others when they are unnecessary.  To me this is not 
a compelling reason to be inconsistent, especially in a language which is 
consistent to an extreme.

Steven Lytle