Re: HTML has, probably, confusing date format

This is not a problem of representation of a universally 
recongised-as-annoying
dates system. HTML just uses particular systems of constants; Perl and php
both have systems for converting these constants to integers which are
the number of seconds since a reference time.
These integers can be manipulated with simple arithmetic, and converted
back to any particular date format.

Durations are generally not required in METAdata; just absolute references.