.net ticks to ruby time, ruby time to ticks 1.8.7

gistfile1.txt

class Time
  # See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.datetime.ticks.aspx
  # https://gist.github.com/chancancode/2830878 
  TICKS_SINCE_EPOCH = -(Time.utc(0001, 01, 01).to_i * 10000000)

  def to_ticks
    utc.to_i * 10000000 + TICKS_SINCE_EPOCH # ruby 1.8.7 doesn't support nano seconds so we're ok without it
    # to_i * 10000000 + nsec / 100 - TICKS_SINCE_EPOCH
    # <seconds from 1970-01-01 multiplied by 10 000 000> result is ticks + <self nsec which by default would be skipped>/100 result is ticks + ticks from 0001-01-01
  end

  def self.ticks_to_date_time(ticks)
    time_at_ticks =Time.use_zone('UTC') do
      Time.zone.at(seconds_from_christ = (ticks- TICKS_SINCE_EPOCH)/10000000 )
    end


    # to_i * 10000000  / 100 - TICKS_SINCE_EPOCH # ruby 1.8.7 doesn't support nano seconds so we're ok without it
    # to_i * 10000000 + nsec / 100 - TICKS_SINCE_EPOCH
    # <seconds from 1970-01-01 multiplied by 10 000 000> result is ticks + <self nsec which by default would be skipped>/100 result is ticks + ticks from 0001-01-01
  end


end

# nanosecond = 1/1 000 000 000 s
# 1s = 10 000 000 ticks
#
# A single tick represents one hundred nanoseconds or one ten-millionth of a second. There are 10,000 ticks in a millisecond.
# The value of this property represents the number of 100-nanosecond intervals that have elapsed since 12:00:00 midnight, January 1, 0001,
# which represents DateTime.MinValue. It does not include the number of ticks that are attributable to leap seconds.

Do you think TICKS_AT_EPOCH is a better name for that constant? The word 'since' implies (at least to me) that the value will change with every passing moment.