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Massachusetts is considering leaving the Eastern Time Zone

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11–20 of 221 posts

Re: Massachusetts is considering leaving the Eastern Time Zone

#11
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better would be to go to a single Zulu timezone nationwide. You just go into work an hour later in the central area compared to the east coast.

I like it that no matter where I live I can wake up at 6, stores open by 9, and lunch is at 12. Imagine every time traveling having to ask the locals what time things happen. Also, I don't think any politician will allow their state to be the state that doesn't have the same time as other countries in the same longitude

Arizona doesn't do daylight savings, while the Navajo Nation (surrounded by AZ) does, and so does Utah to the North.

Re: Massachusetts is considering leaving the Eastern Time Zone

#12
post #3

Unless all the states east of New York switch, this is a non-starter.

FTA: The report said Massachusetts should not act alone, or else it could disrupt "commerce, trade, interstate transportation and broadcasting" across the region. A majority of other states in New England would have to jump on the time-zone train, too.

Re: Massachusetts is considering leaving the Eastern Time Zone

#13

I really hope NY get on board as well. Being in Manhattan during the winter, the sun is gone many days by 4pm, sometimes earlier depending which part of the city you are in (which skyscraper is blocking the last bit of sunlight). As a native Texan it's tough to adjust to :O [edit] my grammar

Thinking a little bit more about this, I'm wondering how much this would really help. Yes, there would be more daylight in the evening, but given the latitude, how much longer in the morning would it be dark? I found this handy tool to get a feel for it:

https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/new-york

And here's Boston:

https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/boston

Re: Massachusetts is considering leaving the Eastern Time Zone

#14

I would rather see the planet stop using time-zones altogether. Let's all go UTC, adjust our clocks and schedules once and be done with it. It doesn't matter what number my clock says at noon/sunrise/sunset. If it is about working-hours coinciding with daylight, businesses can adjust their working hours as needed (and post them on their site without you having to convert to local time to know when you can call) edit:…

And then whenever you travel you'll have to recalibrate your time-related intuition about everything. No thanks.

Re: Massachusetts is considering leaving the Eastern Time Zone

#15

I would rather see the planet stop using time-zones altogether. Let's all go UTC, adjust our clocks and schedules once and be done with it. It doesn't matter what number my clock says at noon/sunrise/sunset. If it is about working-hours coinciding with daylight, businesses can adjust their working hours as needed (and post them on their site without you having to convert to local time to know when you can call) edit:…

https://qntm.org/abolish

Re: Massachusetts is considering leaving the Eastern Time Zone

#16
post #8

Maine is tentatively on-board: http://www.pressherald.com/2017/04/27/maine-may-switch-to-at... New Hampshire looks to be against it so far: http://www.concordmonitor.com/time-zone-change-atlantic-9808...

Yeah, it really screws with us up here. Once you get up above the meridian, days get pretty short in the winter. Moving those hours around helps exactly none. No farmer has their life improved. It's not saving energy. It's just a dumb setting on the clock.

Re: Massachusetts is considering leaving the Eastern Time Zone

#17

Personally, it would be brilliant if we'd just go to permanent daylight savings time nationwide. The transition is hard on the kids and living in the northern part of the country, the extra daylight is appreciated.

Better would be to go to a single Zulu timezone nationwide. You just go into work an hour later in the central area compared to the east coast.

https://qntm.org/abolish

Re: Massachusetts is considering leaving the Eastern Time Zone

#18

I would rather see the planet stop using time-zones altogether. Let's all go UTC, adjust our clocks and schedules once and be done with it. It doesn't matter what number my clock says at noon/sunrise/sunset. If it is about working-hours coinciding with daylight, businesses can adjust their working hours as needed (and post them on their site without you having to convert to local time to know when you can call) edit:…

I think all hard-time numbers should be in UTC.

However I also think that 'wall clocks' should be something more like the wizard time peaces in the various harry-potter movies.

They'd all have fuzzy times like "dawn, noon, dusk". What is now 6am would be "early morning", 3 hours later 'morning'. Evening would be 1800 and late evening 2100. The times closer to mid-day would be on a denser schedule (finer granularity).

Re: Massachusetts is considering leaving the Eastern Time Zone

#19
post #14

I would rather see the planet stop using time-zones altogether. Let's all go UTC, adjust our clocks and schedules once and be done with it. It doesn't matter what number my clock says at noon/sunrise/sunset. If it is about working-hours coinciding with daylight, businesses can adjust their working hours as needed (and post them on their site without you having to convert to local time to know when you can call) edit:…

And then whenever you travel you'll have to recalibrate your time-related intuition about everything. No thanks.

They call this jet lag, and everyone has to do it already.

Re: Massachusetts is considering leaving the Eastern Time Zone

#20
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better would be to go to a single Zulu timezone nationwide. You just go into work an hour later in the central area compared to the east coast.

I like it that no matter where I live I can wake up at 6, stores open by 9, and lunch is at 12. Imagine every time traveling having to ask the locals what time things happen. Also, I don't think any politician will allow their state to be the state that doesn't have the same time as other countries in the same longitude

Most places I've visited vary from business to business. With all due respect, I don't know of anywhere that fits your 9 & 12 mold. When I travel I always need to look up the hours of businesses. Many also pick a day or two during the week to close or prepare. Many also operate dramatically different depending on the day you go.
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