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Only in Germany: An API with opening hours

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Re: Only in Germany: An API with opening hours

#61

Post by ernesth »

ugh wrote: post #52
blumentopf wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, CET (UTC+1) and CEST (UTC+2) during summer.

In fact all of Western Europe, Southern Europe (minus Portugal, Greece and Turkey), Northern Europe (minus the British Isles, the Baltic states and Finland) and large parts of Eastern Europe (with the eastern border of Poland as the easternmost point) are all in one time zone. It’s still slightly funny that most kids in the world are theoretically able to view the videos at non-approved times. Will nobody think of th…

Not really, Teneriffe is in Spain, Curaçao is in the Netherlands, Kourou is in France but they don't lie in CET.

Re: Only in Germany: An API with opening hours

#62

Post by ugh »

ernesth wrote: post #61
ugh wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fact all of Western Europe, Southern Europe (minus Portugal, Greece and Turkey), Northern Europe (minus the British Isles, the Baltic states and Finland) and large parts of Eastern Europe (with the eastern border of Poland as the easternmost point) are all in one time zone. It’s still slightly funny that most kids in the world are theoretically able to view the videos at non-approved times. Will nobody think of th…

Not really, Teneriffe is in Spain, Curaçao is in the Netherlands, Kourou is in France but they don't lie in CET.

Teneriffe, Curaçao and Kourou are, however, not part of Europe. There! ;-)

Re: Only in Germany: An API with opening hours

#63

Post by marshray »

bricestacey wrote: post #44
veidr wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. It'd be nice if everything was 24/7, but we have all manner of systems here in Japan that are only open during certain business hours, and for that matter in the US, too. The online interface to the Delaware Division of Corporations, for example, only processes certain filings during business hours. Computer software can be pretty good at flagging activity that falls outside certain parameters, but it still is…

You can't pay a car's excise tax in Massachusetts after 11pm. I can't think of a valid reason for that.

Maybe they process batch transactions overnight. Maybe they want to reserve a nightly maintenance window.

Or maybe it's an instance of the "12:01" effect where they're scared to do anything too close to midnight. :-)

Re: Only in Germany: An API with opening hours

#64

Post by bricestacey »

marshray wrote: post #63
bricestacey wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't pay a car's excise tax in Massachusetts after 11pm. I can't think of a valid reason for that.

Maybe they process batch transactions overnight. Maybe they want to reserve a nightly maintenance window. Or maybe it's an instance of the "12:01" effect where they're scared to do anything too close to midnight. :-)

The "12:01" effect is likely part of it[0], but it could also be a daylights saving time thing where they don't want to bother supporting it.

[0] In Boston proper, our street sweeping signs now say "12:01-2:00" or "2:01-4:00".

Re: Only in Germany: An API with opening hours

#65

Post by rb2k_ »

eli wrote: post #32
perlgeek wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being a German, I can hardly imagine security being the reason - I rather think it's bureaucracy and/or a complete misunderstanding of how computers work. Public services either close much earlier, or are 24/7.

Oh, I very much doubt that. If anything, I'd wager it's a purely technical/process decision. I bet there's some ancient mainframe deep behind that API that runs batch jobs and reports overnight.

My guess would be that they run backups over night

Re: Only in Germany: An API with opening hours

#66

Post by lanstein »

bricestacey wrote: post #64
marshray wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they process batch transactions overnight. Maybe they want to reserve a nightly maintenance window. Or maybe it's an instance of the "12:01" effect where they're scared to do anything too close to midnight. :-)

The "12:01" effect is likely part of it[0], but it could also be a daylights saving time thing where they don't want to bother supporting it. [0] In Boston proper, our street sweeping signs now say "12:01-2:00" or "2:01-4:00".

Street cleaning. So glad I don't have to worry about getting towed anymore.

Re: Only in Germany: An API with opening hours

#67

Post by ars »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #47
ghurlman wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's for religious reasons.

Which is weird , but I guess I don't know much about the finer points of the Law. Would a religious Jew have to lock down a windmill before the start of the sabbath? Or does it only matter for matters of trade? Technically, wouldn't they have to lock their Paypal account as well, as well as traditional bank accounts?

No, they are not required to shut down their site by the letter of the law. However accepting money on the sabbath is not in keeping with the spirit of the sabbath, so I fully understand why they shut down.

A human is not allowed to work on the sabbath, but your machines can, as long as they run automatically.

Interestingly work animals are also required to be given the day off.

The main thing that is not in the spirit of the sabbath is accepting payments, even if by the letter of the law it's allowed.

For example, even though you could leave a physical shop open and unstaffed, and let people (non-jews) buy using the honor system, it's not the right thing to do.

However, leaving the shop open, so people can take things without money, and then they settle later is OK.

Re: Only in Germany: An API with opening hours

#68

Post by nupark2 »

marshray wrote: post #63
bricestacey wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't pay a car's excise tax in Massachusetts after 11pm. I can't think of a valid reason for that.

Maybe they process batch transactions overnight. Maybe they want to reserve a nightly maintenance window. Or maybe it's an instance of the "12:01" effect where they're scared to do anything too close to midnight. :-)

Can you explain the 12:01 effect? I've never come across that term before.

Re: Only in Germany: An API with opening hours

#69

Post by ars »

yuvadam wrote: post #7
mikle wrote: post #3

Nope. not only in Germany. Here is Israel we have more than one site that "close" for the Sabbath. It's moderately interesting to see how religion and the internet co exist.

Yep. Some governmental institutions such as the Israeli Social Security have their websites up during Sabbath (Saturday), but do not accept payments. Supposedly, because just having the server up does not require any manual labor, but accepting a payments constitutes trade, which is forbidden during Sabbath. (Nevermind the fact that an institution which entire purpose is to assist those in need is the most non-access…

An Israeli site has a problem that US sites don't. Although a Jew can leave a site running and even accept payments on the sabbath, that is only if non-jews are the ones sending the payment. (Because non-jews are not required to observe the sabbath.)

To accept a payment from a Jew on sabbath would definitely be wrong. So an Israeli site, which can expect that Jews will use it, must shut down on the Sabbath.

Leaving the site running, but not accepting money is probably the compromise they made because a lot of Israelis are secular.

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