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Are the Americans Awake?

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Re: Are the Americans Awake?

#71

Post by yuck39 »

izzydata wrote: post #61
delecti wrote: post #43

I'm perplexed at the implication that we "decided" to have the number of time zones that we do, rather than just acknowledging the reality that the US is a fairly big country. It's cheating a bit with Alaska in the picture, but the US spans about twice the degrees of longitude as Europe, and it would still be solidly "wider" even if you limit to the lower 48 states.

I'm more perplexed that China decided it should only have 1 timezone. It also decided that timezone should be from the perspective of the eastern coast. When does the sun rise and fall for the western most people?

I actually liked the one time zone system in China when I lived there. It made scheduling work across different cities a little more convenient, and I didn't mind that the sunrise/sunset didn't always exactly line up to what I am accustomed to.

Re: Are the Americans Awake?

#72

Post by throwaway09223 »

izzydata wrote: post #61
delecti wrote: post #43

I'm perplexed at the implication that we "decided" to have the number of time zones that we do, rather than just acknowledging the reality that the US is a fairly big country. It's cheating a bit with Alaska in the picture, but the US spans about twice the degrees of longitude as Europe, and it would still be solidly "wider" even if you limit to the lower 48 states.

I'm more perplexed that China decided it should only have 1 timezone. It also decided that timezone should be from the perspective of the eastern coast. When does the sun rise and fall for the western most people?

Why shouldn't we have one timezone? Why not have one worldwide timezone?

The sun rises and sets at different times according to both latitude and longitude. Timezones only handle longitudinal daylight adjustments. We already deal with plenty of incongruity around daylight.

Why not embrace the variability and let go of the idea that we can predict daylight based on the hour alone? Let people localize the time to discover where the sun is.

Re: Are the Americans Awake?

#73

Post by BizarreByte »

defparam wrote: post #6

I'm happy they thought it was important to address why this information is useful (at least to them), only to then not address it at all.

It is generally accepted discussion forums are more tolerable when Americans are asleep, but they probably didn't want to outright state this for obvious reasons.

I'm not taking a stance on this one way or another, but using the context of Reddit? Yah, that's the unspoken part.

Re: Are the Americans Awake?

#74

Post by sandworm101 »

>> I consider awake to mean from 8AM to 12AM, you are getting at least 8 hours of sleep, right?

Must be nice to be a millionaire who works from home then stays up late every night. Is this Charlie sheen's jingle-writing character from 2 1/2 men? The rest of the working population gets up long before 8am. Work starts at 8am. School starts at 8am. Most people I know, at least those with jobs/kids, set their alarms for 6am. If I were to guess, the working population of the US will generally be awake between 6am and 11pm.

Or come join the military. 0400 is a very common alarm time. I'm at my desk by 0515 most mornings.

Re: Are the Americans Awake?

#75

Post by chickenpotpie »

throwaway09223 wrote: post #72
izzydata wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more perplexed that China decided it should only have 1 timezone. It also decided that timezone should be from the perspective of the eastern coast. When does the sun rise and fall for the western most people?

Why shouldn't we have one timezone? Why not have one worldwide timezone? The sun rises and sets at different times according to both latitude and longitude. Timezones only handle longitudinal daylight adjustments. We already deal with plenty of incongruity around daylight. Why not embrace the variability and let go of the idea that we can predict daylight based on the hour alone? Let people localize the time to disco…

Won't people just end up coming up with their own pseudo time zones anyways? If I'm in New York and I'm calling someone in Seattle, aren't I gonna have to just mentally subtract 3 or so hours anyways?

Re: Are the Americans Awake?

#76

Post by shinjitsu »

RegnisGnaw wrote: post #54
delecti wrote: post #43

I'm perplexed at the implication that we "decided" to have the number of time zones that we do, rather than just acknowledging the reality that the US is a fairly big country. It's cheating a bit with Alaska in the picture, but the US spans about twice the degrees of longitude as Europe, and it would still be solidly "wider" even if you limit to the lower 48 states.

It is "decided" which is correct. With 24 hours a day and 360 degrees of longitude, it should be simply 15 degrees per hour. The number of time zone that a country has is a political choice, perhaps based on geography somewhat. The size of each time zone is also variable depending on the choice the government makes. * Look at China for example, one time zone. * India is the same with one time zone. * Mountain Time Zo…

>then I'd argue Maine should be in -4.5 instead of -5. Maine knows it should be in Atlantic, it just doesn't want to be more isolated from the rest of the country than it already is https://www.pressherald.com/2017/04/27/maine-may-switch-to-a...

Re: Are the Americans Awake?

#77

Post by msla »

AlotOfReading wrote: post #36
gota wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

The stupid quirks are what make countries charming. AM/PM isn't unique to the US, but it's not like European countries don't have their own types of silliness. Americans are similarly baffled by the lack of air-conditioning in buildings that clearly need it given 40C summers and the fact that restaurants in many countries serve bottled water by default when the tap is perfectly fine.

Plus the fact restaurants are allergic to adding ice to drinks, probably because they ration them to the milliliter (or millilitre, even! nice job standardizing that, BTW) and there are no free refills.

Re: Are the Americans Awake?

#78

Post by RegnisGnaw »

shinjitsu wrote: post #76
RegnisGnaw wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is "decided" which is correct. With 24 hours a day and 360 degrees of longitude, it should be simply 15 degrees per hour. The number of time zone that a country has is a political choice, perhaps based on geography somewhat. The size of each time zone is also variable depending on the choice the government makes. * Look at China for example, one time zone. * India is the same with one time zone. * Mountain Time Zo…

>then I'd argue Maine should be in -4.5 instead of -5. Maine knows it should be in Atlantic, it just doesn't want to be more isolated from the rest of the country than it already is https://www.pressherald.com/2017/04/27/maine-may-switch-to-a...

I think it should be either a -4:30 or -4:45 time zones instead :)

Re: Are the Americans Awake?

#79

Post by ethbr0 »

throwaway09223 wrote: post #72
izzydata wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more perplexed that China decided it should only have 1 timezone. It also decided that timezone should be from the perspective of the eastern coast. When does the sun rise and fall for the western most people?

Why shouldn't we have one timezone? Why not have one worldwide timezone? The sun rises and sets at different times according to both latitude and longitude. Timezones only handle longitudinal daylight adjustments. We already deal with plenty of incongruity around daylight. Why not embrace the variability and let go of the idea that we can predict daylight based on the hour alone? Let people localize the time to disco…

> Why shouldn't we have one timezone? Why not have one worldwide timezone?

Your watch hands read '20230710T142847Z', don't they?

Re: Are the Americans Awake?

#80

Post by petesergeant »

throwaway09223 wrote: post #72
izzydata wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more perplexed that China decided it should only have 1 timezone. It also decided that timezone should be from the perspective of the eastern coast. When does the sun rise and fall for the western most people?

Why shouldn't we have one timezone? Why not have one worldwide timezone? The sun rises and sets at different times according to both latitude and longitude. Timezones only handle longitudinal daylight adjustments. We already deal with plenty of incongruity around daylight. Why not embrace the variability and let go of the idea that we can predict daylight based on the hour alone? Let people localize the time to disco…

> Why not have one worldwide timezone ... we already deal with plenty of incongruity around daylight ... why not embrace the variability and let go of the idea that we can predict daylight based on the hour alone?

Because it's a useful heuristic in knowing whether someone will be at work or not without having to localize every time.

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