Live data from Hacker News

Proposal on implementing permanent time zones in the European Union

timeuse.barcelona

131–140 of 264 posts

Re: Proposal on implementing permanent time zones in the European Union

#131
post #109
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really care any longer having a pretty flexible schedule and no commute. But living in relatively northern New England, the timezone tweaks for summer and winter really were pretty welcome. I suspect that most of those ranting about timezone changes wouldn't actually want sunrise at 4am or sunset at 3pm.

I feel the opposite way. I too have a flexible schedule and no commute, and I'd prefer not having to change time zones twice a year. It's annoying and doesn't serve any useful benefit to me. I don't care when the sunrise or sunset is in wall-clock time, I can get up later/earlier and go to bed later/earlier if I want. Yes, there are things that need to be done during normal business hours, but I have a full 8 of thos…

> The main issue I see..

you've 180° misunderstood DST, the sole purpose of which is to give you an extra hour in bed in the winter

Re: Proposal on implementing permanent time zones in the European Union

#134
post #11

This sucks, not only will Greece not stay on summer time, we'll actually go to one hour back from winter time ? So not only will we not get one more hour of daylight in the evening (ie stay on summer time), we'll actually get one hour less than we have now? That's terrible.

It's a proposal not a law

Re: Proposal on implementing permanent time zones in the European Union

#135

Serious question, why not adopt one timezone globally? For some of us sunrise would happen at 10pm, for others on 4pm. So what? Wouldn't we just get used to it? Is there any rationale for anchoring start of the day between 4am-8am?

No I imagine not as mid day and midnight have meaning and that changes them from roughly 12 and 12

Re: Proposal on implementing permanent time zones in the European Union

#136

We (Europe) shouldn't fragment time zones that much. We (NL) should stay on permanent summer time. Reasons - criminality is lower when there's longer light - earlier darkness leads to more accidents. It's better to have longer darkness after the masses are RESTED (in the morning), opposed to when they're TIRED (in the evening) - longer day-time for office workers, is more productive - shorter time of year that has lo…

> criminality is lower when there's longer light

I just don't understand how anyone can think changing the clock creates more light. If that were true wouldn't everyone change their clocks, and by more than an hour?

All your arguments are just about people starting and finishing work earlier. It's so annoying that it has to be "change the clocks" instead of just "why don't we just start at 8 and finish at 4?"

Re: Proposal on implementing permanent time zones in the European Union

#137

Serious question, why not adopt one timezone globally? For some of us sunrise would happen at 10pm, for others on 4pm. So what? Wouldn't we just get used to it? Is there any rationale for anchoring start of the day between 4am-8am?

Then you just need to implement a global system of determining how people's activities are aligned locally. What you end up with is timezones by another name.

Timezones are a lot less of a problem now that we are using calendar apps to book events. Better integration of tools to negotiate availability would make that even easier.

The problem that people largely govern their activities by the rotation of the earth and we are in different places on that globe doesn't go away.

Re: Proposal on implementing permanent time zones in the European Union

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a map of the earliest sunset time: https://weather.com/science/weather-explainers/news/2018-12-... . There are parts of the US which have sunsets before 4:30, including some major population centers, but I don't know if I'd call them "large parts".

that map shows most major cities in North America have the sun set before 5PM (traditional work end time). New York, DC, Los Angeles, San Fransisco, Chicago. New York, Boston, and Chicago all set before 4:30, a minimum of 10% of the population just there.

Right. Most people have sunset before 5 (there's not that much blue on the map), but not before 4:30.

Re: Proposal on implementing permanent time zones in the European Union

#139
post #26
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And make converting time between different time zones/countries even more confusing.

India manages to deal with a fractional offset from UTC, as well as several other countries. It’s really not that big a deal.

and that 30 minute offset makes quick mental timezone math doubly hard and error prone. What is the benefit of merging timezones?

Re: Proposal on implementing permanent time zones in the European Union

#140
post #4

(1) abolishing daylight savings time is great and should have been done years ago. (2) the proposed time zones are really impractical, not necessarily in principle, but in their specific implementation. Germany-Netherlands in different time zones is strange, Dublin and Belfast in different time zones is stupid, Athens and Crete in different time zones is absurd.

But Spain being on CET is absurd too. They basically run on GMT anyway, it just shows a later time on the clock (that's partly why Spanish people eat dinner really late).
Post reply on HN