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Time to Dump Time Zones

nytimes.com

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Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#91

Post by edblarney »

derefr wrote: post #65
edblarney wrote: post #19

The article is upside down. "Perhaps you’re asking why the Greenwich meridian gets to define earth time. " It doesn't. Everybody gets to have their own, proper time. In comparing times, we +/- based on an arbitrary spot, and that's it. Time zones are a great solution to a problem. People want their time in local terms. Everyone waking up and going to bed at different times is an utterly ridiculous concept. FYI - if y…

> Everyone waking up and going to bed at different times is an utterly ridiculous concept. For most of us who don't travel or communicate internationally much, sure. But for government ambassadors, military officers, and business executives? A single agreed-upon "Earth time" (even just between such people) would really help to keep track of how many hours they have until their next international flight or conference…

Ambassadors, frequent travellers and military officers would still rather use local time.

And they make up 0.1% of the population. UTC would severely screw up the other 99.9%.

The military will use UTC when necessary, as will computer nerds like us.

FYI - a very long time ago, I was a 'military officer'. We used local time unless it was necessary. UTC is a very counterintuitive concept. You day changes midday. Your times are always messed up.

It's more than just 'noon' and 'sunset' that's baked into your psyche: your psychology is used to what 2pm means, and what 4:30 pm means, and what 9 pm means etc..

Time Zones are not perfect, but they are a decent compromise between global/local time.

They are not that inconvenient at all. All you have to know is which zone you're in.

Jet-lag won't be helped by UTC :)

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#92

Post by edblarney »

andruby wrote: post #71
derefr wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone waking up and going to bed at different times is an utterly ridiculous concept. For most of us who don't travel or communicate internationally much, sure. But for government ambassadors, military officers, and business executives? A single agreed-upon "Earth time" (even just between such people) would really help to keep track of how many hours they have until their next international flight or conference…

How would that "Earth Time" be different from the already existing UTC? When scheduling meetings with remote colleagues we always communicate the meeting time in UTC.

UTC is 'Earth Time'.

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#93

Post by Ph0X »

raldi wrote: post #68
pixie_ wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need permanent daylight savings time. Yesterday sunset was around 6pm in LA. Today it will be at 5pm. At least I had a little bit of daylight after work, now it's just depressing.

Without Standard Time, it would have been dark out until 7:40am today here in SF. That's really tough on people (or children) who have to be at work/school by 9 or even 8. By mid-December, sunrise wouldn't be until almost 8:30. In Seattle, it would be dark outside until 9am. Losing an hour of sleep in the spring is rough, but I'd rather do that (and get an extra hour in the fall) than have to get ready in the dark al…

I don't care which side we keep the clock at, but going back and forth is just plain stupid and causes more issues that it solves.

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#94

Post by derefr »

edblarney wrote: post #91
derefr wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone waking up and going to bed at different times is an utterly ridiculous concept. For most of us who don't travel or communicate internationally much, sure. But for government ambassadors, military officers, and business executives? A single agreed-upon "Earth time" (even just between such people) would really help to keep track of how many hours they have until their next international flight or conference…

Ambassadors, frequent travellers and military officers would still rather use local time. And they make up 0.1% of the population. UTC would severely screw up the other 99.9%. The military will use UTC when necessary, as will computer nerds like us. FYI - a very long time ago, I was a 'military officer'. We used local time unless it was necessary. UTC is a very counterintuitive concept. You day changes midday. Your t…

What kind of military officer? I was mostly picturing the kind that did long-haul submarine excursions and had no sense of local time anyway. :)

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#97

Post by barrkel »

cyberferret wrote: post #81
minznerjosh wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This hits the nail on the head. Abandoning time zones would only make sense if there were no more need for time translation. But you'd still need to translate for the sake of biological clocks, and without time zones it would become more challenging to communicate that translation. I would be in favor of doing away with DST and also eschewing AM/PM in favor of a 24-hour clock. I'm surprised this article didn't mentio…

But the current concept of time is also based on the outdated industrial age concept of a 'working day' being 9-5. I doubt many of the people on HN for instance, work those set hours in this day and age. Nowadays it is purely a convenience factor to keep the worker drones in the same hive so they can gather for the next interminable meeting. With the rise of remote working, and other forms of communication tools, no…

I work from 9:30 or so to 6. The reason is that it overlaps with co-workers' working time.

When I worked remotely in the UK for a company based in California (normal time difference 8 hours), I'd work into the evening for exactly the same reason. It's far more efficient; it makes IM possible, and changes email threads from multi-hour conversations to multi-day conversations.

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#98

Post by bbcbasic »

goodcanadian wrote: post #69
bbcbasic wrote: post #25

Sounds good to me. If the farmers want daylight savings then simply go to work at a different time, UTC.

Farmers don't give a good goddamn about daylight savings; I wish this myth would die. Source: I grew up on a farm in a farming area.

Ok I looked on Wikipedia and I stand corrected. In-fact farmers opposed DST.

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#99

Post by boulos »

raldi wrote: post #68
pixie_ wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need permanent daylight savings time. Yesterday sunset was around 6pm in LA. Today it will be at 5pm. At least I had a little bit of daylight after work, now it's just depressing.

Without Standard Time, it would have been dark out until 7:40am today here in SF. That's really tough on people (or children) who have to be at work/school by 9 or even 8. By mid-December, sunrise wouldn't be until almost 8:30. In Seattle, it would be dark outside until 9am. Losing an hour of sleep in the spring is rough, but I'd rather do that (and get an extra hour in the fall) than have to get ready in the dark al…

But being at work/school by 8am is part of the disease. Do you think a 7:40 am sunrise is really too late for a 9am arrival? As long as it's not super dark by the time you're in transit, it seems fine to me (and yes, I realize that sunrise in December would creep up to 8:20).

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#100

Post by seanwilson »

pfarnsworth wrote: post #29

Getting rid of Daylight Savings makes complete sense, and it's something we should really pursue. Getting rid of Time Zones is ridiculous. People know that 6am roughly is morning, and 6pm is roughly the evening. When you're dealing with someone internationally, you know not to call them at midnight their time because there's a high probability they may be sleeping. Having time roughly follow a standard around the wor…

> When you're dealing with someone internationally, you know not to call them at midnight their time because there's a high probability they may be sleeping.

If we all used the same time though, instead of looking up what their time is now, you'd change to looking up what their time is when they'll be sleeping. Doesn't seem a huge difference but not saying either is better for that.

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