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I don't care about research but from empirical observation, I know one thing as a fact:
- you drive to work and from work in the dark, winter time
- traffic is CLEARLY heavier.
- as you are stuck in traffic, you consume more petrol and spend more money on it
- as you are stuck in stop'n'go traffic, your vehicle wears out faster, so you spend more on repairs
- all of the above is good for the big oil, of course and car makers. Add to this total American stupidity called winter gas, unknown anywhere else in the world.
Your entire screed is completely irrelevant. None of that changes, regardless of the sun's position in the sky.
"Winter gas"? Never heard of it. Diesel fuel gets anti-gel additives in it in Winter, because, you know, at really cold temps it will gel up and stop flowing.
Oh, yeah, quit futzing with the clocks. Pick a time setting and leave them there. There is nothing gained by futzing with them, and a lot lost...like disrupted sleep schedules, etc.
Farmers don't give a rip what the clock says. When the Sun is up, it's time to work. When the Sun is straight overhead, it's time for lunch. When the sun goes down, it's time to stop working and have supper.
I don't think you understand the concept of time zones very well. They aren't as arbitrary as you think. The sun gradually travels (yes, I KNOW it's the Earth that's turning, but let's take an Earth-centric point of view for a moment) from east to west.
When the sun rises on the East Coast, it's still hours before daybreak on the West Coast. With a single time zone over this huge area, sunrise might be at 6am in New York and 10am in California. Breaking the continent into time zones acknowledges that people, generally, expect to get up right around sunrise, end work around sunset (or before, in the summer), and consider "noon" to be when the sun is directly overhead. How could you make a single time zone meet everyone's needs?
No. I don't think you understand the concept any more than you do the time difference between New York and California, which happens to be three hours, not four under our current system.
Most people would still get up around sunrise, work until sunset and still go to bed after dark, what difference would it matter what you called that time? You may be used to seeing a 7:00 on the clock when you get out of bed but if it said 10:00 instead, why would that change anything? Why let the numbers on a clock tell you when to get up if you're linking it to the sun's position in the sky?
What great problem would there be for the clocks to remain the same? Why must your sunrise and sunset be linked to a specific time range? I eat my lunch when I'm hungry and need a break, not when the clock tells me to. Why can't lunch be scheduled at 10:00 AM as easily as 3 PM for those whose lives are regulated by timepieces?
No. I don't think you understand the concept any more than you do the time difference between New York and California, which happens to be three hours, not four under our current system.
Yes, that was a slip of mine. Four time zones, but three hours' difference.
It matters what you call the time because adjusting to an hour or two (or three) of time difference after traveling is easier than trying to remember a bunch of different times that things happen in various parts of the country.
If I get up at 7am in California, I expect to be able to go to the East Coast, adjust to the local time, and still get up at 7am. Your method has me getting up at 10am in CA, 9am in Denver, 8am in Chicago and 7am in New York, and somehow not being disorientated every time I look at my phone.
Either you don't travel at all, or you have a magical life where you can live eternally in tune with nature's rhythm ("I eat when I'm hungry, I go to bed when I'm tired, I'm not regulated by a clock..."). That's not reality for most of us.
Yes, that was a slip of mine. Four time zones, but three hours' difference.
It matters what you call the time because adjusting to an hour or two (or three) of time difference after traveling is easier than trying to remember a bunch of different times that things happen in various parts of the country.
If I get up at 7am in California, I expect to be able to go to the East Coast, adjust to the local time, and still get up at 7am. Your method has me getting up at 10am in CA, 9am in Denver, 8am in Chicago and 7am in New York, and somehow not being disorientated every time I look at my phone.
Either you don't travel at all, or you have a magical life where you can live eternally in tune with nature's rhythm ("I eat when I'm hungry, I go to bed when I'm tired, I'm not regulated by a clock..."). That's not reality for most of us.
You're allowing a clock to control your life - I'm not. Circadian rhythm is good enough for me.
Traveling would be easier because all times would be the same within the continent. If you got on a plane at ten o'clock for a three hour flight it would be one o'clock when you got off, regardless of where you went. Not only do I travel considerably, but traveled weekly for about a decade at one time. If I was doing that today I'd have no problem getting up with the sun and going to sleep 15-18 hours later with no concern for what time number happened to show up on my phone.
You would still be free to sleep when you wanted to sleep and arise when you wanted to get up, regardless of where you were and what the clock there happened to say. There was a story about a dairy farmer in Indiana when that state was converting to DST. He argued against the change saying he'd lose a lot of money because his cows would produce less milk when confused by the time change twice a year. He still could not be made to understand it would not be a problem if he simply hid the clock from the cows. You'd be fine too if you stopped checking your watch so often.
So, what do we need time zones for, at least within the US? Establishing time zones was an artificial, arbitrary mechanism anyway. Why don't we use the same clock setting across the entire continent? Life would be simpler for those who communicate with others in other areas of the country without needing to be concerned if their clocks were reading the same as yours. "I'll call you at ten o'clock" would be totally unambiguous. Event and entertainment schedules would be simplified but the biggest convenience would be for those who needed to travel frequently between the time zones as they exist today.
North American Standard time for me!
Better yet, one time zone for the entire world. Universal Time Coordinated (UTC - GMT) for everybody. That is probably what will eventually happen anyway, as more and more jobs and business will be done online.
I don't think you understand the concept of time zones very well. They aren't as arbitrary as you think. The sun gradually travels (yes, I KNOW it's the Earth that's turning, but let's take an Earth-centric point of view for a moment) from east to west.
When the sun rises on the East Coast, it's still hours before daybreak on the West Coast. With a single time zone over this huge area, sunrise might be at 6am in New York and 10am in California. Breaking the continent into time zones acknowledges that people, generally, expect to get up right around sunrise, end work around sunset (or before, in the summer), and consider "noon" to be when the sun is directly overhead. How could you make a single time zone meet everyone's needs?
Actually time is arbitrary. It's a concept that was invented by humans and is only recognized by humans. Animals don't change their schedules, just because humans change the time on their clocks. Time has no real relevance to the universe, except for humans.
China manages just fine with one single time for five geographical time zones. Not all Americans get up at sunrise and end work at sunset. Most people in California start work around 10AM anyway and finish up well after sunset most of the year. So a 10AM sunrise could be perfect for them. Then they wouldn't be going home in the dark.
Anyway, regardless of what time it is when the sun rises, people are still free to get up at whatever time they want, and employers are free to start and end the work day at whatever time they want. If people want more daylight after work, then they should take that up with their employers to get them into work earlier. But we should not be forcing everybody to change their clocks just to accommodate those who want more sunlight after work.
Last edited by Cloudy Dayz; 03-03-2018 at 12:36 AM..
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Breaking the continent into time zones acknowledges that people, generally, expect to get up right around sunrise, end work around sunset (or before, in the summer), and consider "noon" to be when the sun is directly overhead. How could you make a single time zone meet everyone's needs?
