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Please forgive me if this has already been discussed, but I couldn't find a similar topic despite searching.
I'm curious, how are you guys affected by daylight hours variation, DST and sunrise and sunset times?
Personally, I'm strongly affected by daylight changes especially when it comes to sunset. For some reasons (maybe because I often wake up late), the later the sunset time is, the happier I am.
I find any sunset time before 5PM to be disgusting, 5 to 6 really bad, 6 to 7 correct, 7 to 8 really nice and after 8PM truly excellent. I spent most of my life in southern France where summer days are always sunny and bright until around 9.30PM, and I always missed those evenings in other places I lived such as Hong Kong where even midsummer days get dark at 7.
Obviously, I am strongly in favor of DST and loathe the winter time change.
For all those reasons, I couldn't see myself living in a city with perpetually dark evenings (Tokyo is especially bad, 4.30PM sunset in December and 7PM in June). I'm moving to Singapore in January for several months so I'm curious how I will experience the constant 7.15PM sunsets. I guess this "year-round" DST, along with the strong equatorial light, lush vegetation and tropical warmth will seem especially excellent after this dreadful winter in northern France
So, what do you guys think of all this - daylight changes, DST, sunrise/sunet times? Am I the only one obsessed with it?
Also, do you know any places with extreme time zone eccentricities? The most extreme I could find are western China (with solar noon year-round at 15PM) and extreme northeast India (solar noon at 10.30AM, this is gross)
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you realize of course, that "time" as we know it is a totally man-made invention and has nothing, whatsoever, to do with solar events.
Prior to the railroad crossing the country, most people had never seen a clock or a watch. Our modern-day concepts of time were largely due to the fact that trains had to run on time.
Although, I too agree with you that the LONGER DAYS OF SUMMER are infinitely more agreeable than the short winter days (all things depending of course, on where you are in relation to the equator), it really has nothing whatsoever to do with clocks and such. We are just relating these events to our cultural obsession with time.
I was commenting on "I love when it starts to go down around 4:00/4:30."
About the sunset, I don't think it looks any less beautiful at 8pm than at 4pm.
Agreed. I just like that it's happening so early since I'm not a fan of long days. I guess in a sense, I prefer having to turn on the light because it's dark or cloudy out than dealing with bright, overwhelming, annoying sunshine. Not only that, but this time of year you can enjoy all the Christmas lights thanks to the darkness.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you realize of course, that "time" as we know it is a totally man-made invention and has nothing, whatsoever, to do with solar events.
Prior to the railroad crossing the country, most people had never seen a clock or a watch. Our modern-day concepts of time were largely due to the fact that trains had to run on time.
20yrsinBranson
I'm not sure what your point is, but time is external to us and exists in nature. Time does not need to measured to exist and does not change depending on what we do, unless you are refering to the effects of relativity but that is irrelevant to our everyday experience. Measuring time accurately is of course a relatively recent invention. The length of our day based on our clocks is very close to the average time for the sun to reach the highest point in the sky and then back again, so it is definitely based on solar events. We can define our system of time based on sun in any way we want as long we all do the same thing. For example, we could set our clocks so that the sun is highest in the sky at noon or 1 pm or any other time. The length of the day will still be the same, and our clocks are still based on the sun, though 24 hours is an average solar day, there are small shifts througout the year. It's more important to us to have the length of the day stay constant and have solar noon shift around a bit (by about 10-15 minutes).
I'm not sure what your point is, but time is external to us and exists in nature. Time does not need to measured to exist and does not change depending on what we do, unless you are refering to the effects of relativity but that is irrelevant to our everyday experience. Measuring time accurately is of course a relatively recent invention. The length of our day based on our clocks is very close to the average time for the sun to reach the highest point in the sky and then back again, so it is definitely based on solar events. We can define our system of time based on sun in any way we want as long we all do the same thing. For example, we could set our clocks so that the sun is highest in the sky at noon or 1 pm or any other time. The length of the day will still be the same, and our clocks are still based on the sun, though 24 hours is an average solar day, there are small shifts througout the year. It's more important to us to have the length of the day stay constant and have solar noon shift around a bit (by about 10-15 minutes).
Of course time as an entity exists. But what I am saying is that it is man-made. Believe me Ogg and Mogg back in the cave during prehistoric times had no concept of time. The sun went up, the sun came down. Certainly, they noticed that the days were shorter or longer and that the sunlight was stronger or weaker in cycles, but those are all natural occurrences. Time is not. It wasn't until HUNDREDS of years later that the sundial was invented - and I am not even sure why other than out of curiosity of some physicist who didn't have anything better to do. Dang him!
Of course time as an entity exists. But what I am saying is that it is man-made. Believe me Ogg and Mogg back in the cave during prehistoric times had no concept of time. The sun went up, the sun came down. Certainly, they noticed that the days were shorter or longer and that the sunlight was stronger or weaker in cycles, but those are all natural occurrences. Time is not. It wasn't until HUNDREDS of years later that the sundial was invented - and I am not even sure why other than out of curiosity of some physicist who didn't have anything better to do. Dang him!
Ok. I hope I'm not repeating myself, but you can have time without measuring it (or being able to). The measurement of time is man-made, but time itself exists without man-kind. You seem to be talking the measurement of time instead of time itself. Time is natural. Nature has processes that take a regular amount time. For example, the planets going around the sun, atoms decaying by radioactive decay, etc. These would occur with or without us. So time exists and is not man-made.
In a separate topic, I think ancient peoples had a concept of time without being able to measure it accurately. They could tell what time of year it was from the position of the sun and stars, planted their crops according to the positions of stars. I'm sure they could get a good idea of what part of the day it was looking at the position of the sun (they probably paid much more attention to it then we do since they had no clocks). Just because they didn't have a number didn't mean they couldn't measure time.
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