5 ms·

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

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 :)

derefr 10y ago
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. :)
- edblarney 10y ago
  I was a Field Engineer. People in submarines ... they live on 'rotation schedules' and the entire crew might be divided into 3 different 'sleep shifts'. And as for time - who knows. They can use UTC, surely they do for many things - that's why UTC exists - for those who need it. For 99.9% of the real world, we want local time. FYI - the '12 hour' thing is a little arbitrary. Napoleon, who instituted a vast array of reforms in Europe that are still in place today, including to a great extent the 'metric system' - tried to institute 'metric time' as well, i.e. 10 hour days. Didn't go so well, the people revolted/laughed away at that one. Some things are pretty 'backed in' to culture. Time is one of them. Granted I will admit one thing: I live in Montreal, and like the French, the use a 24 system. So coffee shop closes at 19:00. Which means '7 pm'. Which is hard to get used to!

derefr 10y ago

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. :)

edblarney 10y ago
I was a Field Engineer. People in submarines ... they live on 'rotation schedules' and the entire crew might be divided into 3 different 'sleep shifts'. And as for time - who knows. They can use UTC, surely they do for many things - that's why UTC exists - for those who need it. For 99.9% of the real world, we want local time. FYI - the '12 hour' thing is a little arbitrary. Napoleon, who instituted a vast array of reforms in Europe that are still in place today, including to a great extent the 'metric system' - tried to institute 'metric time' as well, i.e. 10 hour days. Didn't go so well, the people revolted/laughed away at that one. Some things are pretty 'backed in' to culture. Time is one of them. Granted I will admit one thing: I live in Montreal, and like the French, the use a 24 system. So coffee shop closes at 19:00. Which means '7 pm'. Which is hard to get used to!