4 ms·

A time scheme in which sunrise is always at same time (skewing the clock by a few seconds or minutes every day at three a.m.) is likely a boon to human health.

A time scheme in which sunrise is always at same time (skewing the clock by a few seconds or minutes every day at three a.m.) is likely a boon to human health. Smart watches and Alexa/Siri take care of time zone calculations. The fact that two dimensional time zones skew a bit more at the poles is a silly reason to dismiss the idea. The poles are weird for a bunch of other reasons and no time works there.

gberger 6y ago
Analog watches would all be rendered useless.
gizmo686 6y ago
> coordinating geographically dispersed events would become nearly impossible > I shouldn't need to adjust my wristwatch every few miles > many clocks do not have line-of-sight to GPS satellites > you can't put a GPS chip in a mechanical clock > clocks on planes would literally run backwards There is a reason most timezone offset by hours. It is very convinient for everyone to agree on the time when ignoring the most significant digits. Otherwise, you end up having meetings start at 17 past the hour, and be much harder to mentally calculate the offset. You would also need to know the location of the other party much more presicily. At the moment, I know how to offset my schedule when planning a meeting with a customer in Texas.
- TylerE 6y ago
  In fact, historically time WAS just set in each location, at local noon. This was done away with by the railroads because it made scheduling a complete nightmare. The first use of "Standard Time" was by the Great Western Railway in the UK. Even in a relatively small country like the UK - only about 100 miles wide in most places - that was still enough to shift "local" noon by about 15 minutes.
- dwighttk 6y ago
  Depending on which part of Texas. El Paso is in Mountain time.
brandmeyer 6y ago
Some churches in Florence maintain their clocks this way. Its more about tradition than practicality, though.
Spooky23 6y ago
Sunrise is a local phenomenon, and time zones are there to make things easier in a world where travel is possible. Tomorrow morning, sunrise in Boston is 5:29; NYC 5:46; Dayton OH 6:29; Miami, FL 6:43, all EDT.
qtplatypus 6y ago
What happens in places that have no sunrise. For example northern Canada during the winter?

gberger 6y ago

Analog watches would all be rendered useless.

gizmo686 6y ago

> coordinating geographically dispersed events would become nearly impossible > I shouldn't need to adjust my wristwatch every few miles > many clocks do not have line-of-sight to GPS satellites > you can't put a GPS chip in a mechanical clock > clocks on planes would literally run backwards There is a reason most timezone offset by hours. It is very convinient for everyone to agree on the time when ignoring the most significant digits. Otherwise, you end up having meetings start at 17 past the hour, and be much harder to mentally calculate the offset. You would also need to know the location of the other party much more presicily. At the moment, I know how to offset my schedule when planning a meeting with a customer in Texas.

TylerE 6y ago
In fact, historically time WAS just set in each location, at local noon. This was done away with by the railroads because it made scheduling a complete nightmare. The first use of "Standard Time" was by the Great Western Railway in the UK. Even in a relatively small country like the UK - only about 100 miles wide in most places - that was still enough to shift "local" noon by about 15 minutes.
dwighttk 6y ago
Depending on which part of Texas. El Paso is in Mountain time.

brandmeyer 6y ago

Some churches in Florence maintain their clocks this way. Its more about tradition than practicality, though.

Spooky23 6y ago

Sunrise is a local phenomenon, and time zones are there to make things easier in a world where travel is possible. Tomorrow morning, sunrise in Boston is 5:29; NYC 5:46; Dayton OH 6:29; Miami, FL 6:43, all EDT.

qtplatypus 6y ago

What happens in places that have no sunrise. For example northern Canada during the winter?