4 ms·

Yes, big annoyance of mine is invites to events/streams/etc that start at 10:00 "mountain". What the fuck is that?

burlesona 6y ago
It’s the western time zone where Denver, Salt Lake City, Santa Fe, and El Paso are. The region is extremely mountainous and high elevation, and hence is often called the “mountain west,” as opposed to the Pacific Coast (which has a lower elevation and mostly smaller mountains by comparison).
- dkdbejwi383 6y ago
  It's the assumption that everyone on the planet should know or care about this. "Mountain" could describe anywhere. The Himalayas, the Alps, Norway.
  - burlesona 6y ago
    Not trying to change your mind, just to answer your question.
    - ameixaseca 6y ago
      I think he already knows the answer, since googling this exact expression gives a very clear response. It looks more like an exclamation of "this doesn't mean anything to me", which I understand and partially share as well.
- leadingthenet 6y ago
  Nobody should have to know this, frankly.
  - burlesona 6y ago
    I agree nobody should have to know this, but on the other hand what harm does it do to learn it? In the US in elementary school I studied world capitals, major cities, history, etc. and came away with a pretty decent primer on things overseas, which I really value. Later in life I’ve come to know a fair bit about European football, about daily life in Taiwan, about the systems of government in Australia and New Zealand. The list goes on. I’m not offended to learn about that stuff, I think it’s really interesting. I agree that knowing the names of time zones shouldn’t be required, but I’ve only ever seen them displayed with their UTC offset beside them. When I get calendar invites for “AEST” I just look for that offset. Just seems to me there are far worse things in the world to get worked up about /shrug.
    - framecowbird 6y ago
      I don't think it's about whether it does harm learning it: I think the problem is the relative barrier to entry that it creates for people who don't already know this information. Friction like this reduces social mobility and access to services for many. As for your last point: that would apply to anything. There is _always_ something worse to get worked up about.
    - leadingthenet 6y ago
      > but on the other hand what harm does it do to learn it? None. In fact, I personally thought this was an interesting little fact to learn. I didn't get worked up about it, all I said is that you shouldn't have to know it. However, because Americans aren't very culturally sensitive with respect to foreigners, there's lots of little things that we do have to learn to access the so-called global internet.
      - burlesona 6y ago
        That’s a very sweeping generalization of about 330 million people. No trace of irony?
jcranmer 6y ago
In US and Canada, the time zones are named after geographical regions. From east to west, they go Atlantic (UTC-4 in standard time; services Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Labrador), Eastern (US east cost, Canada's Windsor-Quebec main population center), Central (Chicago, St Louis, Texas), Mountain (Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado), Pacific (US/Canada west coast), Alaska, Hawaii. Most US residents are going to be familiar with these time zones because you are more likely going to have to deal with multiple time zones in this set than any other international time zones. Television shows that announce to the broader country usually announce their times as, say, 11 Eastern/10 Central, because they'll be broadcast in both Eastern and Central time zones. If I'm talking to someone in the US, I'm not going to bother prefixing the timezone with "US" because it's implied. But if I were talking to someone international, I'd be more likely to prefix "US", as in "this meeting is scheduled for 11:00 US Pacific time". This formulation has the added benefit of also describing whose daylight savings rule take effect in international settings.
- Izkata 6y ago
  > Mountain (Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado) ..and to explain this one geographically, refers to the Rocky Mountains. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountains https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountains

It’s the western time zone where Denver, Salt Lake City, Santa Fe, and El Paso are. The region is extremely mountainous and high elevation, and hence is often called the “mountain west,” as opposed to the Pacific Coast (which has a lower elevation and mostly smaller mountains by comparison).

dkdbejwi383 6y ago
It's the assumption that everyone on the planet should know or care about this. "Mountain" could describe anywhere. The Himalayas, the Alps, Norway.
- burlesona 6y ago
  Not trying to change your mind, just to answer your question.
  - ameixaseca 6y ago
    I think he already knows the answer, since googling this exact expression gives a very clear response. It looks more like an exclamation of "this doesn't mean anything to me", which I understand and partially share as well.
leadingthenet 6y ago
Nobody should have to know this, frankly.
- burlesona 6y ago
  I agree nobody should have to know this, but on the other hand what harm does it do to learn it? In the US in elementary school I studied world capitals, major cities, history, etc. and came away with a pretty decent primer on things overseas, which I really value. Later in life I’ve come to know a fair bit about European football, about daily life in Taiwan, about the systems of government in Australia and New Zealand. The list goes on. I’m not offended to learn about that stuff, I think it’s really interesting. I agree that knowing the names of time zones shouldn’t be required, but I’ve only ever seen them displayed with their UTC offset beside them. When I get calendar invites for “AEST” I just look for that offset. Just seems to me there are far worse things in the world to get worked up about /shrug.
  - framecowbird 6y ago
    I don't think it's about whether it does harm learning it: I think the problem is the relative barrier to entry that it creates for people who don't already know this information. Friction like this reduces social mobility and access to services for many. As for your last point: that would apply to anything. There is _always_ something worse to get worked up about.
  - leadingthenet 6y ago
    > but on the other hand what harm does it do to learn it? None. In fact, I personally thought this was an interesting little fact to learn. I didn't get worked up about it, all I said is that you shouldn't have to know it. However, because Americans aren't very culturally sensitive with respect to foreigners, there's lots of little things that we do have to learn to access the so-called global internet.
    - burlesona 6y ago
      That’s a very sweeping generalization of about 330 million people. No trace of irony?

jcranmer 6y ago

In US and Canada, the time zones are named after geographical regions. From east to west, they go Atlantic (UTC-4 in standard time; services Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Labrador), Eastern (US east cost, Canada's Windsor-Quebec main population center), Central (Chicago, St Louis, Texas), Mountain (Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado), Pacific (US/Canada west coast), Alaska, Hawaii. Most US residents are going to be familiar with these time zones because you are more likely going to have to deal with multiple time zones in this set than any other international time zones. Television shows that announce to the broader country usually announce their times as, say, 11 Eastern/10 Central, because they'll be broadcast in both Eastern and Central time zones. If I'm talking to someone in the US, I'm not going to bother prefixing the timezone with "US" because it's implied. But if I were talking to someone international, I'd be more likely to prefix "US", as in "this meeting is scheduled for 11:00 US Pacific time". This formulation has the added benefit of also describing whose daylight savings rule take effect in international settings.

Izkata 6y ago
> Mountain (Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado) ..and to explain this one geographically, refers to the Rocky Mountains. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountains https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountains