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A good 1st step, then abolish US time zones. Works for China & India! (While all the normies are groggy, it should then be easy to slip a change to nationwide

by gojomo 6y ago

A good 1st step, then abolish US time zones. Works for China & India! (While all the normies are groggy, it should then be easy to slip a change to nationwide UTC in as the coup de grace.)

globular-toast 6y ago
Surely you mean TAI? To hell with leap seconds.
chundicus 6y ago
I didn't know they didn't have time zones. Are people there just used to the fact 8am will look very different depending on which region your in?
- jedberg 6y ago
  Most of the population outside of the natural time zone are small rural villages so they just ignore the official time. There is a major city far in the west, and they use two time zones simultaneously. It's a contentious issue, because which time zone you use is basically race-based. Han Chinese use Bejing time, and Uighurs use the local zone.
  - chundicus 6y ago
    Wow, that's pretty interesting.
kibwen 6y ago
That only works in China because 1) authoritarianism, and 2) because China's population is heavily concentrated in the west, where the time zone is natural. The US population is much more evenly split between the east and west, so you'd end up with a much more discontented population on average. You could maybe get away with two US timezones, at best. Four (in the lower 48) is already kind of stretching it; swathes of New England are discussing breaking off into a fifth.
- jwieczorek 6y ago
  > 2) because China's population is heavily concentrated in the west I know it's likely just a typo, but anyway: it is heavily concentrated in the east.
  - kibwen 6y ago
    Indeed, I'm awful at that. :)
- gojomo 6y ago
  Why would people be discontented? It's just numbers. West coast office work would happen 11a-7p USA Time, while the Midwest/Texas does 9-5 and the East Coast does 8a-4p. Here in California, bars would be open until 4a. Prime restaurant reservations would be at 9:30p. We'd get that Spanish mystique of "stays up late" - even though it's all still happening at same local solar time. (This is a far, far smaller adjustment to lifestyles & habits than COVID has forced! We can do it!)

by gojomo 6y ago

A good 1st step, then abolish US time zones. Works for China & India! (While all the normies are groggy, it should then be easy to slip a change to nationwide UTC in as the coup de grace.)

globular-toast 6y ago

Surely you mean TAI? To hell with leap seconds.

chundicus 6y ago

I didn't know they didn't have time zones. Are people there just used to the fact 8am will look very different depending on which region your in?

jedberg 6y ago
Most of the population outside of the natural time zone are small rural villages so they just ignore the official time. There is a major city far in the west, and they use two time zones simultaneously. It's a contentious issue, because which time zone you use is basically race-based. Han Chinese use Bejing time, and Uighurs use the local zone.
- chundicus 6y ago
  Wow, that's pretty interesting.

kibwen 6y ago

That only works in China because 1) authoritarianism, and 2) because China's population is heavily concentrated in the west, where the time zone is natural. The US population is much more evenly split between the east and west, so you'd end up with a much more discontented population on average. You could maybe get away with two US timezones, at best. Four (in the lower 48) is already kind of stretching it; swathes of New England are discussing breaking off into a fifth.

jwieczorek 6y ago
> 2) because China's population is heavily concentrated in the west I know it's likely just a typo, but anyway: it is heavily concentrated in the east.
- kibwen 6y ago
  Indeed, I'm awful at that. :)
gojomo 6y ago
Why would people be discontented? It's just numbers. West coast office work would happen 11a-7p USA Time, while the Midwest/Texas does 9-5 and the East Coast does 8a-4p. Here in California, bars would be open until 4a. Prime restaurant reservations would be at 9:30p. We'd get that Spanish mystique of "stays up late" - even though it's all still happening at same local solar time. (This is a far, far smaller adjustment to lifestyles & habits than COVID has forced! We can do it!)