Posted on 11/05/2017 4:44:06 AM PST by wintertime
Question:
What would happen if all time zones were abolished and the entire world set their clocks to Greenwich Mean Time?
I am pondering this because changing clock time, whether due to Daylight Savings Time or traveling to a new time zone, is an opportunity for mistakes and even deadly errors.
I think China has only one time zone.
Because the time zones are there to reasonably align with sunrise and sunset. It’s not perfect, but better than being in full darkness in your area at noon GMT.
What “deadly” errors have occurred so far?
There is the danger that could result from a reversal of Coriolis Force.
People who live in one place all the time might look askance at the idea of their local “noon” being redesignated, say, 2200Z for the convenience of travelers.
Bad enough that Arizona residents cannot figure out how to reset their clocks (and Oregon and New Jersey residents can't figure out how to pump their own gas), but time zones and Daylight savings time serve valid, meaningful purposes! Why would you want a single timezone? And as a practical manner, image store hours community by community around the world on a 24-hour clock. Impossibly confusing.
Dang. And I just spent 15 minutes correcting things back from DST.
LOL. Anyone seen Superman?
I know griping about DST, BST etc twice a year is fashionable but it’s not all that onerous. Culturally it would produce chaos in terms of traditional/expected times of things.
And, inevitably, the SJWs will moan about the British scientists who established the Greenwich meridian.
Yes, and we can go to a 24 hour clock, and maybe a ten day or twelve day week, to accommodate maximum numbers of factors or decimalization (whichever you prefer). And what’s the points of months? Heck, we could just have one number that integrates the time and date. It also will do away with that AD/BC stuff, and we can all be like Captain Kirk with Stardates.
And everyone will be miserable.
Then the government couldnt remind you that it has such complete control over your life, that is can oblige you to perform a meaningless task. Twice a year.
People in other former time zones would rebell.
Ad we could start using the stardate calendar like they used on the Enterprise
Time Zones cause Global Warming.
You can’t be series!
I prefer peanut butter jelly time. We should set all our clocks to peanut butter jelly time, with a baseball bat.
“And, inevitably, the SJWs will moan about the British scientists who established the Greenwich meridian.”
The SJW’s have a lot to complain about. Especially that the modern world is the creation of a few clever, white, European men.
The horror of it all.
If the Aussies and Kiwis can celebrate Christmas in the summertime, I don’t see what the problem with “dark noon” could be. That’s what the northern Scandinavians deal with for several months of the year.
I guess the point is that everyone would eventually adjust. “Time” is a man made concept. Whether you work for 7-330 or noon to 8:30 really doesn’t matter. It’s still eight hours.
Trains would run on time (which was the original reason the Standard Time Zones were established in the first place).
The various astronomers and even watchmakers were very keen on their ability of determine the exact moment of noon, the point of zenith of the sun, by “shooting the sun”. Trouble is, the astronomical definition of “noon” could vary only a few miles east or west of the point of observation. So it is obvious that trains that set fort at one time, would be far wrong on time only a few miles down the track, and the further the train traveled, the greater the error. Greenwich Mean Time IS included in the routing of aircraft across the world.
Also in a lot of electronic transmissions.
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