It's not like POSIX time and time manipulation libraries exist, huh?Oh god yes. Time zones and leap years
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Time to Dump Time Zones (NYT Op-ed)
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But the way it is today, you can search "what time is it in X", and see immediately if it's reasonable to assume it to be currently open or not. Having to look up the exact place makes for a much more complicated situation.
Laevateinn
Member
Let's get together and beat Dark Falz
Exactly. I say again that it's representing time that's a programmer's challenge. I would agree to a universal standard of representing time, but "earth time" as nothing to do with that.
Smiles and Cries
Member
no more Japan Time would help my Insomnia :3
Hari Seldon
Member
How much weed was the writer smoking when he thought of this.
Alex_Mexico
Member
Says the guy from the only major country in the world that continues to Fail to adopt something the rest of the world uses: the metric system.
If there's one stubborn decision that only you (and two other small countries) continue to refuse to make that creates constant confusion, wastes time and money is the US' refusal to adopt a worldwide and superior measurement system. I'll happily give up time zones if that means I don't have to ever see again a blueprint with hilarious measurements like 5' 14/64".
If there's one stubborn decision that only you (and two other small countries) continue to refuse to make that creates constant confusion, wastes time and money is the US' refusal to adopt a worldwide and superior measurement system. I'll happily give up time zones if that means I don't have to ever see again a blueprint with hilarious measurements like 5' 14/64".
Cosmo Clock 21
Banned
We'll switch to Swatch internet time when PSO2 gets released in the west
It can still go wrong. People will put EST, when their current time is EDT, same for GMT etc
mashoutposse
Ante Up
We will immediately regress back into a timezone-based way of keeping time.
The question will be, "At what time UTC does the sun rise/set in X location?" You need this to gauge the time of day of that X region relative to your own. That more or less constant difference is a timezone offset, which is exactly what the current system provides. The only practical change of the new proposed system is the removal of the semantic meaning of specific times ("noon", "midnight", etc) - arguably a major downgrade.
This is not well thought out. This is what happens when software engineers are left to design products.
The question will be, "At what time UTC does the sun rise/set in X location?" You need this to gauge the time of day of that X region relative to your own. That more or less constant difference is a timezone offset, which is exactly what the current system provides. The only practical change of the new proposed system is the removal of the semantic meaning of specific times ("noon", "midnight", etc) - arguably a major downgrade.
This is not well thought out. This is what happens when software engineers are left to design products.
Yes it will. we're dragged onto berlin time for half the year as it stands
This is actually exactly the conclusion we got to when discussing this issue at work last week.
(On the other hand, killing off DST is long overdue)
This.
I like knowing that 8am anywhere in the world(except perhaps the Arctic) is morning.
There are advantages to removing time zones but not enough to actually remove them.
Aztechnology
Member
It's not. One time zone would be nice (A number is relative yet causes more menial work for developing systems and such) and we should also do away with daylight savings time.
It won't happen though. but I hope DST does go away at some point.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Gonna get overlooked, but this post is A+!
People actually do that for leap seconds:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Earth_Rotation_and_Reference_Systems_Service
No really. It does very little to solve programming issues.
Now THIS I can get behind
Stilton Disco
Member
Knee jerk reaction:
What a stupid idea!
Actually having thought about it, and the implications on a global scale for adopting one shared time keeping measurement:
What a brilliant idea!
What a stupid idea!
Actually having thought about it, and the implications on a global scale for adopting one shared time keeping measurement:
What a brilliant idea!
this is the big problem. As a developer and a person with common sense... time zones fucking suck, BUT... it at least seems a little bit more sane to make me figure out what time it is in Japan to know if someone is awake to answer the phone, than it does for me to figure out what the position of the sun is in japan (or not) to get an idea if it is in the middle of their day or at their evening or such.
Hari Seldon
Member
DST doesn't make any sense until you have to deal with small kids at a bus stop and then it makes sense.
Littlefang
Member
Are time zones really that much of an inconvenience for people? I travel through time zones a ton and I have never had an issue cause my phone automatically switches over.
And would create so, so, many more.
https://qntm.org/abolish
EDIT: DST can die, though. Useless freaking thing.
Coriolanus
Banned
Just get rid of daylight saving times.
Jacksinthe
Banned
Been wanting this, daylight savings gone and the metric system in the US for a long time.
killer rin
Member
Lets do it. There really isn't a purpose for having a million different time zones other than to make the numbers look nice and pretty and aligned with 12-12. It wouldn't even be all that much painful a switch either, after the second day you would more or less have your own region's cycle down, and after a week you would have the timeslots that you work within known.
Plus as a bright side, it would mean that we also got rid of Daylight Savings Time!
Plus as a bright side, it would mean that we also got rid of Daylight Savings Time!
PinkCrayon
Member
Swatch time baby!
Skype me at 680. Everyone will be on time no matter where they are in world. Enough of this math bs to figure out what time zone they're in.
Skype me at 680. Everyone will be on time no matter where they are in world. Enough of this math bs to figure out what time zone they're in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFhQ49qsfIQ
Time zones are overrated, people will get used to a universal time zone if they give it a chance.
Time zones are overrated, people will get used to a universal time zone if they give it a chance.
If by some magic we could have everyone follow this "earth time", as in, get up at the same time all around the world, then that would be nifty. However, we won't. We don't. It would make all of that even more complicated. It's a horrible idea. If you wonder what arguments there are against this, just look at my previous posts.
Until you have to travel. Or you wonder if it's night or day in a different part of the world, and you realize that UTC gives you no information about that. And when you have to translate all times when you're traveling.
It's stupid.
People would adjust to the hours issue (though this would seemingly render calendar days unworkable, since most of the world's population would transition from one day to the next in the middle of a business day) for their local needs. But it would render communication with people in different parts of the world more difficult, which is the problem this thing notionally wants to solve.
OK, you clever people. How would days work in this theoretical mass-UTC system? Is today Tuesday or Wednesday? Or is it Tuesday/Wednesday? What about for the eastern hemisphere? If we agreed it's Tuesday is it still Tuesday even though they are sleeping right now, maybe even about to wake up for the day after Tuesday? Or does their Tuesday now just bleed into a new day? Because that's not confusing at all.
Hmmmmm?
Hmmmmm?
Jest Chillin
Member
Imagine the change to tv and films!?
Instead of being woken up by a phone call in the middle of the night and saying
"Do you know what time it is!?"
We get
"Do you know what the sun's position is relative to my current location!?"
It's like a bad BBT joke.
Instead of being woken up by a phone call in the middle of the night and saying
"Do you know what time it is!?"
We get
"Do you know what the sun's position is relative to my current location!?"
It's like a bad BBT joke.
Think this is a dumb idea. It is nice having a relative idea of the day based around the sun the sun in the sky. I like knowing that noon is the midday point no matter where I am and that when it gets dark it is probably around 7-8.
I do work with people ask over the world, but never really have a problem dealing with the time. Make sure I let them know if I'm talking my time or try to use Zulu time so they can do the math easier.
I do work with people ask over the world, but never really have a problem dealing with the time. Make sure I let them know if I'm talking my time or try to use Zulu time so they can do the math easier.
It is pretty much used like a universal time anyways. Would make sense for news stories to use this, as long as they also told you what the difference of time in the location of story, such as "at 1517 ZULU (local -7) such and such happened". Gives you an idea of what time it was for you and a relative idea of the time of day where the event happened, 8 in the morning, probably around the time the locals were going to work/school.
Whaaaat it's the designers that come up with all the crazy shit that programmers have to shoot down
Angelus Errare
Banned
I shall not get my hopes up.
Hate it. Why the fuck is it getting dark out at 5pm all of a sudden. Brilliant. /s
Melon Husk
Member
Wat. No, dump DST. Makes as much sense as voting on weekdays.
People are usually in favour of staying in summer time, and not going back to winter time.
People are usually in favour of staying in summer time, and not going back to winter time.
Fantastapotamus
Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
I'm all for it as long as my timezone stays the same.
MrCunningham
Member
Time Zones are a logical system to measure time on a spherical surface. Why change what works? Going with one-world time seems like a stupid idea to me.
Also, sorry I keep ranting about this because this is a freaking stupid idea, BUT this doesn't even eliminate the problem with business dealings or add any form of convenience to scheduling. Let's imagine...
"Hey, let's chat about this at 3:00 pm UTC tomorrow".
Great, well...hmm. Tomorrow he means like UTC tomorrow, right? OK, just making sure, because today is the next "day" for me but the previous "day" for me. We had to abolish the days of the week, because that no longer makes any sense because "days" are based on the apparent rise and fall of the sun more than time itself. Considering the eastern hemisphere "wakes up for the next day" while the previous UTC day is still happening, it had to go.
Ok, I'll just assume the person means 3:00 PM UTC like whatever day tomorrow is, regardless of the sun's position in the sky right now. So if today's UTC date is 11/8 he means 11/9. OK. That's clear. I think.
Oh, damn, I just realized he didn't account for MY time zone...er...my time...er...uh...I mean my solar position. Yeah. Because 3:00 PM UTC here is actually "midnight' here. And by "midnight" I mean like 12 "hours" "past" "noon". Whereas noon I mean not 12:00, of course, I mean when the sun is in the highest position in the sky. Anyway, yeah, 3:00 pm is inconvenient for me because I will be asleep. Let me just explain that to him real quick.
"Hi, yes, I can't do 3:00 pm UTC tomorrow. I will be asleep."
"Oh, is that so?"
"Yes, it's midnight here."
"Midnight?"
"Well, I mean like night. It's night time and I will be ending my day."
"Your Day?"
"Oh, right, right, we don't really have days anymore. I mean ending my solar day. The end of the solar cycle for my time zone...er I mean my solar region."
"OK, when are you available?"
"Why don't we do 9:00 am UTC?"
"Hmm...OK I think that works for me. It's a shame there isn't an easier way to schedule things using our human constructed time system."
"Indeed."
"Hey, let's chat about this at 3:00 pm UTC tomorrow".
Great, well...hmm. Tomorrow he means like UTC tomorrow, right? OK, just making sure, because today is the next "day" for me but the previous "day" for me. We had to abolish the days of the week, because that no longer makes any sense because "days" are based on the apparent rise and fall of the sun more than time itself. Considering the eastern hemisphere "wakes up for the next day" while the previous UTC day is still happening, it had to go.
Ok, I'll just assume the person means 3:00 PM UTC like whatever day tomorrow is, regardless of the sun's position in the sky right now. So if today's UTC date is 11/8 he means 11/9. OK. That's clear. I think.
Oh, damn, I just realized he didn't account for MY time zone...er...my time...er...uh...I mean my solar position. Yeah. Because 3:00 PM UTC here is actually "midnight' here. And by "midnight" I mean like 12 "hours" "past" "noon". Whereas noon I mean not 12:00, of course, I mean when the sun is in the highest position in the sky. Anyway, yeah, 3:00 pm is inconvenient for me because I will be asleep. Let me just explain that to him real quick.
"Hi, yes, I can't do 3:00 pm UTC tomorrow. I will be asleep."
"Oh, is that so?"
"Yes, it's midnight here."
"Midnight?"
"Well, I mean like night. It's night time and I will be ending my day."
"Your Day?"
"Oh, right, right, we don't really have days anymore. I mean ending my solar day. The end of the solar cycle for my time zone...er I mean my solar region."
"OK, when are you available?"
"Why don't we do 9:00 am UTC?"
"Hmm...OK I think that works for me. It's a shame there isn't an easier way to schedule things using our human constructed time system."
"Indeed."
Looks like some developers cannot get this working in their software.
See, even Microsoft cannot handle DST properly.
rokkerkory
Member
Just get rid of DST first
FreedomFighter
Member
Op-Ed author should just move to Arizona.
I love, love, love it when we turn back the clock in the fall! But springing forward does take me a few weeks to adjust.
I'm ok with it the way it is.
EDIT: For people who have trouble keeping up with what time it is in other parts of the world, feel free to consult time and date as often as you need.
I love, love, love it when we turn back the clock in the fall! But springing forward does take me a few weeks to adjust.
I'm ok with it the way it is.
EDIT: For people who have trouble keeping up with what time it is in other parts of the world, feel free to consult time and date as often as you need.
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