Ask Slashdot: Could We Deal With the End of Time Zones? 990
Posted
by
timothy
from the gedankenexperiment dept.
from the gedankenexperiment dept.
First time accepted submitter hairyfish writes "Do we still need time zones? Time zones are a relic of the past, when different parts of the world were isolated, and 12 p.m. was whenever the sun was directly above your specific location. Now, in the Internet age, time is just an arbitrary number, and time zones are just unnecessary complexity. Why can't we scrap time zones altogether, and all just use UTC across the board? So here on the eastern seaboard of Australia, lunchtime will now be at 2 a.m., In New York it will be 4 p.m., and in Moscow it will be 8 a.m. There'll be some pain with the initial changeover, but from then on it's all good. Got a meeting with colleagues on the other side of the world? 4 a.m. means 4 a.m. for everyone. Got a flight landing at 3 p.m.? 3 p.m. now means 3 p.m. for everyone. For DST, you simply change your schedule rather than the clock (i.e. work and school starts an hour earlier during DST months). No confusion ever again. For someone whose work involves travel or communication across time zones, this is the best idea I've ever heard. So why aren't we doing it?"
Re:"So why aren't we doing it?" (Score:5, Interesting)
Think about this: People this stupid have the right to vote.
The US is doomed.
Re:Evpxebyyrq. Shpx lbh NP. (Score:1, Interesting)
Eye roll, but consider this: The US DoJ raided Gibson (the guitar people) twice to confiscate ... wood. Wood that is properly documented and properly imported (ICE had no problem with the documentation). The most recent raid was over Indian Rosewood, certified by the Indian government that it was ok for sale and ok for export. The DoJ raid was, allegedly, due to violation of Indian labor laws that require wood be finished in India by Indian labor. So now the American DoJ is trying to enforce Indian laws (which probably violate WTO agreements), not because the Indian government (which certified the wood for export) requested it, but because the DoJ felt like it.