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Alternatives to Daylight Saving Time?
Wellington Grey writes "Daylight saving time almost upon us. The arguments about its possible benefits and drawbacks come up twice every year. Does it save energy or lives? Possibly, but it does definitely cause a great deal of inconvenience. My question is this: what do you think would be the best possible system to replace DST with? What is the best way for humans to deal with the inconsistent amount of light over the year and still foster coordination over disparate time zones?"
We don't do DST in John McCain country.*
*Unless you're an Indian, in which case you might.
Nightdark Wasting Time ?
My ask slashdot question is this: what do you think would be the best possible system to replace DTS with?
A system just like the current DTS, but with a monetary fine for whiners.
Come on, how hard is it to set a damned clock? Just do it.
...move to Arizona. Problem solved.
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
What is the best way for humans to deal with the inconsistent amount of light over the year and still foster coordination over disparate time zones?
Turn on a lamp.
Attention all planets of the Solar Federation! We have assumed control! - Neil Peart
Except for all those 'daylight savings' days... lousy farmers!
The issue with DST is not that it's inconvenient, it's that it's insufficiently precise! We should be changing the time every day (at least!) to make sure our time is as accurate as possible to the length of the day. Every day, 12 noon should be when the Sun is directly overhead, no matter where you are.
Sure, this means changing time zones almost continuously while travelling, and at least daily while remaining stationary, but at least we won't have to deal with the confusion that comes from discovering that the Sun is directly overhead at 12:00:34 instead of 12 noon sharp! How can we call ourselves intelligent beings when our time system is so woefully inaccurate most of the time?
So, scrap daylight savings time and replace it with a system of several thousand time zones, each updated daily based on the predicted "high noon" for that particular day at that particular location. If the prediction ends up being off by a few microseconds on a particular day, just change the time to correct it right then and there! Sure, wristwatches will become orders of magnitude more complex, but it's the only way to have a truly sane and accurate system of time measurement. And after all, isn't that what we all really want here?
DST becomes unnecessary.
I propose we use artificial light, either incandescence, halogen, LCD, CFL or bonfires to solve the lack of light issues.
Nah, I think we should use Swatch Internet Time. Did you know that sales of Swatch Internet Time watches doubled between 1998 and 1999? If these trends continue, the lame 12-hour and 24-hour clocks will go the way of the dinosaur.
My ask slashdot question is this: what do you think would be the best possible system to replace DTS with?
The most commonly accepted alternatives to DTS are Dolby Digital and SDDS.
I replaced all my DTS with SSIS.
Here are a few real alternatives to daylight savings time:
-Daylight wasting time
-Nightlight saving time
-Dayheavy saving time
-Some permutation of the above terrible puns
what do you think would be the best possible system to replace DTS with?
I think DTS disappeared with the release of SQL Server 2005. I'm pretty sure it's all .NET code now...
These places close at around 2 on Saturdays, who is even AWAKE at that point?
That makes no sense. If you think winter is so depressing why cancel summer time?
we need to remedy that tilty-axis-syndrome that the earth has and straighten that crap up.
Alternately, a mission to Jupiter that will trigger the monolith's sun conversion program.
I see what you did there: Twice nothing is still nothing! Genius!
We should build a shell around the earth covered in solar cells on the outside and florescent bulbs on the inside. This way we could make it the same time for everyone all the time on earth, and we'd all be equal all the time and live in perfect harmony until the dim green flickering light, the neverending ballast hum, and the sweet smell of air-conditioner mold drives us all stark-raving mad.
Did you know that sales of Swatch Internet Time watches doubled between 1998 and 1999?
So they sold eight instead of four?
Disco Stu spins his disco disks to Internet Time, so should you, baby.
I am not a crackpot.
That depends on the lights. If I stand under my roomful of 1000 watt grow lights that I use to grow my...um tomatoes...that light is actually quite good for you.
You forgot esperanto.
That sounds like a great idea. Let's get together and start planning the transition, tomorrow at noon.
Are you adequate?
I'm sure the curators of the history museums (the only places that still have VCRs) are annoyed by this task.
Heh. I thought cloud computing was a stupid idea when it was still called Web 2.0.
Yes, that is the geek version of "I already listened to $BAND_NAME when they were still underground".
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
I was one of the smart ones. I started saving daylight when I was young, and now I almost have enough to have perpetual sunshine until croak.
...move to Arizona. Problem solved.
I did, but problem not solved - now I can't remember everybody else's time.
"Ten percent of nothin' is, let me do the math here... nothin' and a nothin', carry the nothin'..."
the original clock was when the sun actually rose and set on the horizon of the earth.
but we wanted to know exactly how far through that period we were.
so when clocks were invented - we very linearly divided the day up into 24 parts,
and then (based on ancient sumerian base 60) -- divided the 24 hours into 60 smaller parts.
we still linearly divide our day (despite the fact that every day changes sunrise / sunset times), and we still use ancient sumerian base 60 in our measurement of time (minutes) today -- omg, its amazing we don't still use Cubits & Fathoms to measure things...!
so, we can carry on with using base 60 for minutes, and medieval linear ideas of time, or we can take advantage of our understandings of science to create something more rational. so here are two proposals to take time measurement out of the medieval dark ages:
1) 0:00 HOURS = SUNRISE. everything has a chip in it nowadays - you can't find a watch that doesn't have a chip in it. and if you have a chip in it -- computation is easy. we no longer have to use the medieval linear way of dividing up the day -- finally, we are able to have clocks that dynamically adjust for sunrise and sunset -- like SOL. the length of a day continually gets longer & shorter -- so should our watches. since all our watches have a chip in them already -- the sunrise/sunset computation should not be an obstacle. we propose the elimination of the terms of 'noon' and 'midnight' -- and always start counting 0:00 hours at sunrise.
2) DECIMAL TIME. we no longer want to use 24 hours (why 24!?!?) and 60 minutes (base 60!!) -- instead, we use decimal time -- 10 hours in a day, 100 minutes per hour. the resulting 'minute' will be 1.44 of our existing old-style minutes.
so there you have it -- no half-way medieval measures -- sunrise = 0:00 hours, there are 10 hours in a day, and 100 minutes in an hour. businesses always start at 2pm (2 hours after sunrise) -- ALWAYS, and people go home when it gets dark ALWAYS -- the business day will grow and shrink with the seasons, and all will be much more sensible, and in acccord with the natural rhythms of nature, while being easier to measure, because its all measured in decimal.
2cents from toronto
j
The traditional slashdot whining about this subject is upon us... Daylight savings is just fine. In some countries, including my own, this is not even a subject for an elevator chat.
Math is beautiful... e^(pi*i)+1=0
No, really -- I hate daylight savings, with a passion. And by passion, I mean "fucking passion".
....
Twice a year, my sleep cycle is systematically deranged. It's a goddamn kick to the head, and I don't mean that in a good way -- it's like the entire country gets a massive injection of jet lag extract.
Maybe society wants to keep its members from operating at peak efficiency, so let's pull the rug from under everyone's circadian rhythms twice a year, keep 'em off balance
-kgj
Hammer time?
A little known fact: Working from 8 to 4 (or 8 to 5, or 9 to 6, etc, etc) does NOT cause spontaneous combustion in humans! In fact, studies have proven that going to work at the same time every day doesn't even depend on what arbitrary number is being pointed to on ANY device, be it a thermostat, clock, or even altimeter.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
How much later do you want it to set?
1 Hour. I thought that was obvious. :)
"Only a white man would think that cutting off the top foot of a blanket and sewing onto the bottom would result in a longer blanket."