What benefit does UTC provide the average citizen, who doesn't deal with foreign time zones on a regular basis? There is none. Multinational corporations that benefit from UTC use it already. One could argue that the new system is similarly universal, as the day is structured in the same manner no matter where you are on the planet.
And, I have read what these guys have written, both on their website and in this article. Their "holier than thou" attitude towards similar calendars and the current system is a major turn off. Furthermore, when I emailed them my concerns (because their emails are publicly posted under that article), Professor Henry told me to "go climb a tree." For someone who is trying to win public favor towards his brilliant new idea, he is certainly going about it the wrong way.
"Go climb a tree. The World Calendar is a turkey and could never be adopted. Do your own research, buddy, before calling Professors deplorable." - Professor Richard Conn Henry
For context, here is my email in it's entirety:
"Gentlemen,
Your independent research has led you to stumble upon a discovery which has previously been made by a woman named Elisabeth Achelis in 1930, when she proposed The World Calendar (Wikipedia). It is deplorable to call yourself researchers, when you clearly have not done any research on your predecessors. All you have done is repackaged a previously proposed calendar, called it "new," and slapped your names on it. To simply state that your calendar is "an improvement on the dozens of rival reform calendars proffered by individuals and institutions over the last century," is inadequate.
While your arguments for a new calendar to ease financial calculations are valid and logical, the calendar you propose does not complete erase these anomalies. In fact, one can argue that the previously discussed World Calendar does a better job at this, since their solution to leap years is intercalary, while your solution adds a work week every 5-6 years, hence including the very same anomalies you aim to eradicate. I understand that religious types who observe the 7th day Sabbath on Saturday will not cope well with intercalary days, but you have proposed an issue, claim to have solved it, but in reality it is only shifted and not entirely fixed.
You must understand that the problems you target have little to do with majority of the American population, but your solution effects everyone. I would imagine that anybody born on one of the days you eliminate (such as May 31) would instantly be a proponent to your system, since you have eliminated their birthday from the calendar. Perhaps the people who's new birthdays perpetually fall on a Friday or Saturday will be in favor, but citizens being told their birthday is on a Monday or Wednesday for the rest of their life will likely have a negative stance. Also, what about traditional holidays such as Halloween, which everybody knows to be on October 31, a day which no longer exists on your calendar. To the average citizen, drawbacks such as these will certainly outweigh the benefits of reduced workload for accountants and financial analysts who now only reserve their complex calculations for twice a decade.
Finally, to advocate the population to take up universal time in their every day lives is completely insane. The benefits of universal time for international business are clear, which is why many companies who do a large volume of international business utilize universal time. There is absolutely zero benefit for the average citizen who does not associate daily with foreign time zones. Try telling a high school student that not only will their birthday forever be on a Tuesday, but now school starts at 4pm and ends at 11pm, dinner will be at 2:30am, and they must be in bed by 5am. When they ask why, tell them "to make international business less confusing and to (almost) get rid of complex financial calculations." Imagine how that kid will look at you. Now imagine forcing every parent in the country to tell their kids something similar, probably along the lines of "because an economist and an astrophysicist thought it would make life easier for bankers and corporations, and because those people have lots of money the government agreed with them."
Please do not take this message as scathing or mean-spirited. I believe your sentiment is legitimate, but misplaced. You have my best wishes towards both of you in your respective fields, but not when it comes to calendars."
Apparently I annoyed him so much in my second sentence he didn't bother reading the rest.
and seemed to propose rational reasons for their new calendar. At the end of the article, however, you realize they are absolutely batshit crazy:
"In addition to advocating the adoption of this new calendar, Hanke and Henry encourage the abolition of world time zones and the adoption of “Universal Time” (formerly known as Greenwich Mean Time) in order to synchronize dates and times worldwide, streamlining international business."
This site has already discussed ad nausea many reasons why universal time is a terrible idea, so I am surprised that after scanning the comments I had not seen anyone mention this.
You must be absolutely batshit crazy to advocate New York City's work day starting at 2pm and ending at 10pm, and people eating dinner at "midnight" although it's not really the middle of the night.
Finally, seeing as how their "research" has led them to "discover" a "new" calendar, which is nearly identical to the world calendar proposed in 1930 (thanks GreatBunzinni for pointing this out), I hope they are chastised for this. They are labeled as "researchers" and then proposed a "new" idea without first doing research to see it has been proposed before, and cap it off by advocating a universal time zone. If I were Johns Hopkins University, I would immediately distance myself as far as possible from these schmucks.
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What benefit does UTC provide the average citizen, who doesn't deal with foreign time zones on a regular basis? There is none. Multinational corporations that benefit from UTC use it already. One could argue that the new system is similarly universal, as the day is structured in the same manner no matter where you are on the planet.
And, I have read what these guys have written, both on their website and in this article. Their "holier than thou" attitude towards similar calendars and the current system is a major turn off. Furthermore, when I emailed them my concerns (because their emails are publicly posted under that article), Professor Henry told me to "go climb a tree." For someone who is trying to win public favor towards his brilliant new idea, he is certainly going about it the wrong way.
"Go climb a tree. The World Calendar is a turkey and could never be adopted. Do your own research, buddy, before calling Professors deplorable." - Professor Richard Conn Henry
For context, here is my email in it's entirety:
"Gentlemen,
Your independent research has led you to stumble upon a discovery which has previously been made by a woman named Elisabeth Achelis in 1930, when she proposed The World Calendar (Wikipedia). It is deplorable to call yourself researchers, when you clearly have not done any research on your predecessors. All you have done is repackaged a previously proposed calendar, called it "new," and slapped your names on it. To simply state that your calendar is "an improvement on the dozens of rival reform calendars proffered by individuals and institutions over the last century," is inadequate.
While your arguments for a new calendar to ease financial calculations are valid and logical, the calendar you propose does not complete erase these anomalies. In fact, one can argue that the previously discussed World Calendar does a better job at this, since their solution to leap years is intercalary, while your solution adds a work week every 5-6 years, hence including the very same anomalies you aim to eradicate. I understand that religious types who observe the 7th day Sabbath on Saturday will not cope well with intercalary days, but you have proposed an issue, claim to have solved it, but in reality it is only shifted and not entirely fixed.
You must understand that the problems you target have little to do with majority of the American population, but your solution effects everyone. I would imagine that anybody born on one of the days you eliminate (such as May 31) would instantly be a proponent to your system, since you have eliminated their birthday from the calendar. Perhaps the people who's new birthdays perpetually fall on a Friday or Saturday will be in favor, but citizens being told their birthday is on a Monday or Wednesday for the rest of their life will likely have a negative stance. Also, what about traditional holidays such as Halloween, which everybody knows to be on October 31, a day which no longer exists on your calendar. To the average citizen, drawbacks such as these will certainly outweigh the benefits of reduced workload for accountants and financial analysts who now only reserve their complex calculations for twice a decade.
Finally, to advocate the population to take up universal time in their every day lives is completely insane. The benefits of universal time for international business are clear, which is why many companies who do a large volume of international business utilize universal time. There is absolutely zero benefit for the average citizen who does not associate daily with foreign time zones. Try telling a high school student that not only will their birthday forever be on a Tuesday, but now school starts at 4pm and ends at 11pm, dinner will be at 2:30am, and they must be in bed by 5am. When they ask why, tell them "to make international business less confusing and to (almost) get rid of complex financial calculations." Imagine how that kid will look at you. Now imagine forcing every parent in the country to tell their kids something similar, probably along the lines of "because an economist and an astrophysicist thought it would make life easier for bankers and corporations, and because those people have lots of money the government agreed with them."
Please do not take this message as scathing or mean-spirited. I believe your sentiment is legitimate, but misplaced. You have my best wishes towards both of you in your respective fields, but not when it comes to calendars."
Apparently I annoyed him so much in my second sentence he didn't bother reading the rest.
"In addition to advocating the adoption of this new calendar, Hanke and Henry encourage the abolition of world time zones and the adoption of “Universal Time” (formerly known as Greenwich Mean Time) in order to synchronize dates and times worldwide, streamlining international business."
This site has already discussed ad nausea many reasons why universal time is a terrible idea, so I am surprised that after scanning the comments I had not seen anyone mention this.
You must be absolutely batshit crazy to advocate New York City's work day starting at 2pm and ending at 10pm, and people eating dinner at "midnight" although it's not really the middle of the night.
Finally, seeing as how their "research" has led them to "discover" a "new" calendar, which is nearly identical to the world calendar proposed in 1930 (thanks GreatBunzinni for pointing this out), I hope they are chastised for this. They are labeled as "researchers" and then proposed a "new" idea without first doing research to see it has been proposed before, and cap it off by advocating a universal time zone. If I were Johns Hopkins University, I would immediately distance myself as far as possible from these schmucks.
/b/ not /.