Meet the American who created time zones

[MaxPC]

Article

[Josh]

With the large shift to global commerce and work from home, it’s really time America rethinks how it does time zones.

The most obvious first step would be for California to go on permanent DST. This would put it in the same timezone as Arizona (which doesn’t do DST) and Alberta. BC/OR/WA are a bit far north, so they could keep observing DST, but half the year they’d be an identical timezone, thus making the whole West Coast a unified bloc.

Next up, Colorado could also stop doing DST, and then you’d have the same timezone from Pacific to the Rockies. No DST or permanent DST is also a lot more convenient. No more dealing with changing clocks and schedules. (As far as the old trope of children waiting in the dark at the bus stop - they either already do that since bus pickups are as absurdly early as 5:15am now, or their parents just drive them to end of the driveway or the bus stop now.)

Now the question becomes what of the east. I’d be happy in Ohio if we either went on permanent DST, thus joining central time, or else Chicago/Texas could go on permanent DST, and the rest of us stopped observing it. The latter would mean the entire Eastern U.S. would be one time zone. Two time zones just two hours apart would be a real boon for nationwide commerce.

Of course, another perspective is localism: there are proposals each city should just have local time set to high noon. With modern computers and Zoom and so on and smartphones, it would be easy to compute and translate different local time zones. A lot of stuff either is 24/7 or has odd hours anyway. And everyone checks their phone now to know what time it is.

[Ken]

With the large shift to global commerce and work from home, it’s really time America rethinks how it does time zones.

The most obvious first step would be for California to go on permanent DST. This would put it in the same timezone as Arizona (which doesn’t do DST) and Alberta. BC/OR/WA are a bit far north, so they could keep observing DST, but half the year they’d be an identical timezone, thus making the whole West Coast a unified bloc.

Next up, Colorado could also stop doing DST, and then you’d have the same timezone from Pacific to the Rockies. No DST or permanent DST is also a lot more convenient. No more dealing with changing clocks and schedules. (As far as the old trope of children waiting in the dark at the bus stop - they either already do that since bus pickups are as absurdly early as 5:15am now, or their parents just drive them to end of the driveway or the bus stop now.)

Now the question becomes what of the east. I’d be happy in Ohio if we either went on permanent DST, thus joining central time, or else Chicago/Texas could go on permanent DST, and the rest of us stopped observing it. The latter would mean the entire Eastern U.S. would be one time zone. Two time zones just two hours apart would be a real boon for nationwide commerce.

Of course, another perspective is localism: there are proposals each city should just have local time set to high noon. With modern computers and Zoom and so on and smartphones, it would be easy to compute and translate different local time zones. A lot of stuff either is 24/7 or has odd hours anyway. And everyone checks their phone now to know what time it is.

Honestly I see a lot of solutions there in search of a problem. And in any event, I see no problems with letting states figure it out for themselves. We don't need federal standards imposed from above. Europe and Asia are just as quirky as the US when it comes to time zones. Look up Spain, for example. They are still using the "wrong" time zone which is a legacy from the Franco dictatorship during WW2 when Franco changed Spain's time zone to align with Nazi-occupied Europe and they have never changed it back.

In a country as big as the US there are always going to be time zones. Three in the continental US and another couple more for Alaska and Hawaii. There are always going to be issues no matter where you draw the boundaries. Those are just part of the quirks of living in the US, especially if you are near a border. Life goes on. These days all computers and cell phones automatically adjust so it barely even matters anymore. And if you are working remotely across time zones things like Zoom, Slack, etc. are smart enough to keep track of time zones and keep everyone on the same page.

This is a bigger deal when you live and work in Alaska or do business there remotely as I used to do. Alaska used to have 4 different time zones. Bering time for the Aleutians and Bering Sea Coast, Alaska/Hawaii time for Anchorage and Fairbanks, Yukon time with only covered a small part of Alaska centered around Yakutat, and Pacific time used by SE Alaska to match Seattle and San Francisco. This was eventually reduced to two time zones and then just one. Technically Aleutians time still exists but I don't think anyone out there actually uses it, they stay on Alaska Standard time to match Anchorage.

[ohio jones]

In a country as big as the US there are always going to be time zones. Three in the continental US ...

Alaska used to have 4 different time zones. Bering time for the Aleutians and Bering Sea Coast, Alaska/Hawaii time for Anchorage and Fairbanks, Yukon time with only covered a small part of Alaska centered around Yakutat, and Pacific time used by SE Alaska to match Seattle and San Francisco. This was eventually reduced to two time zones and then just one.

Apparently the continental US time zones have also been reduced since I last checked. Which one doesn't count?

[Ken]

In a country as big as the US there are always going to be time zones. Three in the continental US ...

Alaska used to have 4 different time zones. Bering time for the Aleutians and Bering Sea Coast, Alaska/Hawaii time for Anchorage and Fairbanks, Yukon time with only covered a small part of Alaska centered around Yakutat, and Pacific time used by SE Alaska to match Seattle and San Francisco. This was eventually reduced to two time zones and then just one.

Apparently the continental US time zones have also been reduced since I last checked. Which one doesn't count?

mountain time doesn't count. That's just flyover country!

Yeah, I was thinking in my head there is 3 hours difference between here on the west coast and the east coast and so that means 3 time zones but you have to count the one you are in as well obviously.

[Szdfan]

Russia has eleven time zones. Until 2018, Russian trains ran on Moscow time, regardless of which time zone they were in. That meant that train schedules in Vladivostok were off by seven hours. Schedules and platform announcements are now listed with the local time.

[barnhart]

Russia has eleven time zones. Until 2018, Russian trains ran on Moscow time, regardless of which time zone they were in. That meant that train schedules in Vladivostok were off by seven hours. Schedules and platform announcements are now listed with the local time.

That is proper empire behavior, make everyone adjust to Moscow no matter how inconvenient....