Due to how the sun revolves around the earth once a day time is very much about where that unshielded nucular reactor, as pushed by angels, is in the sky. With time zones we have a huge approximation of where that is, unless you live in Greenwich then you can be pretty certain that the glowing thing is not directly above your head at noon. So time zones are a compromise.
Given that everyone has a smartphone these days (well, the people that matter), why can't we go back to the pre-railways 'sundial time' and have always accurate, infinitely variable time? For instance, move across the room and the time will be ever so slightly different?
We could then have UTC more widely recognised and used for international importanty stuff. Obviously we would also have to get the phrase 'Greenwich Mean Time' to be used instead of this faceless 'UTC' mnemonic.
With this system there would be a lot more small talk chit chat about time, you could plausibly arrive a minute or two late and 'not realise the time'. Time could be vague yet oddly accurate at the same time. It would be a whole lot of fun.
Moving to this new 'n' zany system of timekeeping could be easy. All the scientific and computing community are on UTC already so there would be no change for them. A little deal could be done by the smartphone makers so that the default time shown was 'sundial time', auto updated by GPS, wifi or other geolocation. UTC could also be shown side by side, prominently so you could easily get the time in either system depending on your need. A special app, not installed by default, could then show retro 'timezone' time after you clicked through a few dozen menus. Obviously this would be laden with skuomorphic design but functional if you really wanted this legacy time system.
Seriously, the only thing more painful for me this week than reading this comment, was signing up to reply. Between three and sixteen letters my ass!
> Given that everyone has a smartphone these days (well, the people that matter)
Really? The only people that matter are those with cell phones? When I was growing up, and even last night, I was told by local news to set my clock back an hour. They've actually been telling me since Friday night, which is great because I rarely watch the news and don't subscribe to cable.
Yes, I have a cell phone, and yes it's a smartphone of a recent generation, and no I don't like it that much.
> With this system there would be a lot more small talk chit chat about time, you could plausibly arrive a minute or two late and 'not realise the time'. Time could be vague yet oddly accurate at the same time. It would be a whole lot of fun.
Great! I'll be in Belgium this week. Standup at the normal time?
Well I am glad that I have managed to get someone to sign up and contribute!
I do enjoy writing with my tongue firmly in my cheek when a story is either a 'first world problem' or if it has been discussed to death many times already. Hopefully I brighten someone's day, even if scores of others mod me down!
Given that everyone has a smartphone these days (well, the people that matter), why can't we go back to the pre-railways 'sundial time' and have always accurate, infinitely variable time? For instance, move across the room and the time will be ever so slightly different?
We could then have UTC more widely recognised and used for international importanty stuff. Obviously we would also have to get the phrase 'Greenwich Mean Time' to be used instead of this faceless 'UTC' mnemonic.
With this system there would be a lot more small talk chit chat about time, you could plausibly arrive a minute or two late and 'not realise the time'. Time could be vague yet oddly accurate at the same time. It would be a whole lot of fun.
Moving to this new 'n' zany system of timekeeping could be easy. All the scientific and computing community are on UTC already so there would be no change for them. A little deal could be done by the smartphone makers so that the default time shown was 'sundial time', auto updated by GPS, wifi or other geolocation. UTC could also be shown side by side, prominently so you could easily get the time in either system depending on your need. A special app, not installed by default, could then show retro 'timezone' time after you clicked through a few dozen menus. Obviously this would be laden with skuomorphic design but functional if you really wanted this legacy time system.