You're about even with Labrador. Most of the US runs from about the level of France to the Sahara, latitude-wise. Alaska runs about level with Scandinavia and Siberia. So yeah, day length and sunrise times vary in the US, too. I remember the sun rising at about 4 am once when I was in England -- completely unreasonable, as far as I was concerned, since I live roughly at the same latitude as Tripoli or Casablanca.
clocks on the forum are stuffed
Yeah, that always freaks me out every summer, as I go to bed after 4am normaly. The thing that I find really funny (and i'm guilty of this), every summer we say "bih its getting light aint it!" why are we so suprised?!! It happens EVERY year!. The same with winter "oooooh! its dark quick nowerdays!". Were a bunch of idiots ;)
Since I now work graveyard, I have a pretty skewed sense of time anymore. But as far as I'm concerned, the sun has no business being up before 6 am. And when I worked a regular job and got off after 6 pm, I never saw daylight in the winter at all.
I work at a hospital. Not very exciting. I used to work for a vet. that was a lot more fun. But this pays better.
Yes, Uriel, I am aware of the four main time zones in the Continental USA....it is a huge land mass after all and it would be stupit stupit stupit to have just one time zone like China does.....it must be really strange there..like getting dark at midnight in some places and getting light at noon. Your set up in the USA must be interesting for long distance travellers.
I was just having a bit of a rail at our London-centric/England-centric national Government ignoring Scotland (what's new there!) if they decided to stay permanently on BST in the UK. It gets dark early enough here in Scotland in the winter as it is.....if we were to go on permanent BST here in Scotland, along with England and Wales, then in midwinter it will not get light until way after 10am in much of Scotland. The idea of changing watches one hour forward and one hour back in a country the whole of which is smaller than many individual US states is...well, plain stupit. But being in a different time zone to England would somehow add to our sense of independence...Ha! ;-)
I was just having a bit of a rail at our London-centric/England-centric national Government ignoring Scotland (what's new there!) if they decided to stay permanently on BST in the UK. It gets dark early enough here in Scotland in the winter as it is.....if we were to go on permanent BST here in Scotland, along with England and Wales, then in midwinter it will not get light until way after 10am in much of Scotland. The idea of changing watches one hour forward and one hour back in a country the whole of which is smaller than many individual US states is...well, plain stupit. But being in a different time zone to England would somehow add to our sense of independence...Ha! ;-)
Yeah, but you know we would start to take the piss, saying "not only do you need a passport to go to Scotland, you need to go back in time!"... Or some thing along those lines.But if crap jokes are the only side effect, go for it.
Usually when you're driving long distances in the US, there's a highway sign that lets you know that you've crossed into another time zone and it's time to adjust your watch. No big deal; you've been driving for hours and hours, what's a little loss or gain, right?
The fun part comes when you're flying -- on some of the shorter hops, it is possible to arrive before you left!
The fun part comes when you're flying -- on some of the shorter hops, it is possible to arrive before you left!
"Yes, Uriel, I am aware of the four main time zones in the Continental USA....it is a huge land mass after all and it would be stupit stupit stupit to have just one time zone like China does.....it must be really strange there."
Well Damian, actually people will find that's rather convenient when they've got used to it.
Well Damian, actually people will find that's rather convenient when they've got used to it.
> GMT and UTC are not the same thing.
For practical purposes GMT and UTC are the same thing. Perhaps you are confusing GMT with British Summer Time (BST) which Britain runs on from spring to autumn and differs from GMT/UTC by one hour. For the other half of the year we run on GMT/UTC. South African Standard Time stays on UTC + 2 hours all through the year.
For practical purposes GMT and UTC are the same thing. Perhaps you are confusing GMT with British Summer Time (BST) which Britain runs on from spring to autumn and differs from GMT/UTC by one hour. For the other half of the year we run on GMT/UTC. South African Standard Time stays on UTC + 2 hours all through the year.
<<lu Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:11 pm GMT
"Yes, Uriel, I am aware of the four main time zones in the Continental USA....it is a huge land mass after all and it would be stupit stupit stupit to have just one time zone like China does.....it must be really strange there."
Well Damian, actually people will find that's rather convenient when they've got used to it.>>
I imagine as long as you make the proper adjustments for people's scedules, it really is no big deal. Calling across the US sometimes means remembering that an office elsewhere may be closed for the day by mid-afternoon your time, or not even open in the morning until close to your lunchtime -- so plan accordingly!
For instance, I would be a good daughter and call my mother more often if she wasn't long asleep by the time I'm done with dinner, since she lives two time zones away and is always early to bed, while I'm a night owl.
Look at Australia -- they should really span three times zones of an hour each, but they've decided to make them half-hour time zones instead. Convenient for business, I suppose.
"Yes, Uriel, I am aware of the four main time zones in the Continental USA....it is a huge land mass after all and it would be stupit stupit stupit to have just one time zone like China does.....it must be really strange there."
Well Damian, actually people will find that's rather convenient when they've got used to it.>>
I imagine as long as you make the proper adjustments for people's scedules, it really is no big deal. Calling across the US sometimes means remembering that an office elsewhere may be closed for the day by mid-afternoon your time, or not even open in the morning until close to your lunchtime -- so plan accordingly!
For instance, I would be a good daughter and call my mother more often if she wasn't long asleep by the time I'm done with dinner, since she lives two time zones away and is always early to bed, while I'm a night owl.
Look at Australia -- they should really span three times zones of an hour each, but they've decided to make them half-hour time zones instead. Convenient for business, I suppose.
To Damian:
Most of China's population couldn't really care less about the single time zone because around 80% of us live in a strip along the east coast, where it's REALLY GMT+8. But since we're selfish pigs, we impose this time zone on our western neighbours as well and never give them another thought...
Most of China's population couldn't really care less about the single time zone because around 80% of us live in a strip along the east coast, where it's REALLY GMT+8. But since we're selfish pigs, we impose this time zone on our western neighbours as well and never give them another thought...
Really? I imagine the rural population doesn't really give a rat's ass what the "official" time is anyway; they plan their day around natural clocks like sunrise and sunset. I know plenty of American farmers and ranchers who despise daylight savings time with a passion, because cows and crops don't care what the clock says.
oh, the "official" time really comes in handy when you're going to watch a particular TV program.
You're all such interesting people! Isn't it amazing how we all go off on tangents and natter about anything under the sun......talking of which, here in Edinburgh it is now pie in the......sorry, high in the sky. Yes, even here in Scotland the SUN IS SHINING FROM A CLEAR BLUE SKY! Yaya! Yes, honestly!!!! It really IS British Summer Time! 14:00hrs or 2pm if you prefer.