[tz] DST in the news

[Philip Paeps]

On 2020-08-29 07:21:58 (+0800), Paul Gilmartin via tz wrote:
> On 2020-08-28, at 16:23:38, Arthur David Olson wrote:
>> "American Academy of Sleep Medicine calls for elimination of daylight 
>> saving time"
>>
>> https://aasm.org/american-academy-of-sleep-medicine-calls-for-elimination-of-daylight-saving-time/
>>
> In arguing for an advantage of Standard over Daylight time
> the authors naively ignore that clock time is just a
> coordinate with arbitrary origin.  In Matthew 20:1-16 KJV:
>    https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+20:1-16&version=KJV
> it appears that at the time of writing time was reckoned six
> hours behind the current convention: the first hour was around
> sunrise, people began work then; the eleventh hour around
> sunset, people ended work then.

This system is still widely in use in Ethiopia (and reportedly in other 
parts of east Africa though I have no direct experience).  If you have a 
meeting at "three o'clock" you should turn up at 10:00.  The meeting 
will probably start at 10:30 ... possibly because you have to call at 
least one other person who thought the meeting was at 15:00. ;-)

I believe there's a link to an article about this phenomenon in 
tz-links.html.

> The harmful effects arise from the twice-yearly adjustment,
> not the absolute setting.

On a slightly related note, I wonder how those of us who were accustomed 
to regular large adjustments (e.g. 15 hours after crossing the Pacific 
Ocean) will cope when we resume our itinerant lifestyles when the 
current plague gets more under control?  Will our bodies remember 
conquering jetlag, or will the first couple of trips be accompanied by 
sleepless nights and zombie days?

Philip

-- 
Philip Paeps
Senior Reality Engineer
Alternative Enterprises