Can all Beaker Folk please note that from now on, our sunrise services will take place at sunrise. We will restore our "recorded sunrise services" at 8am each day in March. By then we hope to have purchased some more films of exciting sunsets from around the world.
It's gonna be a bit tough from Sunday on, when the clocks go back. Because suddenly the sunrise will be earlier again. We think. It's hard to work out. Maybe it will be easier?
You'd think that by now scientists would have worked out how to "put the sun back" (which would involve doing something to the earth), to save us all the trouble of going round the house adjusting clocks.
ReplyDeleteNow that almost everyone relies on some sort of embedded computer that is capable of adjusting its time automagically, it ought to be feasible to do away with the two one-hour shifts in the spring and autumn, and to have the clocks drift sinusoidally by about a minute a day. Luddites with mechanical clocks and watches would hardly notice the difference between this and the inherent inaccuracy of their timekeepers. In fact we could go back to the (daytime) hour as a twelfth of the interval between sunrise and sunset. Although speed limits would be harder to enforce since they would be higher on summer nights and winter days than on summer days and winter nights. Unless we fixed the speed limit and redefined the units of length to compensate. Yes.
ReplyDeleteI can see why Classical Rome did not have traffic police.
Dan,
ReplyDeleteOne small snag. Computers are mostly designed in the US of A, and a quick visit to http://ontimezone.com/exceptions.php will convince you that the idea of accurate automatic time adjustments is some considerable way off!