Time zones, Islam, Capito-Anarchism, the usual

[dherblay]

In Tunis, it seems that everyone speaks French, and if they don't speak French, they speak Arabic with accents out of the tenth arrondisement. I, misnamed as I am, do not, so communication could at times be dicey. I understood our cab driver when he told us (en Francais), as he whizzed an inch by the fender of the car stopped in the fast lane (they

Comments

[timian]

You are fascinating. Also, I just finished Singularity Sky a few days ago.

[dherblay]

Fascinating -- like a train wreck!

What did you think of Singularity Sky? I had trouble putting it down last week but now can no longer remember much of what happened. And I'm conflating it with Snow In August, which I read immediately subsequently, so I believe there was some bit where it turned out that the golem in Baba Yaga's hut was a telephone repairman.

[timian]

SK was the first non-Greg Egan scifi I've read in about a decade. (Gasp.) I enjoyed it, although I felt the narration was at times a bit incoherent. I was also a little... underwhelmed by the farcical elements in the anti-tech society. It sort of reminded me of Lem, only Lem was really, really good at capturing the insanity of bureaucracy. Nevertheless, if someone offered me a cornucopia machine I'd not say no. Handy little buggers.

[anomster]

I'm just...enjoying your mind & its workings

[dherblay]

I once, due to no virtue of mine other than my zip code, I suspect, received a calendar from a local Jewish funeral home; In the box for each Friday it would list the time for candle-lighting in ten different cities. I think the cities were Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, New York, Washington D.C., Boston, Philadelphia or Toronto and of course Cleveland; what is most relevant to this anecdote is that Detroit was not included. Upon realizing this, I immediately went through the entire calendar to plot out which city would have the latest time listed. As might be expected, during the summer months Cleveland would be by far the latest, and during the winter, Miami, and then as the equinoxes approached their times would swing together pretty quickly.

Tahoe is looking unlikely for me; you'd better tell me the joke now. It is a joke, right? Because if it's a purely informational button I'm going to feel a little cheated . . .

[anomster]

Awww, you probably won't make Tahoe? How can we have a Gathering without d'Herblay?

The button is a joke, yes...you'll have to decide how funny it is. It says, "Anarcho-Capitalist for sale or rent." I now realize I was assuming that referred to the button's wearer, but I suppose another interpretation is possible....

[anneth]

My most recent experience in Britain was that everything was written in 24-hour, but time was still generally spoken in 12-hour. Of course, I spent most of my time with an American, ex-pat though he is. He kept slipping between American and British slang; there may have been some time-language slippage, too.

[dherblay]

This is pretty much what I recall too. Of course, the British are slow and resistant adopters of such schemes.

Ok, truth be told, I don't know that anyone, even the Belgians, outside of the military has ever spoken in 24-hour time; this would crucially undercut my thesis had I ever bothered to clearly express one.

[londonkds]

My impression is that 24-hour time started in the UK in railway and bus timetables, during the 1960s, and then gradually spread to other written points.

[dherblay]

In time standardization, it's often been the railroads. Or Easter, I guess, as you can't really lay the Gregorian calendar off on the railroads.

[cactuswatcher]

As you may know, in Arizona we have what we proudly call Daylight Wasting. We don't change the clock, because putting the sunset later into the evening in the summer here just would make it miserable to do anything outside. It isn't that great outside in the evening anyway.

I can remember what a mess it was in Missouri when St. Louis had daylight savings, but the rest of the state didn't. Drive 20 miles and the time would change. They've got that kind of headache in Indiana. I guess it's up to them to decide which way they want to go, be far east in the Central zone or far west in the East zone after many years of a mixure of three different schedules.

[dherblay]

Oh, fine, bring actual people into it.

[ckd]

Last I heard, the Navajo reservation in Arizona switches to DST, but the Hopi enclave within it does not...which must get rather confusing.

Similar confusion exists at Hoover Dam, since Nevada time and Arizona time are the same in the summer and 1 hour apart in winter.

[dherblay]

Body temperature is measured in Fahrenheit? But that introduces the classic significant-digit error!