Paul Gilmartin writes:
<begin snippet>
I'd not envision that working in the long term. People would gradually adjust
their schedules to the old solar time and new clock times. Within historic
times (Matthew 20:1–16) the sun was considered to rise at 00:00; people took
their siesta at 06:00 (check etymology) and the sun set at 12:00. When the
convention was changed to 00:00 at midnight, people continued to regulate their
workdays by solar time, not by the new clock time.
</end snippet>
and I seem fated to disagree with him, this time only in part.
Much of the history that he rehashes is of little current relevance. It
relates to a past when lamps, candles, and the like were the only artificial
illumination available.
Time-keeping and calendrical changes always provoke protest, much of it
irrational.
When the parts of the world under British control, including British North
America, were finally switched from the Juilian/old Roman to the Gregorian
calendar in 1752, there were demonstrations/disturbances/riots against it in
Boston and Philadelphia; and in New York the Riot Act was actually read to an
assembly of unruly apprentices. Workingmen of the time judged that their
lives were being shortened by 12 (sic) days, that they would be cheated of pay,
etc., etc., despite the fact that the enabling Parliamentary legislation was a
model of clarity that addressed [the real] such problems comprehensively.
These anxieties dissipated quickly, not least because urban as opposed to
pastoral or agricultural groups need 'arbitrary' conventions. The number of
daylight hours differs greatly from season to season in most of the world, and
urban affairs cannot and need no longer be regulated by the variable times of
sunrise and sunset.
When, more recently, Europeans adopted the 24-hour clock for civil use there
were the usual complaints; and when, finally, it is adopted in the United
States--The American military of course use it already--there will be more of
these complaints.
Computer networks that do not use GMT/UTC are and have for long been an
absurdity, and the sooner those that do not use it are changed to do so the
better.
These things said, some of what PG is saying or implying is certainly true, if
not very interesting. Few golf courses are [yet?] lighted, and if one wants to
and can as a practical matter play golf in winter, one must perforce change the
times of day when one plays in order to fit a game into the daylight hours. On
the other hand American professional baseball was in my youth played only in
the afternoon: baseball stadia were not yet lighted. Today it it often played
at night: most baseball stadia are now lighted. Again, the same thing is
occurring with ski trails. I ski only during daylight hours; but some short
(mostly beginners') trails are now lighted, and some people now use them at
midnight.
John Gilmore Ashland, MA 01721-1817 USA
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO
Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
