Dear Doug, You make a host of interesting points in your follow-up...
> Did the shift [to our semi-nocturnal life style] > begin with the industrial revolution when better > lighting became available with brighter oil lamps, > incandescent gas mantles and then electric lighting? These technological developments made the shift possible but artificial light is expensive. Those who could afford good artificial light shifted before those who could not. To this day, blue collar workers get up earlier than white collar workers - except for me :-) Even more intriguingly, you ponder about experimenting with 'time inflation'. I think China may be just the test-bed we need. In China there are 1.2bn people spread over 60 degrees of longitude all living by the same clock time. Compared with their fellows in the easternmost 15 degrees, the others are effectively living with single, double and quadruple summer time. With one, two and three doses of inflation already in place we should investigate... Do those in the west of China really have fewer accidents, use less energy, put out less carbon-dioxide, experience more growth, have greener grass and better Mathematics? If the answers are mostly yes, why don't the authorities introduce time zones to give the sunlight-deprived easterners the benefit enjoyed by the others? If the answers are mostly no, we must question whether the prediction that we would benefit from double summer time is sound. Finally: Do modern sundials in China indicate solar time on the relevant reference meridian? All the best Frank --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
