NH Free Time

[KBCraig]

    I vote for Eastern Standard Time + 30 minutes.  Daylight Savings Time is
silly.  OK, we dont want our children to walk to schooling in the dark, so
lets impose on every civilized human being within a three hundred mile radius
twice a year instead of changing the time school begins...brilliant idea. 

Ah, you have hit upon the real root of DST: "jobs" and "schools", especially as controlled by the state.

Farming is driven by the sun. Nobody pays attention to the clock when there's work to do. Free entrepreneurs work, and sleep when they're not working, and if they're successful they have time for recreation. Students who are "learners" can just substitute "learn" for "work" in the previous sentence.

Humanity survived just fine on the "sunup to sundown" schedule for millennia. People adjusted their schedules logically, based on the daylight available. But when standardized, government-restricted "work weeks" or "school weeks" come into play, the big hand and little hand became tyrants. Jobs revolved around the clock, not the work. Education revolved around the school day, not learning. People started going to work (or school) in the dark, because the government dictated that they had to work consistent schedules.

I propose returning to a business model of "open when we're here, closed when we're not". And keep the gummint's nose out of it.

Kevin

[error]

I live by that business model. Then again, I'm open 24 hours a day, and nobody has yet figured out exactly when I sleep.

[Russell Kanning]

don't you sleep in second life?

[Tom Sawyer]

I have been thinking lately that Shire time should be some odd offset from the "official" clock.

The artificial regiment that the clock brings to life is very stressful on people. The natural rhythms of the day, and the season are much healthier. Get up when you wake up, work until you are tired... we are not machines.

[Russell Kanning]

It does make sense to just set a time ... and then don't change it seasonally. We each can decide what 6am NHFT means. I have noticed that many of my friends in NH don't wear watches.

I kinda like all the ideas including an odd offset one.

[eques]

I normally feel tired and go to sleep sometime between 1 and 2am... and I normally feel like getting up sometime after 10am.

Works for me as long as I don't have to bow to the clock. 

I haven't worn a watch for years.

[toowm]

The center of the Eastern Time zone is at 75 degrees west. The center of New Hampshire is at 71 degrees, 34 minutes west. (The whole state is from 70*37' to 72*37'.) So we are roughly 3.5 degrees east of the center. Time zones are 15 degrees apart (360/24). So...

NHFT (nifty time) should be 14 minutes ahead of EST (3.5/15*60).

You might be able to suggest 15 minutes to me; it's actually correct for how far east we live.

[Lex]

I hate the whole am/pm thing. I've switched to 24 hour time ever since I moved to NH. Life is so much simpler this way. I feel like the whole am/pm thing was invented cus people couldn't count past 12 but I can and don't want to constantly have to clarify if it's PM or AM. Anyways...

[Lex]

One change that would be interesting is making the day start (sunrise?) at 0 and end at around 16, with 16-24 being night.

[Russell Kanning]

The center of the Eastern Time zone is at 75 degrees west. The center of New Hampshire is at 71 degrees, 34 minutes west. (The whole state is from 70*37' to 72*37'.) So we are roughly 3.5 degrees east of the center. Time zones are 15 degrees apart (360/24). So...

NHFT (nifty time) should be 14 minutes ahead of EST (3.5/15*60).

You might be able to suggest 15 minutes to me; it's actually correct for how far east we live.

I like it. It has reason and purpose. 14 or 15 ahead
I could go for est+14 all year .... dumping the edt .... or edt+14 all year

[Russell Kanning]

and 24 hours ... I love it.
I wouldn't mind posting both times for events and such.

This just appeals to the geeks in the movement too much to pass up. The great thing is that we don't have to force this on anyone and let anyone join us that wants to. I wouldn't want to change the forum clock, but some of us could change something to keep track of it.

How about we go with a general consensus of this thread after a short amount of rangling and discussion?
BTW ... I voted for all of the above.

[Nicholas Gilman]

   The nice thing about getting rid of DST is that many people have
to convert times in their head.  Airline pilots and some mil
pilots use whats called Zulu time, which is based on Universal
Coordinated Time (UTC).  UTC is based on Greenwich Mean Time
(GMT) which is a time zone in England.  UTC is used for international
servers, satellite coordination, and other purposes. 
BTW if you call the AT&T operator, they can give you the
time and date of any city in the world.  Thats important if you
have to call Riga, Latvia and want to make sure its not 3AM!

  So far it looks like DST is over according to the poll.

[toowm]

I vote for EST - 15 minutes, no daylight savings time, 24 hour (non-military) clock.

"The nifty time at the tone is now 12:06 NHFT." BEEP!

[Tom Sawyer]

NHFT sometimes referred to as Shire Time is 15 minutes ahead of the death star known as Washington, DC.

We have the tactical advantage of 15 minutes ahead of the OverLords.

Plus, what a great conversation starter. 

(This is my preference)

[error]

One change that would be interesting is making the day start (sunrise?) at 0 and end at around 16, with 16-24 being night.

Some people use a calendar on which the day starts at sunset.