🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1990Feb4.140030.965@orfeo.radig.de> peter@orfeo.radig.de (Peter Radig) writes:

> But in the future there will be a little problem: England intends to introduce
> daylight saving time. Nowadays, they are the only West European country without
> such things.

I think you've gotten things a bit upside down here.

GMT is not tied to whatever political decisions some stupid island-
government would make concerning daylight saving time.  That's why we
(the part of the world with no "Greenwhich" complex) call it UTC
(Coordinated Universal Time).

Another thing is that daylight saving time does not constitute moving
that silly island, or Greenwhich in particular, 15 degrees east, and
neither does it move the sun, so it really wouldn't matter what kind
of daylight saving time those islanders were to elect.  Greenwhich is
still where it was when someone discovered the need for a 0 meridian,
and it's gonna be for a long time.  In fact, even if they renamed New
Zealand to "Greenwhich" or you consider South-West Connecticut the
center of the world, "GMT" would be the same abstract reference point
for time measures.

Let's all switch to call it "UTC", instead.  That way, no petite
island gets all the fame.  Remember the Incas, now but a memory.
Remember the ancient Greek, now but a memory.  Remember the British
Empire...

"We apologize if you have gotten the impression that the British Isles
are a bunch of wasteland with an incestuously degenerating population,
their very own set of `standards' for everything, and a mail system
that invites to long tales of sarcasm.  Such was not at all our
intention."  [private communication]

Oh, since this is about time zones.  When Bering Standard Time had
been around for _years_, some British dude found out it would be nice
with "British Standard Time".  Yeah, verily.  "In 1907, an Englishman,
William Willett, campaigned for setting the clock ahead by 80 minutes
in four moves of 20 minutes each during the spring and summer months."
[Enc Brit 1985, vol 3, p 925]

However, "several countries, including Australia, Britain, Germany and
the United States, adopted summer daylight saving time during World
War I to conserve fuel by reducing the need for artificial light."
[ibid]

Last time I checked, Britain had DST, so I think you were wrong on
that account, too.

[Erik]