http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2007/12/09/half-an-hour

FOLLOWING UP AN EXCHANGE OF COMMENTS

>local time on the clock is more than just a number.

Hmmm, interesting. So, it makes a difference if lunch is at “noon local” or “1700 GMT”?

>actually influence behaviour and particularly social synchronicity.

I’m hard pressed to see the “synch” impacted by what is essentially a label.

>For example, If the local time was effectively random

But it’s not “random”; it’s a globe-wide universal constant.

>what’s the best time to pull in for lunch?

When you’re hungry?

:-)

Seriously! Isn’t it more likely that figuring out a plane or train connection from afar is complicated by the lack of a universal time constant.

Just working in a two time zone company with Microsoft Outlook screwing up meetings for travelers, I keep coming back to the idea of GMT. Like that proverbially “stopped clock” being right twice a day.

>the trains would run better without any rush hour

I think you still have rush hour, or hours — here in the NYC, but we would just assign another number to label it. NYC 8 to 5 would be GMT13 to GMT20. Maybe Dolly Parton has to redo her hit song, but we’d all profit from the simplification.

>if the clock strikes three it’s time for tea

GMT15?

>

And England will always be the center of the world!

# # # # #