On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 08:30:01 -0800, Shawn Burns <s1burns at ucsd.edu> wrote: > > They would only need to have figured out timezones if the difference in > the > amount of light they experience at the extreme Eastern end of the Empire > is > drastically different from the amount of light they experience at that > same > time at the extreme western end. Timezones are necessary (read: > "convenient") when the light we get is from the sun, so that at different > times there is light vs. no light at the extremes; but what about with > the Overcast? I knew someone who hated the idea of going on Zulu time - how could someone live if dawn hit at 9:00 PM? His position never made sense to me. But then, Daylight Savings Time never made sense to me, especially since it was created before TV. In a society without TV shows, you let the sun decide what you do - when the sun matters. Clocks are used to synchronize your activities with others. If the others are on the other side of the world, then your clocks should say the same thing. > Maybe it diffuses the light of the sun eough that there is little > noticeable difference at the same time in the east and west. So the > farmer > in the west gets up at 6 on the Imperial clock and has only slightly less > light to work with than the farmer in the east who gets up at that same > time. But the farmer doesn't care what time the clock says, unless he's listening to the 9:40 farm report on the radio. -- Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/