Sunday, November 06, 2011

Following the Sun

So, Daylight Saving Time is a bit silly:



… but I do like the idea of being more in touch with the seasons. Perhaps rather than adjusting the clock twice a year, how about something a little more gradual, a little more personal? Why not get up with the sun? More and more of us work in jobs where we can set our own schedule, so get an alarm (such as this one, though surely it could be improved upon) that you can set in relation to sunrise, and enjoy your journey through the seasons.

Actually, I think it'd be interesting to live for a while with a clock that told time all day in terms of distance from sunrise to sunset, rather than hours and minutes; what new habits and ideas would you gain from this perspective? What sorts of beautiful time displays could this inspire? I'll meet you at the pub at 1/8 'til sunset and we'll find out…

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posted by Ian Gilman at 12:00 PM

Comments

Could we all do this?

http://www.squarefree.com/2006/11/01/continuous-daylight-saving-time/
posted by Blogger Jesse Ruderman at 4:41 PM 
I wrote a little JS class that changes drop shadows on our company's internal web sites depending on the position of the sun.

Nobody has noticed, but it's very nice to see :)
posted by Anonymous Anonymous at 3:04 AM 
This would be somewhat problematic for those of us who have the midnight sun in the summer and the polar night in the winter. :-)
Where I live we have the midnight sun for about two months...
posted by Anonymous Håvar Henriksen at 5:50 AM 
@Håvar: Not at all, you will simply either miss the dark hours or the light ones, speak your clocks will jump a little bit more.
posted by Anonymous Anonymous at 2:34 PM 
@Jesse, that's an interesting idea too! I guess I like the idea of giving each individual more options for how they relate to time, rather than dictating how everyone should do it. This of course means we would need good conversions for those times when we do want to synchronize.

@Rushyo, sweet! I love thoughtful touches like that. I'm sure people noticed, just not consciously.

@Håvar, yes, I imagine we'd need another variation that's more meaningful in those times. Or maybe you don't need any more getting in touch with the seasons than you've already got?
posted by Blogger Ian Gilman at 8:40 PM 
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