[geeks] Now for something completely geek

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Thu, 24 Aug 2006, der Mouse wrote:

> I don't see what's so bizarre about having daylight hours being, say,
> 23:30 to 12:30 instead of 07:00 to 20:00.

You're also a computer programmer, and, therefore, adept at abstract
thinking.  Most folks, sadly, are not.

The whole reason DST exists is because people can't decouple themselves
from what "time" things are "supposed to" happen.  These same people sit
in traffic for two hours a day starting at 0630 local time to be at work
by 0830, spend most of their "lunch hour" sitting in more traffic
because everyone else is taking lunch -at the same time-, and then spend
another two hours trying to get home.

These folks actually have to -mess with the clock- in order to make
better use of solar energy.  They wouldn't know what to make of getting
up at 3am (goodness, that's -early!-).  They don't see the designations
as the arbitrary graduations they are[0].

Me?  I go in sometime between 1100 and 1300 depending on if I have
things that need doing before I show up at work, and see nearly zero
traffic.  If I happen to be on the road at either edge of the noon-hour,
I see hellish traffic.

And, for so many of these folks, it doesn't need to matter.  Creativity
doesn't need to happen between 0800 and 1700.  Folks who answer the
phones probably need to be around vaguely during daylight hours, as do
folks who deal with customers face-to-face (leaving night owls like
myself to fend for ourselves as per usual).  A lot of service folks
would actually serve their clients -better[1]- by working "after hours".

Never mind the better use we'd get out of our roads by staggering the
load to a semiconstant dull roar instead of the square-wave duty cycle
we have now.

So, yeah.  I'd like it.  I think it'd help people see the silliness
inherent in synchronized schedules.  I don't think you'll ever convince
Joe Sixpack that 3pm is "late at night", regardless of what the moon and
sun say, though.  That'd take a generation to settle out.



[0] If you've done any IT consulting, you'll see a lot of this with IP
     addresses, too, especially if there are lots of machines around
     (Well, of -course- station1 is .101 and station2 is .102!).  People
     like correlations.
[1] Oh, the arguments I got into with the management at my previous job.

     $boss:  Why are you just getting in[2] at 3pm?
     me:     Remember?  I have that massive upgrade to do tonight that
             will take until the wee hours, and I can't start until
             end-of-business?
     $boss:  But I need you here every day at $early.
     me:     So that I can...sit around and do nothing until I can
             actually take down the equipment on which I need to work?  I
             can do that at home.  Feel free to pay me for it, if you
             want.

     So, the State of Texas funded many hours of Nethack-playing and
     web-browsing because I literally -could not- move forward on any of
     my projects on most days[3] until "after hours", but damn if they
     didn't want me keeping that chair toasty warm starting at the "usual
     time".  They'd page me at home during my "off hours" if stuff was
     broken, anyway; I never quite grokked the difference
[2] At this point in time, $agency was -anal- about compensatory time.
     Working a couple hours over meant tons of paperwork and potential
     disciplinary action.  Work over and be yelled at or come in late and
     be yelled at...fun, fun, fun.
[3] Ah, the joys of having a production environment that looks nothing
     like test or development, so every day is a shining new adventure in
     test-and-rollback on the live system.
-- 
Jonathan Patschke    )   "A man who never dreams goes slowly mad."
Elgin, TX           (      --Thomas Dolby, "Valley of the Mind's Eye"