From: PaulJK on
Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> On Feb 24, 4:49 am, "benli...(a)ihug.co.nz" <benli...(a)ihug.co.nz> wrote:
>> On Feb 24, 11:43 am, Mike Barnes <mikebar...(a)bluebottle.com> wrote:
>>> Brian M. Scott <b.sc...(a)csuohio.edu>:
>>>> On Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:57:11 -0800, Skitt
>>>> <skit...(a)comcast.net> wrote in
>>>> <news:hm18ef$9gh$1(a)news.albasani.net> in
>>>> sci.math,sci.physics,sci.astro,sci.lang,alt.usage.english:
>>>>> Brian M. Scott wrote:
>>>>>> Skitt wrote:
>>>>>>> PaulJK wrote:
>>>>>>>> We invented DST to set clocks back one hour in summer
>>>>>>> forward
>>>>>> That's the usual terminology, at least in the U.S., but it
>>>>>> does depends on one's point of view.
>>
>>>>> Deciding whether a clock runs forward or backward, you mean?
>>
>>>> No. When you push the time from (say) 10 to 11, you can see
>>>> this as pushing it away from you, just as you might push an
>>>> opponent back. When you let it go from 11 to 10, you're
>>>> then letting it approach you, i.e., come forward.
>>
>>> That's true only before the event. Afterwards, going from 11 to 10 is
>>> receding.
>>
>>> But I have some sympathy with your confusion. I get totally confused
>>> when someone describes a time zone as being "ahead of" or "behind"
>>> another. It can be either, depending on one's viewpoint.
>>
>> Discussion on sci.lang during the Beijing Olympics:
>>
>> Ross in New Zealand:
>>
>>>> We are 4 hours later than China. During the games we were getting live
>>>> coverage from noon to 2am, i.e. 8am to 10pm Beijing time.
>>
>> Peter in NY:
>>
>>> I think you're earlier, because your 8:00 was 4 hours before their
>>> 8:00.
>>
>> Ross:
>> We are earlier in arriving at a given time, but on the other hand, if
>> you ask "What time is it?", it is four hours later here than there.
>>
>> Peter:
>>
>>> Surely you can't say that NY is 12 hr earlier than China? We're
>>> _behind_ them, you're _ahead_ of them.
>>
>> etc.-
>
> It's really annoying this year -- Vancouver is only three hours ahead
> of us (i.e., they've already had their morning events by the time it's
> morning here),

aren't they behind? :-)

> so lots of what NBC is showing us on tape could easily
> have been done live. (The first night of figure skating had the magic
> notation "Live," but it disappeared since -- presumably so they can do
> time compression and eliminate the waits between performance and
> score, and between performances. They even broke in the other day to
> show the last minute of the US-Canada hockey game, which was being
> shown live on MSNBC for those with cable, instead of their prepared
> piece on the day's [yawn] two-man bobsledding.)
>
> Do the Pacific states get the same coverage we do?

Ignoring the various pay, satellite, and cable channels, there
are about twelve free-to-air locally broadcast channels.
One of the free-to-air channels (Prime) broadcasts Winter
Olympics every day nonstop from 5:30am to 6:30pm. Looking
at today's Friday schedule, apart from the half-hour WO news
at 5:30am and Cross Country skiing at 10:30-11:30am all the
events are live.

If by "same coverage" you mean "identical programming" then
the answer is no. All commentators are either New Zealanders
or people who are aware of commenting for the downunder
or specifically kiwi audience. Now and then they interrupt
the program to switch to another competition to show
a kiwi athlete, who would we normally not see, perform
their shtick and then switch back.

The boring waits between performances don't worry me
too much. I hardly ever watch TV in real time. I record all
13 hours of it every day and then watch it later in the evening
skipping over the boring bits and replaying in slow motion
the interesting sections.

I take it slowly, I watch the Olympics only when I feel like it.
Today I am already five days behind. :-)
Thankfully, most of my friends are not interested in winter
sports as I am and kiwi athletes are not expected to do
spectacularly well, so I don't run the risk of overhearing
the results before I watch the events days later.

pjk

> -- I will never forget what the BBC did to the 1992 World Series. See
> the archive for a description, several times. --


From: PaulJK on
R H Draney wrote:
> PaulJK filted:
>>
>> Trond Engen wrote:
>>> Brian M. Scott skrev:
>>>
>>>> On Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:41:20 -0800, Skitt
>>>> <skitt99(a)comcast.net> wrote in
>>>> <news:hm17gp$89l$1(a)news.albasani.net> in
>>>> sci.math,sci.physics,sci.astro,sci.lang,alt.usage.english:
>>>>
>>>>> PaulJK wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> We invented DST to set clocks back one hour in summer
>>>>>
>>>>> forward
>>>>
>>>> That's the usual terminology, at least in the U.S., but it
>>>> does depends on one's point of view.
>>>
>>> And everything is the other way around in New Zealand.
>>
>> Just try to remember exactly which way to wind your clock
>> when its face is upside down and you are standing on your head.
>
> ...and with the water in the toilet swirling the wrong way.

Nah. It always swirls around the right way.
It's over there upover where it goes around the wrong way,
the moon is upside down, and the digits on the telephone dials
went up wrong way.

pjk

> ....r
From: PaulJK on
Mike Barnes wrote:
> PaulJK <paul.kriha(a)paradise.net.nz>:
>> Brian M. Scott wrote:
>>> On Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:19:21 +1300, PaulJK
>>>
>>>> I would prefer if every 24 hour day was made longer by one
>>>> hour, i.e. 25 hours long. [...]
>>>
>>> I'm not sure that 25 hours would be quite long enough.
>>
>> I agree, it wouldn't. I just didn't want to sound like some kind
>> of an extremist. 28 was mentioned by some other posters.
>> That would do me rather well. Yes, 28, that would be perfect.
>
> Four extra hours in a day, but about twelve fewer years in a life. Are
> you sure?

When I freewheel I still need only 7-8 hour sleep.

I am sure. In 20 active hours/day I could accomplish 25% more
in my life. Or enjoy things I like doing for 25% longer. I wouldn't
care about the number of years, if I could have 25% more
awake time in life.

pjk

From: PaulJK on
Evan Kirshenbaum wrote:
> Peter Moylan <gro.nalyomp(a)retep> writes:
>
>> Evan Kirshenbaum wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Interestingly, Labour Day [in Australia] is all over the calendar:
>>>
>>> Mar. 7th Western Australia
>>> Mar. 8th Victoria
>>> May 3rd Queensland
>>> Oct. 4th ACT, NSW, SA
>>>
>>> I don't see it listed for the Tasmanian sites (Launceston and Hobart)
>>>
>> The original form of this holiday was called "eight hour day". (I think
>> it's still called that in Tasmania.) I'm not sure when it became a
>> public holiday in Australia, but I think it was well before the custom
>> of using May Day as a celebration of workers' rights. Because Australia
>> already had an Eight Hour Day, May Day never became a public holiday the
>> way it did in most other countries.
>
> Ah, that's where Tasmania went. Launceston gets "Eight Hour Day" on
> March 8th and Hobart gets "Eight Hours Day" the same day. Or, at
> least, those dates are listed, though they don't have "Company
> Holiday" in the text.
>
> Others that aren't flagged as company holidays are Australia Day,
> Royal Regatta Day, Launceston Cup Day, Canberra Day (ACT), Good
> Friday, Easter Tuesday (in Hobart), Foundation Day (WA), Queen's
> Birthday (June 14th except in WA where it's September 27th), Bank
> Holiday (NSW), Royal National Show Day (Qld), Family & Community Day
> (ACT), Royal Launceston Show, Royal Hobart Show, Melbourne Cup Day,
> and Proclamation Day (SA). (I may have missed a couple.) I have no
> idea whether any or all of them are paid holidays.

When I lived in Toorak, Melbourne Cup Day was definitely
a paid state holiday.
pjk

>> That's part of the explanation of why it's not celebrated on the
>> traditional Labour Day (1st May). The other part of the explanation is
>> that public holidays are controlled by the states, and the different
>> states have shown no urge to move towards a more uniform system.
From: PaulJK on
jmfbahciv wrote:
> Cheryl wrote:
>> jmfbahciv wrote:
>>> <snip>
>>> What is wrong is forcing the entire populace to go through
>>> a jetlag twice a year. Their driving is more dangerous
>>> and productivity falls until each person has adjusted his/her
>>> internal time clock. Congress has been passing laws
>>> about truckers getting enough sleep. OTOH, they pass clock
>>> resetting laws which causes everybody to not get enough sleep.
>>> What's wrong is that it's dangerous and unhealthy.
>>
>> What's stopping people from going to bed an hour earlier that night?
>
> We're talking about resetting the biological cycle. People, essentially
> do go to bed an hour earlier (or later) depending on the clock switch.
> That changes the biology.
>
>> Anyway, that only works for one direction. The other time, everyone gets
>> an extra hour of sleep, and therefore should be more rested and less
>> likely to have accidents.
>
> Wrong. An hour extra, from the usual habit, creates a hangover.

Sleeping with your boots on gives you headache in the morning.

pjk