From: stephen@sprunk.org   
      
   On 19-Jun-14 12:59, Adam H. Kerman wrote:   
   > Peter Schleifer  wrote:   
   >> "Adam H. Kerman"  wrote:   
   >>> Stephen Sprunk  wrote:   
   >>>> Indeed.  I keep my clocks, phone, etc. on 24-hour time because   
   >>>> it's easier for me to do timezone math that way (I work with   
   >>>> people all over the world), but it confuses the heck out of   
   >>>> most other Merkins unless they've been in the military.   
   >>>   
   >>> Wow. That statement makes no sense. Subtraction and addition work   
   >>> the same way with 12 or 24 hour clocks. One may have to   
   >>> compensate for two different calendar days, which 24 hour clocks   
   >>> don't help with.   
   >>   
   >> It makes perfect sense to me.  Even when just dealing with one   
   >> time zone, I'll think in terms of a 24-hour clock when calculating   
   >> when a meeting will end.  I don't keep my clocks on 24-hour time   
   >> though since I just convert back and forth in my head anyway.   
   >   
   > Isn't that the way everybody does it, even people who wouldn't   
   > regularly use a 24 hour clock? If the time interval in question   
   > crosses 1 pm, at some point in calculating the interval, one has to   
   > subtract 12 hours or subtract from 12 hours. Neither 12 hour nor 24   
   > hour clock has the advantage when two different calendar days are   
   > involved.   
   >   
   > Whether a 12 or 24 hour clock is used, time-interval calculations   
   > are simple arithmetic that we all learned to do in our heads when we   
   > first learned to tell time as very young children and it's ridiculous   
   > to make excuses for not being able to calculate a time interval.   
      
   It's not a question of ability; I simply said it's _easier_ with a   
   24-hour clock.   
      
   > Converting time among time zones, one has to keep in mind which time   
   > zone is to the east and which is to the west, AND where standard   
   > versus daylight/summer time is observed, as there is no worldwide   
   > time when the switch away from standard time is performed.   
      
   ... and many countries don't do DST anyway; even within the US, there   
   are two (formerly, three) states that don't.  It's a silly idea anyway;   
   maybe it made sense a hundred years ago, but now the theoretical energy   
   savings are easily wiped out by all the energy we expend switching our   
   clocks back and forth.   
      
   S   
      
   --   
   Stephen Sprunk         "God does not play dice."  --Albert Einstein   
   CCIE #3723         "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the   
   K5SSS        dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking   
      
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