[Alpine-info] ical display confuses me about timezones.

[Bret Busby]

On 17/9/22 03:23, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:

> | From: Bret Busby <bret at busby.net>

> 

> | I think it far simpler to avoid the use of timezone names, and instead, use

> | the UTC (/GMT) increment/decrement, as shown in viewing applicable times in

> | the full header display.

> 

> I think that it might be simpler to stop Earth spinning :-)

> 

> 1. people are accustomed to quantized solar time.  (Time Zones were

>     initiated by a guy in my town, Toronto.  He was a train guy and

>     time zones made train schedules work better.)

> 

> 2. much of my communication is local, within my timezone.  Especially

>     stuff that requires synchronization.

> 

> 3. email has always had times with timezones

> 



What "has always been" is not necessarily right.

For far too long, in Australia, domestic violence was, and, still is, 
regarded as acceptable. I remember, some years ago, an Australian state 
supreme court ruling, that, if a wife did not want to have sexual 
intercourse with her husband, it was his right to use force, to have his 
way with her.

In Australia, for also, far too long, smoking tobacco was regarded as 
normal and acceptable. The federal government, I believe, paid subsidies 
to tobacco farmers, to keep them producing tobacco.

In the last couple of years, a new, major coal mine has been approved in 
a sinister state in Australia; the Adani Carmichael mine. The effects of 
the coal that it will release into the world, will, over its lifetime, 
amongst other things, kill more people than the registered number of 
deaths at Auschwitz.  Coal is good and healthy, and, has always been 
good and healthy, and will always be good and healthy. Just ask the 
Australian governments, past and present.

In this state, most of the motor vehicles on the road, are unroadworthy. 
The state has not had, and, will not have, mandatory roadworthiness 
testing of motor vehicles. It is the way that it has been, and, it is 
the way that it will be. Public safety is of no consequence.

In Australia, every year, the governments set fire to the environment. 
It kills the fauna and flora, releases all kinds of poisons into the air 
(including dioxins - like Agent Orange, as used in Vietnam), and, 
significantly boosts global warming. It is unsafe to go outside, or, to 
let any air into a person's house, in capital cities, and, it causes 
major health problems to the public.

It is that way that it is, the way that it has been, and, the way that 
it will be.

Australia is controlled by pyromaniacs (and, that is only one of their 
evils).

In many countries, including Australia and the USA, slavery has been 
regarded as acceptable, and, a normal part of life. One term that has 
been applied, to one of the types of slavery in Australia, is 
"blackbirding", where, as for USA slavery, where they abducted people 
from Africa, to force them into slavery, apparently, for blackbirding, 
Australian slavers would abduct people from the Pacific Islands (that 
the Australian feral parliament is pretending to be trying to make 
friends with, now), and, force them into slavery in Australia.

Putin's invasion of the Ukraine, in his act of forced imperialism, like 
the Chinese emperor trying to take Taiwan (about which, the world keeps 
persistently silent), is like the UK having forced Northern Ireland and 
Scotland to be part of the UK, and, the government of England will not 
release them from their bondage. It is all imperialism, like the French 
refusing to release New Caledonia.

Why are these things so?

Because, it is the way that it has been, the way that it is, and, the 
way that it will be, because people insist that things should stay the 
way that they are, solely for the reason that that is the way things are.

But, just because something is the custom, does not make it right.

It reminds me of a sentence I heard a man say in a "Western" movie (it 
much reflects the current nature of the USA) - "They should never have 
learned women to read, coz then, they started to think".

So, just because things are the way that they are, does not justify 
preventing change for the better.

It also reminds me of a quote, that was reworded to be used by one of 
the USA Kennedy presidents; the original quote, from a literary work, 
wherein the serpent said to Eve, "You see things that are, and ask 
"why?"; I dream of things that never were, and, ask, "why not?" ".

So, I see no justifiable reason, for times conveyed via any electronic 
media, to not be mandatorily expressed in terms of UTC.

..
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
(UTC+0800)
..............