Why the use of EST instead of GMT, or whatever time designations there are other than those 2... I mean, why not just use GMT??? I always wondered this, especially during the times I spent in game clans and squads and stuff like that. When we got a meeting, it was always the same problem of figuring out the times, since the one would give EST +/- so much and the other GMT +/- so much... So, Why these different designations? I know by fact that GMT is older than EST, and more convinient to me (I'm Dutch, GMT+1 Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! )...
But then... Y the use of EST in Global issues such as an internet group? Would Global Measured Time (GMT) not be a lot more logical to use???
Good point. Ask an adminastrator or moderator. Maybe both would be useful because I would like to see both times. The only problem that I can foresee is that people will fight over who gets the standard.
The de facto world standard, for historical reasons, is GMT (Greenwich Mean Time - I've never seen the phrase 'global measured time'). Greenwich (in London) defines the line of Zero Longitude and was the home of the old Royal Observatory. In military-speak, GMT is known as 'Zulu' time (Z), one hour ahead is 'Alpha' time (A), etc. Date-time groups (DTG) always give the time frame being used, eg 03.1300.Z.Feb, explicity to allow global operations to be coordinated. Cheers, Ron.
Sorry I didn't get that at all from his original question. Seemed like he was talking about meetings at the office. I get the impression others made the same mistake. It doesn't matter how you do it, somebody will get it wrong. If we tell ten people on the West Coast that a meeting is scheduled for 10am EST, two of them will dial in three hours later at 10am PST. If we tell them PST, two of them will err the other way and be really pissed that they came in an hour early and we weren't there. If you use GMT, nobody will figure it out. Personally, I think the stupid messaging software ought to be able to send everybody an invitation adjusted for their own time zone. Do the newer versions of Outlook or Lotus Notes do that? As for SCIforums, yeah, you'd expect a little SCIentific frou-frou, wouldn't you.
Using GMT would be ok if every one knew his time zone's GMT + or - which I suspect they dont. Time zones in north america goes from GMT-4 to GMT-7 (exept Alaska) my zone is GMT-6 in the winter, but then changes to GMT-7 in the summer, when we get daylight saving time so it can be confusing. If we had to standardise, The best solution for those of us who live in north america might be to always quote eastern standard time (NewYork) and then we can subtract 1,2or 3 hours according to where we live. I've noticed some TV programs are listed in EST. 0
Re: But then... Seems fairly clear to me, Fraggle. Of course, in North America EST is reasonable but it doesn't address the 'global' part. 'Europe' now seems to extend from Eire to Turkey so we have the same problem. Back to GMT?
Yes RDT2 has a point. I forgot we have several correspondents from Europe, And, I beleive at least one from South East Asia. So perhaps the only solution is to go with GMT and everybody will just have to find out what their relation is to GMT and write it down on a note pad next to their computer
Hehe, i thought this was the astronomy section... Most astronomers use the Greenwich or universal time... http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/UT.html How ever the old babylonian system is getting a bit old... How about the new Internet time? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! http://www.swatch.com/alu_beat/index_section.php
