Talk:1883: Supervillain Plan

California is UTC-8 during the winter, but UTC-7 during the summer. RandalSchwartz (talk) 15:16, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

I've clarified this. --Dgbrt (talk) 16:13, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

For some reason, I can't help but to think of this Tom Scott video. I guess it represents well the feeling programers must have when talking about time zones. 162.158.126.100 16:49, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

Is it at all clear that Cueball and Megan are "henchmen"? I assumed they were captured heros that were to be put to death, but first the supervillain was confessing his evil plan to them, ala EvilGloating. JohnHawkinson (talk) 18:20, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

I think their purely technical concerns would suggest they don't object to the plan itself, they just want to make sure it's as painless for them as possible Charith (talk) 19:38, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

To me, the position with black hat on a throne and the people opposite him seems more like a villain gloating over his plan. But the heroes this week are programmers (who else would go up against a madman who seems to be building a drone army?) - and when they hear what he's actually planning, the time zone thing becomes their biggest concern. -- 162.158.155.110 09:50, 31 August 2017 (UTC)

Considering that they're giving feedback, helping define (and redefine, and make requests regarding to) the plan, I feel they can only be on the same side as Black Hat. In fact, the freedom they enjoy to do this suggests to me that they're higher than henchmen or minions, that they're likely his lieutenants, being the next step down in the managment heirarchy. "Right Hand Men", as it were. The ones he can confide in, plan with. Like Bob to Joker in the first Michael Keaton Batman movie (saw it again this weekend, no wonder it's the first example to come to mind, LOL!). NiceGuy1 (talk) 05:26, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

Also a nice one for programmers, when governments suddenly decide to change the rules: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34631326 --141.101.69.177 20:07, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

About arizona, the article on timeanddate.com might be a better explanation. (The current link is [1]). 172.68.226.58 20:33, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

Fun fact: this technology can also be used by the good guys to fight the evil. We could move the tectonic plates around to precisely control Earth's moment of inertia, eliminating the need for leap seconds! --172.68.54.76 03:00, 31 August 2017 (UTC)

To whoever wrote the sentence starting with "Humans often avoid this issue": Kudos! Best sentence I read here for a very long time! Plus: something funny to read: http://infiniteundo.com/post/25326999628/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-time Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 07:36, 31 August 2017 (UTC)

Thanks! 141.101.88.172 10:11, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

I also appreciate the presence of the "citation needed" in that sentence - brilliantly placed! I'm delighted that Randall has raised awareness on this issue, because it gives me a chance to bring up my latest time discovery, Amsterdam time from May, 1 1909 until July 1, 1937, which was GMT +0h 19m 32.13s (yes - to the hundredth of a second). My family visited Amsterdam this past summer, and as luck would have it we got to climb the Westertoren, giving me ample opportunity to inform the guides about its special place in timezone management hell (amusing for a church tower)! Tovodeverett (talk) 11:46, 31 August 2017 (UTC)

I'm glad the "citation needed" is back (no I didn't add it back myself), I had two "Citation needed" in that sentence but they were removed because "not funny anymore", and I did notice that it wasn't used for many pages, so I wondered if the trope was still up to date. 141.101.88.172 10:11, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

The "Citation needed" template was used too much in the past^{[citation needed]} which some still liked and others not^{[citation needed]}. But consider, it doesn't explain anything which is the main purpose of the article.--Dgbrt (talk) 12:45, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

That's why I didn't add it back myself, I understand that some people may think it has been used too often. I've just checked "What if" to see how Randall himself is using the joke (well, with more variation than the explainxkcd version) and although he had a "citation needed" in the very last answer, there was none for fourteen pages in a row. So I guess using it lightly is best aligned with Randall's sense of humor. Which was always the goal of the ^{[citation needed]} trope IMHO, not to explain, but to keep in touch with the XKCD culture. But since no joke should be left unexplained here, maybe the explanation that this trope is used as a joke on very obvious statement should be made into a more visible disclaimer on the ^{[citation needed]} page. 141.101.88.172 15:18, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

That was "Amsterdam time", the time on which the sun is at its highest point at noon in Amsterdam. Earlier in the 19th century, most cities held to their own time. In 1892, the railways decided to use _Greenwich_ time, even though more and more cities used Amsterdam time -- so the trains were always using a time 19m32.12 different from the rest of the country. Until 1909, as you note, when everybody had to switch to Amsterdam time, that mostly meant the railways. 08:21, 1 September 2017 (UTC) 141.101.105.228 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I was working on an application with multiple remote devices measuring temperatures. The units had internal clocks, but some units were set to change automatically with daylight savings time, some weren't, and some apparently had the wrong dates set for the switchover. They were also located in two different time zones. I would have loved to have them all set to UTC and handle the time zone conversion at the central facility. However, this wasn't really practical as parts of the network were already installed. However, it was good enough since the real need was to record trends and report when temperatures were above alarm levels. There is also a time standard that doesn't use leap seconds (TAI). (This is used for the GPS system.) I have heard a number of proposals that the timing standard for computer equipment use the time without leap seconds for recording events. http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/systime.html UTC is TAI with adjustments for leap seconds. Look at http://gpsworld.com/leap-second-implementation-confuses-some-receivers/ (There were other situations) Some systems had some calculations using UTC and some using TAI, and mistakes in consistency caused some major problems. BradleyRoss (talk) 20:46, 31 August 2017 (UTC)

I have to question this: "However, in reality, time zones in the United States are determined by Department of Transportation regulations, and California's time zone is not defined based on its longitude.". While I'm convinced it's true that this department does this, it wouldn't be able to ignore reality! Time Zones EXIST because of the sun being in different positions depending on your longitude. That 4pm sun is at 3pm position over there. If California moved far enough, the Time Zone would NEED to change, they'd have no choice! I mean, I know most of the zone borders are hardly straight, in order to to work in conjunction with other borders, but there are limits. NiceGuy1 (talk) 05:09, 5 September 2017 (UTC)