Talk:Time in the United States

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[edit] Naming format

Can contributors to this article please check out and comment on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Time_zone#Time_zone_article_naming_format regarding article names? -- Chuq 04:44, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] edits for calarity

I've edited the descriptions of the rough Eastern Time Zone & Central Time Zone in an attempt to make them more clear by using natural regions. I've also edited the boundary descriptions for clarity. Most importantly, most of East Tennessee is in the Eastern timezone, which is generally regarded as Tennessee east of the easternmost cross of the Tennessee River with a minor adjustment to keep Hamiliton County (Chatt.) entirely in Eastern Tennessee dispite the bit of the county on the wrong side of the river. In addition, a couple of counties in NE Middle Tennesee may also be in the EST. Jon 18:41, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] State Option on Daylight Savings Time Section

It may be worth noting that in 2007, the start date for DST is being moved up to 2nd Sunday of March and the end date to 1st Sunday in November. Also, at some point the now old Indiana exception should be sniped. There's another article on history of Indiana Timezones. Jon 18:46, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Future years porition of chart

It may be premature to list starting with 2008 because the extenstion of daylight savings time for 2007 included an energy study to compare energy use in the extended portions of daylight savings time was the prior year with a statement saying if energy isn't saved they'd revert (see the conference report for the 2005 Energy bill). This is further complicated by past congresses can not be legally bound the current congress to do anything along with the change of control of congress since then. Jon 13:55, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

  • Partially Disagree. Congress can always rescind a law passed by a previous Congress, so what? The law as it stands prescribes the dates shown in the chart. When DST was extended, the wire services carried tables showing "Daylight Savings Time Schedules for the next six years". This is good encyclopedic information, which people consult for planning purposes in scheduling future events, work schedules, timetables, etc., many of which are prepared years ahead of time. (Right now, for example, I'm working on a convention scheduled for Nov., 2010). OTOH, I'd agree with you that the chart probably shouldn't go into the future as far as 2017 and should be annotated, "subject to review pursuant to the Energy bill..." JGHowes talk - 14:27, 18 June 2007 (UTC)
  • I've edited this section to take account of the 2008 review JGHowes talk - 11:57, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Switch from GMT to UTC as basis

This is fairly trivial, but it should be noted that standard time zones in the US have always been based upon mean solar time (GMT), until the passing of Public Law 110-69 on 2007-08-09, where it has been changed to be based upon (the US's interpretation of) UTC. See Bill H.R. 110-2272. -- Dmeranda 20:44, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the citation. The specific change is in Title III Sec. 3013. — Joe Kress 21:38, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Place vs. Time

Can we please distinguish between a time zone and a time offset somehow? --Uncle Ed 02:48, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Capitalization of the names of time zones

If one looks at the text of the law, 15 USC § 263. Designation of zone standard times, it seems that the capitalization rules used follow standard English: proper nouns are capitalized, other words are not. Thus the law refers to "eastern standard time", not "Eastern Standard Time". Also even for proper nouns, only the first word is capitalized so you have "Atlantic standard time" and not "Atlantic Standard Time". Should this be corrected here, and on other articles that refer to the names? -- Dmeranda 17:16, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Naming of the zones, again

Regarding the recent cleanup attempts to reduce link renaming (pipes), it should be observed that the resulting list of names is not consistent and probably not correct. For example we have "Central Time Zone (North America)" and "Mountain Standard Time" which certainly are not consistently named, and neither is correct; which is what the text in the article immediately preceding the list promises: "Only the full time zone names listed below are official..." Looking at Public Law 15 U.S.C 263[1] is the definitive source for the correct names to use. It starts with "The standard time of the first zone shall be known and designated as..." and continues to provide the following names (notice the capitalization used as well):

  1. Atlantic standard time
  2. eastern standard time
  3. central standard time
  4. mountain standard time
  5. Pacific standard time
  6. Alaska standard time
  7. Hawaii-Aleutian standard time
  8. Samoa standard time
  9. Chamorro standard time

So those are the names of the standard time in the various zones. Although the law never explicitly names the nine zones (it just uses ordinals, "first zone", "second zone", etc.), the best we can infer is that the definitive name for the zone would be the name of the corresponding time with the word "zone" appended; so for example the third zone would be called "central standard time zone", and the time within that zone is explicitly called "central standard time". It would not be right to drop the word "time", it is after all a "time zone", not some unqualified "zone". Also it would not be correct to drop the word "standard", as the law only ever uses "standard time" and not just "time". It is also worth noting that the law never uses the term "daylight" for the daylight saving time period—it in fact explicitly states that the time during the summer should also be called the "standard time", but just with it shifted by an hour. Admittedly, names like "Central Daylight Time" or "Central Time Zone" are indeed widely used, but they are colloquial (not to mention mis-capitalized) and are not normative as "central standard time zone" would be. -- Dmeranda 06:30, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for taking the initiative to clear this up. I'm hoping to go even further, and provide proper names for time ZONES and time OFFSETS for America, as well as the rest of the world. I wish Wikipedia to be the definitive source of information on time zones, daylight savings time, etc.
When you want to know what time it is in a place far from you, wouldn't it be nice if Wikipedia could tell you? --Uncle Ed 15:01, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
The names "eastern standard time zone", etc., including "Samoa standard time zone", are so named in Standard Time Zone Boundaries 49CFR71, an external link I added long ago. Although these are regulations rather than laws, they are official. — Joe Kress 07:41, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Boundaries

What happens at the boundaries? If you're on a train is there an announcement telling you to change your watch? If you drive are there signs by the side of the road? If so, can we have a picture of a representative example? 79.68.228.6 (talk) 12:52, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

As far as I'm aware from my travels across the US, I have never seen any such signage or announcements on public transportation. If it exists it is atypical. -- Dmeranda (talk) 17:17, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
Thanks for answering. That's interesting because until I looked at this article I'd assumed the boundaries followed state lines, but as in many cases they don't, are you just meant to know when you've entered a new time zone on crossing into a different county or something? I've got another unrelated question. For TV scheduling purposes in the USA, pages like this say that times are listed in ET/PT. For something like the main news bulletins then, does Dan Rather or whoever it is these days present more or less the same thing twice to different audiences, unless there have been developments in what's being reported, or is it live for the east coast and then shown recorded three hours later on the west coast, or is it broadcast simultaneously across the country, meaning that for example the 9 o'clock news on the east coast is the 6 o'clock news on the west coast? I asked someone this once and they didn't seem to know. 79.68.228.6 (talk) 17:41, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
This is not a definitive answer (if one even exists), but just an observation from a US citizen... Generally within the coterminous US, and possibly including Caribbean territories, national television programs are often repeated on hour offsets, with the original broadcast in the Eastern, and proceeding in turn through the Central, Mountain, and Pacific. I'm not sure what is done for Alaska and Hawaii though, due to their extreme western position. Of course this can vary from station to station and program to program. Sometimes programming may be played simultaneously in bordering time zones (for example "7 Eastern/6 Central", but then mountain and pacific may be played with a delay). For your "ET/PT" example that would mean that Eastern, Central, and Mountain would all be simulcast "live", but that Pacific viewers would see the show delayed. Programs which must be timely, for example national news during times of crisis or tragedy, may be either completely new for each zone, or rebroadcast with updates. Programs which require time-limited call-in voting (like many reality contest shows) may either be simultaneously broadcast in all zones, or rebroadcast in each zone combined with telephone-location data to prevent voting cross-zones. Sports games (Baseball/American Football) are usually simulcast live in all time zones without any zone-induced delays. And then you have the "cable/satelite" 24-hour programming (like CNN), which are for the most part simultaneously broadcast). There really is no single set standard though; although if anybody has any more definitive information please reference it. -- Dmeranda (talk) 23:14, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
Thanks a lot, that's all interesting. The only thing I could remember being sure of when I visited the USA was that baseball games and the like were simulcast as you said, billed as "10pm ET / 7pm PT" or whatever. I'd always been puzzled about how certain other time-sensitive broadcasts were done. I wonder if there is room for an article (or discussion over various articles perhaps because it might be too vague a topic for a specific article) on the practices of TV networks that operate over multiple time zones. This would be getting off topic for this page, but if anyone knows of discussion in Wikipedia of TV broadcasts over multiple time zones in other countries and how it's dealt with, I'd be interested to read it. 79.68.228.6 (talk) 01:34, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
I partially disagree with Dmeranda. Virtually all broadcast network television programs are simulcast in the Eastern and Central time zones. Prime time in the Eastern zone is 8-11 pm with local or syndicated programming 7-8 pm, and the national news at 6:30-7 pm, whereas prime time in the Central zone is 7-10 pm with local and syndicated programming 6-7 pm and the national news at 5:30-6 pm. The Mountain zone schedule matches that of the Central zone, hence is one hour later, so its national news is original, or would be original if breaking news warranted it. The Pacific zone schedule matches that of the Eastern zone, hence is three hours later, so again its national news is original, or would be original if breaking news warranted it. Compare the TV listings for New York's ABC7, the TV listings for Chicago's ABC7, the TV listings for Denver's ABC7, and the TV listings for Los Angeles' ABC7. All Anchorage programming is by satellite, including live programming from New York and Pacific television sources. The Honolulu schedule matches the Eastern zone, hence is five hours later, but I doubt that its national news is original. See the TV listings for Honolulu ABC4. San Juan programming is via satellite or cable, obviously in Spanish, using the eastern prime time schedule of 8-11 pm, hence is one hour earlier. I have no idea how national new casts are handled in Puerto Rico. — Joe Kress (talk) 12:22, 22 January 2008 (UTC)