[bigstick]

Alabama up through mid Tn and KY should be ET.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by sleepless in Bham

I think its not that complicated. Like right now it would be 7:25 if Alabama were on eastern time. So sunset would be closer to 8pm. The only thing that would change for most of us is just moving clocks an one hr forward.

Television programming would change slightly with morning shows like "The Today Show", "Good Morning America", and "CBS Morning News" being aired live, instead of tape delay. Prime time shows would start at 8p, the late news would be at 11p.

Complicated, hell. I want to wake up when there's a little daylight, not in the middle of the dadgummed night. What in God's name is wrong with you? I mean, if you want to wake up in complete darkness every day and commute to work in darkness, knock yourself out and buy some cotton picking dairy cows to milk. But leave me out of this please.

By the way, here's a little interesting geographical fact: A house across the river from Tallahassee, Florida, and Jordan Valley, Oregon, are only one hour apart.

[Tourian]

No. I like it the way it is.

[313 TUxedo]

90º is not the standard dividing line between the Central Time Zone (UTC-5, except late fall and much of winter when it is UTC-6) and Eastern Time Zone (UTC-4/-5).

90º is the center line of the Central Time Zone. If political boundaries were to be ignored, the dividing line between Central Time and Eastern Time would be the sub-meridian 82º30'W.

Of course, it would be impractical to divide the time zones perfectly along sub-meridians. Marine City, Michigan, for example, would be Central Time on one side of Parker Street (M-29, their Main Street) and Eastern Time on the other!

Michigan used to be Central Time, but switched to Eastern before I was born. Only the part of Michigan East of a line from Marine City to Lexington (<1% of the state) really belongs on Eastern. The rest is already on Daylight Savings Time in the Winter (and, since the 2007 expansion of DST, not even the whole Winter) and on Double Daylight Savings Time most of the year.

I (in MI if you didn't already guess) don't like it at all. I have difficulty getting up in the morning, and it is not easy to get to sleep at night. Before air conditioning sleeping was particularly difficult because bedtime was when it was still hot and humid.

[sleepless in Bham]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

Complicated, hell. I want to wake up when there's a little daylight, not in the middle of the dadgummed night. What in God's name is wrong with you? I mean, if you want to wake up in complete darkness every day and commute to work in darkness, knock yourself out and buy some cotton picking dairy cows to milk. But leave me out of this please.

By the way, here's a little interesting geographical fact: A house across the river from Tallahassee, Florida, and Jordan Valley, Oregon, are only one hour apart.

What can I say? Cant help that im a early riser, but if Alabama goes eastern time, we'll just have to drag you along kicking and screaming..LOL.

Oh and BTW im not the farmer type at all.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

Complicated, hell. I want to wake up when there's a little daylight, not in the middle of the dadgummed night. What in God's name is wrong with you? I mean, if you want to wake up in complete darkness every day and commute to work in darkness, knock yourself out and buy some cotton picking dairy cows to milk. But leave me out of this please.

By the way, here's a little interesting geographical fact: A house across the river from Tallahassee, Florida, and Jordan Valley, Oregon, are only one hour apart.

Uh ... I think you'd get really spoiled on having an extra hour of daylight in the evenings, like it does in Georgia. It gets too dark WAY too early in Alabama, especially in the winter. Freaked me out that it was pitch-black dark by 4-4:30 p.m. It equally freaked me out that the sun came up at 5:30 in the morning in the summer! CREEPY!

In the summer in Georgia, it doesn't start to get dark until well after 9 p.m. It's really nice!

Now, if you really want extremes go to the Upper Great Plains or Rocky Mountain states in late June and July, when the sun comes up around 4:30 a.m. and doesn't full set until about 10:30 p.m.!

[AtkinsonDan]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Uh ... I think you'd get really spoiled on having an extra hour of daylight in the evenings, like it does in Georgia. It gets too dark WAY too early in Alabama, especially in the winter. Freaked me out that it was pitch-black dark by 4-4:30 p.m. It equally freaked me out that the sun came up at 5:30 in the morning in the summer! CREEPY!

In the summer in Georgia, it doesn't start to get dark until well after 9 p.m. It's really nice!

Now, if you really want extremes go to the Upper Great Plains or Rocky Mountain states in late June and July, when the sun comes up around 4:30 a.m. and doesn't full set until about 10:30 p.m.!

I apologize for intruding into a local forum where I have no connection. I saw this topic on the main forum page and I just wanted to share that I posted a similar thread in the New Hampshire forum back in November about this same topic. The opinions on swapping time zones were mixed.

If you look at the east coast, it does not run straight north and south but goes in a northeasterly direction from south to north. As a result the New England states are much further east than Georgia. New England being in the eastern time zone is in the same circumstance as Alabama being in the central time zone.

[recycled]

I lived in eastern Alabama in the late 90s and commuted to a job every work day in Georgia. I flip flopped back and forth every day between eastern and central time, and to be honest I hardly ever gave it any thought. Some people would refer to it as fast time (eastern) and slow time (central), because central time was one hour "behind". It's a tough call as to which works out better, but from my experience it would not make a huge difference that would be difficult to get used to.

Just think about the folks out in the desolate, dry western end of central time in Van Horn, Texas, along I-10 about 100 miles east of El Paso. Today the sun rises there after 7 am and sets after 7 pm. If they drive about 300 miles east to Arizona, they lose 2 hours, crossing from central daylight to mountain daylight time, then to mountain standard time (same as Pacific time) this time of year.

For time zone extremes, think China. China is larger than the US mainland in area, and close to the same distance east to west depending on where you measure. Since the 1949 revolution, China has used just one time official zone, Beijing time! Prior to 1949 China had 5 time zones. About 10 percent of China in the far west uses a time zone two hours earlier than Beijing "unofficially" just so they don't have to wait until after 9 am in winter for sunrise.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

Let's see. This morning I had to wake up in darkness at 6 a.m. It was barely dawn at 7 a.m. when I took my son to school. Why on earth would I want to wake up two hours before dawn instead of one? That makes zero sense.

On a related note, Daylight Saving time should begin in May, the weekend before Memorial Day weekend, and end in September, the weekend after Labor Day weekend. That way, the United States will observe Standard Time for more than four months of the year.

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

No, not a good idea. Why would the counties in the NW part of the state considered part of the Chicago metro area want to be on a different time zone than Chicago? Makes no sense just to have continuity.

OK, I forgot about those four counties. They can stay in Central time; the rest of Indiana belongs in Eastern time.

[southernnaturelover]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

Complicated, hell. I want to wake up when there's a little daylight, not in the middle of the dadgummed night. What in God's name is wrong with you? I mean, if you want to wake up in complete darkness every day and commute to work in darkness, knock yourself out and buy some cotton picking dairy cows to milk. But leave me out of this please.

By the way, here's a little interesting geographical fact: A house across the river from Tallahassee, Florida, and Jordan Valley, Oregon, are only one hour apart.

I was on vacation in eastern TN last October, and a repairman was supposed to show up at 7:00 am one morning to fix the cable. It was still dark outside when he got there. I wouldn't like that, I like the sun to be up when I go to work in the morning.