Did President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela actually make a change in Venezuela’s time zone, and if so, why?
I’m not sure if he set his nation’s clocks forward or back, but wouldn’t this change put him out of step with his neighbours?
Yes, he ordered the clocks set back one half hour to reduce the number of people who need to get up before sunrise (which is the same argument used by many people in the U.S. and Europe who advocate different times for summer and winter).
It will set Venezuela’s clocks out of sync with those of its neighbors. (I’m not sure why this is an issue. The contiguous U.S. has four time zones, Canada five. Several nations, including India, Iran, and (at different times) Canada have had time zones offset by one half hour rather than one hour.)
When you’re that close to the equator, does it really make that much of a difference? Especially a half hour.
This is a great development, and I will tell you why. For New Year, we used to celebrate our local time and then, one hour later, find a Colombian station and celebrate again. One hour is too short for people to properly celebrate, and even worse for people who drive elsewhere (his/her family and all those). With one hour and a half, you have more time to get wasted or drive to the next party before it is time to recelebrate NYE in Colombian time. Well done Mico Mandante!
Except that this is costing the country a shitload of money (just like all the other renamings and silly changes he does). But, hey $100 a barrel, change away.
I think the whole idiocy of daylight saving time should be done away with by having the US (and all other reasonable nations) split the difference between standard and daylight saving, and never touching a clock again.
As far as my thoughts on Chavez, even a broken clock…
Actually, it probably makes more difference. The closer one gets to the equator the shorter the twilight. In Michigan, you have a half hour after sunset or before sunrise when you can drive without your headlights (on a clear day that is not extra dark due to overcast), but I doubt you could try that in Hawaii where sunset is the beginning of dark.
Aside from that, I have no idea whether the half hour makes any difference in Venezuela based on current opening times for schools and businesses. You asked and I answered.
And the closer your get to the equator, the more similar are summer and winter daylight hours. I’m not sure how that all works out, but it’s more complicated than the length of twilight.
It would mean, generally, that one would be less likely to want “summer” time and “winter” time changes.
Venezuela had been included in the Atlantic Time Zone even though half the country was an hour West in the Eastern Time Zone (using North American zone names). By moving the whole country 1/2 hour back, he is splitting the difference, running the eastern half of the country a half hour late and the western half a half hour early (when compared to sun time as measured by the arbitrary time zones).
It may be silly, but it is not stupid, per se.
Right, A quick look at any time zone map will show two things. First the time zones as they are divided along the globe, and the natural geographical divisions (dividing the globe into 24 segments). A lot of times these don’t match up at all for various political reasons. China, for example is in one time zone. Anyway, Venezuela essentially straddles the “natural time zone” between Eastern and Atlantic. A half hour behind and it’d be perfect.
It’s certainly not illogical. Is it necessary? That’s another question. Of course he wouldn’t do this in the summer, right?
I never noticed that.
Anyway, it just means that now more people will be going home in the dark.
No. Because, as John Mace pointed out, the closer to the Equator, the less affect that Earth’s 22 1/2° tilt has on daylight. Near the Equator, daylight tends to be twelve hours long, regardless of the season. If people are now leaving for school or work in the dark for an 8 hour work day or 6 hour school day, letting them leave a half hour later (by the sun) will still give them plenty of daylight to return home before dark.
Yes, if people go immediately home after an 8 or 6 hour day. But people do other things after school and work, and there’s just one half hour of light less for that.
Anyway, I don’t know what time schools start in Venezuela, but in Barranquilla I started work at 7:00, and there was full light when I left home at 6:15. Maybe it’s specifically for kids in rural areas, who have to leave home a lot earlier, like 5:30. In that case, I can understand it. It still would probably be easier just to have schools start half an hour later.
Actually, people in the cities tend to get out very early (5-6am) in order to either get public transportation or beat the traffic. Having the sun rise half an hour earlier is a bit of help that will be welcome by many.
As for having less time in the afternoon, for school kids this is a total non-issue as schools normally exit before 3pm. That leaves more than plenty of time for kids to return and play. For workers, most people leave the office very late in the evening when it was dark already anyways. No loss.
The people who could be hurt the most by having a half hour of daylight less is the people in the service sector. Those are normally out between 4-5pm and might now find themselves arriving at their not so safe neighbourhoods when it is getting dark. Still, most of these might reach agreements with their employers, if they need to.
All in all, the move is not such a big deal. It is a very minor improvement that will have little effect. The issue is the cost this kind of measures have for a country where people have to stand in line to get milk.
Canada has six: Newfoundland time, Atlantic time, Eastern time, Central, Mountain and Pacific.