# Time Zones **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-zones/187780 "2003-07-11T19:24:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-zones/187780/21 "2003-07-12T17:25:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rayne Man \* > \*\*Portugal has changed its time zone . Although it is in mainland Europe it is realy too far west for it to have have the same time zone as the rest of the continent. So they decided a few years ago to swich to the same time zone as the UK and Ireland (GMT) \*\* And Ireland itself was once half an hour behind the UK. Not sure exactly when that changed (some time after the first World War), but the arguments for should be pretty clear. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-zones/187780/22 "2003-07-12T19:28:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dogface \* > It is defeated in part because of the great power held by Gary. If Indiana goes to a single time zone (which is the only thing the state can legally do, if I recall), then the entire state, by Federal law, must go with the Eastern time zone, since the time zones are set up by the Feds. Nope, there’s no requirement that a state be in any particular zone or that all of a state be in the same zone and the Feds do not get involved in drawing the time zone boundaries. The two things the national laws do is 1) mandate that all states that choose to go to daylight savings time do so at the same time and 2) require that all parts of a state that are in a given time zone change to daylight time as a unit. That is, the parts of Indiana that are in Central time must all change to daylight time together and the parts in Eastern time must either change or not change together. > [@](#): > > The problem is that all proposals floated end up with Indiana adopting EDT. That’s a problem with the proposals, but it’s not mandated by federal law. They could fix their proposal by not changing the time zone boundaries but still have the entire state go to daylight savings time. In that case, the time zone in Gary will not change at all. That is, if you’re characterizing the proposals correctly. Somehow I don’t see these proposals changing the time zone lines. That is, if the proposers want their law to pass. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-zones/187780/23 "2003-07-12T22:14:01Z")
The last proposal, floated by Al-Qaeda’s favorite US Representative, Julia Carson, would have put all of Indiana in the eastern zone. If she wants to live in New York, she should move to New York. ---
**Author:** ![IUHomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90db22/32.png) [@IUHomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IUHomer)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-zones/187780/24 "2003-07-14T02:23:14Z")
I don’t see how changing from Standard to Daylight Savings time has anything to do with the whole state having to change when under the current set up the entire state has like 4 different set of rules that are followed. The whole state is not currently under the same time rules, so why would changing from Standard to Daylight time mandate that this be done? If Evansville and Gary want to change with Chicago, let them change time zones. They don’t follow the rest of the state now, so I see no reason why they should if Indy changes to Daylight time. If that is what is holding things up, its seems easy to fix. I don’t think thats it, though. Thats just a smokescreen for people not wanting to change. ``` Why must Indiana stay on time with Chicago? What about Lousiville, Cincy and Lexington? These are all fairly large size cities that are in the Eastern Time zone. Sure, not as big as Chicago, but together they form a fairly large population in the millions and are just as close as Chicago. The line has to be somewhere and we can't stay on the same time with all of them. And under the current system we are not on the same time as Chicago six months out of the year. Apparentely its better to be on the same time part of the year than not be on the same time the whole year? I just don't buy it. Getting up before sunrise is the problem? I do this for most of the fall and winter anyway. I don't see this as a big deal. ``` ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-zones/187780/25 "2003-07-14T03:50:26Z")
**IUHomer** , you don’t understand. Go look at a map of Indiana that shows the time zone boundaries. You’ll notice that the northwest corner (Gary) and southwest corner (Evansville) are on Central time, while the rest of the state is on Eastern time. Currently, those two sections do change to daylight time and thus stay on the same time as Chicago and neighboring areas of Illinois and Kentucky. The problem (for them) is that they like it that way, but apparently this Julia Carson person wants to change that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-zones/187780.md?page=1)