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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Venezuela to change time zone by 30 min in September |
| 2007-08-24 |
| Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has changed his country's name, redesigned its flag and rejigged its coat of arms in his drive for a socialist state. Now the leftist reformer, highly popular for redistributing oil income, is seeking to move the country's time zone to offer a more equitable distribution of sunlight. Venezuela in September will turn clocks back by 30 minutes as it switches time zones to boost the amount of natural light to residents, a government official said on Thursday. Next month Venezuelan clocks will be set at Greenwich Mean Time minus 4-1/2 hours, compared to the previous GMT minus four hours, Science and Technology Minister Hector Navarro told reporters at a news conference. He said the measure sought "a more fair distribution of the sunrise," which would particularly help poor children who wake up before dawn to go to school. "Very rigorous scientific studies have determined that ... the metabolic activity of living beings is synchronized with the sun's light," he said. Navarro said the government is planning to announce additional measures to "make more effective use of time." Venezuela, which under Chavez was officially changed to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, adopted its current time zone in the 1960s. |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #12 Bananas, anyone? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-08-24 15:58 |
| #11 If Hugo's been making so much money from oil, and the profits have been fairly distributed... why is the currency losing so much value? |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2007-08-24 13:21 |
| #10 Half hour later in Newfoundland. |
| Posted by: Skunky Glins5285 2007-08-24 13:11 |
| #9 ChavezÂ’s economic intelligence is no better. On January 1, 2008 the national money, the Venezuelan Bolivar, will go through a currency change to the new Bolivar Fuerte which will take three zeros from it's current value. The government says that the new strong Bolivar will end inflation. AS; Thanks for the new trivia question. What do Iran, Venezuela and Australia have in common? |
| Posted by: DoDo 2007-08-24 12:31 |
| #8 There's nothing inherently stupid about changing the time zone. As this map shows, Venezuela straddles two time zones. And many other countries have a half-hour zone (Hugo's buddies in Iran, for one -- but also Australia). It's the rationale that gets me: "a more fair distribution of the sunrise". Next he'll command it to rain only after sundown. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2007-08-24 12:22 |
| #7 Any different than changing Daylight Savings Time around so that it is longer than 'Standard' Time? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-08-24 11:56 |
| #6 Underwear will be changed every half hour. And worn on the outside so we can check... |
| Posted by: Hugo 2007-08-24 09:07 |
| #5 What would be the effect of the oil and gas pipeline values opening/closing at 12:00 while others at 12:30? |
| Posted by: ed 2007-08-24 07:12 |
| #4 yup. And what he isn't saying is that this screws up the software and business routines of anyone outside the country who tries to do business with them. And that is not a side-effect, it's quite likely one of the main purposes. |
| Posted by: lotp 2007-08-24 07:06 |
| #3 Didn't they try this in the French Revolution? Different calendar, different system of timekeeping, the whole works. |
| Posted by: Mike 2007-08-24 06:43 |
| #2 Ever considered just changing the time schools and businesses open? Oh, nevermind. I forgot that you had a thing for the grandiose solutions. Hey Oogo |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-08-24 05:02 |
| #1 I had to check the link to see if it was ScrappleFace or The Onion. Hey, I've got an idea: maybe Venezuela could use part of Zimbabwe's timezone. With the economic meltdown in Zimbabwe, I doubt they are using all of it |
| Posted by: SteveS 2007-08-24 02:16 |
