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Re: System time/timezone, was Re: Maximum size .bash_aliases file



On Sat, Jun 22, 2024, 11:02 AM Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:
> Yes, I realise that. The times are being displayed by the gettys,
> controlled by the /etc/issue format string.  Jobs are being run
> by cron, logs written by rsyslogd, and so on. And the term is … ?

Maybe there simply isn't such a term.  The subject is sufficiently
complex/delicate that there can't be a term for every single situation.

I think we are losing sight of the fact that all of timekeeping is an abstraction and over-generalization. Time zones were created to help regularize railroad schedules over wide areas. Timezones are an abstraction that permit us to _pretend_ that it is (physical) noon at the same clock time over an extended area. When in fact physical high-noon, determined by the sun's position in the sky, cannot be at the exact same time just a few centimeters west or east of my eyeballs.

        Stefan


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