[LEAPSECS] [time-nuts] Leap Quirks

[Jonathan E. Hardis]

>It is also remarkable that about one-fourth (12) of the U.S. states 

>are bisected by timezones


14 states:

Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, 
Kansas, Texas, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Florida


>I would take this as evidence that people actually care about solar time.


Of course they do ... at a tolerance of +/- 30 minutes.  You can't 
use this as an argument that people care about solar time at a 
tolerance of seconds.  Indeed, whenever the weather lady on the 
evening news tells me the times for sunrise and sunset, it is only to 
a resolution of 1 minute, and not corrected for different portions of 
the viewing area.

Time zones were established, and are maintained, for the convenience 
of commerce.  Your time zone has a lot to do with the nearest big 
city with which your community trades.

    - Jonathan