It was a Canadian - Sir Sandford Fleming - who developed the system for keeping time around the World. He advocated the adoption of a standard time with hourly variations that were set in accordance with established time zones. He then convened the International Meridian Conference in 1884, where the international standard time system was adopted. Little did he know how important such a system would be as the World grew so much smaller during the next 130 years with ubiquitou

In some ways it was easier in the old days. You could make a quick decision on your own and make it stick. No committees to bring in or research to run. Likewise, no communications to contend with, or special interest groups to deal with. In the old days you could simply "decree" something - yes, you could even use the word as a verb. But of course, there were also down-sides to decrees. Without searching for evidence, the decisions were sometimes hopeful rather than realisti