A picture is worth a thousand words.
Posted on 12/29/2011 4:00:58 PM PST by SES1066
The South Pacific Nation of Somoa is moving the International Dateline from west of their country to east as of their local midnight. Friday, December 30 2011, will not occur in that country.
Drive me crazy to see a zig zag line on the side of the globe opposite Greenwich.
“Most amusing”, replied Einstein.
Alaska’s Fault.
Think of the time traveling you can do between the two islands!
Believe me when I say I never bothered to look at my watch on those flights.
A day late and a dollar short...
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Time travel is possible.
Alaska time is one hour behind Pacific Time, though its “natural” time zone would be more like two. The western Aleutians are an hour behind Alaskan time, though they should be two hours behind. I remember going to breakfast on Shemya at 5:00 AM during datelight savings time. It was about 2:00 AM solar time, but the wall clock said 5:00 AM. The only thing that could have made it more confusing was if we were a day ahead of CONUS.
In many cases the International Date Line originally was set by whether the Western explorers came east from Europe or west from Europe.
In the case of the Philippines the Spanish came from the east, and the Philippines traded with the western, Spanish coast of the Americas. When the Spanish lost control of Central and Southern America the Spanish “transferred” it over the International Date Line at year end, 1844-45.
In the case of Russian America the Europeans came from the west, and Russia’s day began on the Russian American/British American border. Of course the Russians also used the Julian calendar. The Russians sold out to the Americans, and October 6, 1867 was followed by October 17, 1867 to move Alaska forward 11 days, 12 days forward to the Gregorian calendar and 1 day back to move the International Date Line west of Alaska.
They get to travel into the future without swallowing the impossible concept of a DeLorean reaching 88 miles per hour.
Thank you for the graphic evidence. Much appreciated!
A lovely trapezoid.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.