What time is it? Now, that seems to be a simple question that would have a simple answer. But, it would depend where you where. Now tell me, if you were in Antarctica standing right at the South Pole (or at the other end of the earth standing at the north pole if the ice hasn't melted yet), that question would be a little harder to answer. All the time zones run together at the poles. At least you don't have to worry when daylight savingstime starts or ends if you live at the poles.
So, what time is it at the poles? Since no one lives at the north pole except Santa Claus (and he only cares what day Christmas falls on) it is a mute point. But, people do live at the south pole. There is a lot of reseach that goes on down there and in fact it is a great place to observe the sky. No city lights and during our summer here, they are having almost day long darkness. It is far enough away from civilization that interference is at a minimum. But, being directly at the south pole does present a problem if you are keeping a log and want to put the time down when something happened. I guess since all the time zones run together at the poles, you can take your choice. Well, that could be solution but I have read that they use to use GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) but that is no more, it is history. Now they use UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). I am also wondering, don't they have the initials mixed up? Shouldn't be CUT instead? Maybe they didn't like it to spell the word "cut"? I guess I will just have to keep on wondering about it. . . Now no matter what time you use, have a great day today, you hear?
What time is it? I usually can't tell you what day it is.
ReplyDeleteClock time is pretty artificial anyway. As long as they pick some standard and stick to it, their records should be good. Day to day, I'm like Jimkabob and often don't even know what day it is.
ReplyDeleteIt's today, right?
When did they change from GMT, and why did they do it? Is it like everything else that has to be changed from time to time just to make old folks look dumb. Like when & why did "pound sign" become "hashtag", and why in the world did they come up with a dumb name like that?
ReplyDeleteJimdabob, that is one problem we retired folks have. Isn't it great?
ReplyDeleteSixbears, you are right, we should live by our own rhythm and not worry about what else is going on. Only the lucky ones can do that.
Gypsy, Not sure when they did it but I still call it by its old name. At my age, I am allowed to do that. BTW, I didn't know they changed the name of the pound sign. When did that slip through?
I think it's internet (Twitter) related. Irritates the heck out of me and it took me a while to realize that hashtag meant the pound sign. Like you, I'm old enough to keep saying GMT so I will, and I guess since I don't Tweet I don't have to worry about hashtag.
DeleteI didn't know that, but maybe that is because I am not on Twitter. I do have an account on Facebook, but only because my son wanted me to. It seems my account got taken over by everyone else in the world, so I only check it once every week or so.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the delete above, but my comment made no sense. LOL
ReplyDeleteHere's what I meant to say:
Honey, I never bothered with a watch. Being a country girl in the truest sense, I told time by the sky or when the animals needed fed.
Only when I went to work for humans did the clock become so $%#@ important.
Now that I'm old, I only know when it's nap time.
Good Grief, DD... I don't remember what time zone we're in... but know it's 7 hours ahead than Texas right now. I used to just count forward 6 hours - if it were noon here, that would be 6:00... but then... instead of PM, I'd know it was 6am in Texas. (okay, so I'm a bit dyslexic) anyway.. now that DST is "on" in the States, I count forward 5 hours and again reverse the pm to am. Hey.... if Lotta Joy thought she/he didn't make sense, read this twice and see if you can figure it out. ANYWAY... what I was getting at is that next week we'll be flying back to TX and my poor old body is going to have to adjust another time to whatever the heck hour it is there. I'm just NOT gonna worry about the Antarctica or Santa Claus right now ;-)
ReplyDeleteHello my human friend,
ReplyDelete"Since lines of longitude converge at the North and South Pole, it's almost impossible (and very impractical) to determine which time zone you're in based on the longitude.
Therefore, researchers in the Arctic and Antarctic regions of the earth usually use the time zone associated with their research stations. For example, since nearly all flights to Antarctica and the South Pole are from New Zealand, New Zealand time is the most commonly used time zone in Antarctica."
Now then, to really confuse things. Over here in lil' ol' Britain, we don't go onto daylight savings until March 31. Which means that until then, we are one hour closer to y'all. Heck, me and my human seem to be in every time zone but our own!
Pawsitive wishes, Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest internet superstar!
Lotta Joy, I have been lucky enough to get up when I wake up. Very seldom do I set an alarm. My dogs will only let me sleep so long. Sometimes not long enough.
ReplyDeleteThe Odd Essay, it can get confusing. BTW, what part of Texas are you coming back to?
Klahanie, I guess time is a relative thing. I know one thing for sure, the older I get the faster it goes and since I am in my 70's it is flying by. I get up out of bed, turn around, and a couple of days go by. . .
Dizzy I can barely keep up with the Central time zone in which I live :(
ReplyDeleteMsB, I never change my watch when I travel. I am always on "Texas time". Does that make me march to a different drum?
ReplyDeleteNo Dizzy it just makes you normal. Most RV'ers I know that are not full timers keep their watches on the time zone where they are originally from or at least there is one clock in the RV with their time from home.
Delete