Who in the Earth invented time zones!

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Author Topic:   Who in the Earth invented time zones!

Grosshaus posted 12-04-98 04:26 PM ET
It's really depressing to live in Finland, 'cos when I have time to SMAC, there's nobody here.
Spoe posted 12-04-98 05:06 PM ET
Uh, in the US time zones were first introduced by the railroads in order to ease scheduling.
Surely there must be some other European SMACers within a coupla TZs of you...
CClark posted 12-04-98 05:14 PM ET
I'm not sure your question was serious, but...
Timezones where invented by Sir Sandford Fleming, a canadian from Scotland. As Spoe correctly pointed out, they were invented by Fleming while he was working on the railroads in Canada. He made the observation that each town between Halifax and Toronto set their own clocks by the sun. Seeing as how that's about 2000km, there were an awful lot of "timezones". In order for trains to run on schedule, they had to be standardized.
As to finding playing partners...dunno. You must be within an hour or so of the UK, so I can't imagine it'll be all that bad!
Jojo posted 12-04-98 05:16 PM ET
Saw a guy posting in here from Russia-- on your Finnish border-- but of course, I don't know if he was posting from St. Petersburg or Vladivostok!
Grosshaus posted 12-04-98 05:20 PM ET
Two hours from the UK, actually. Normally it's quite OK, but just a while back I was here alone for TWO hours. Now that's a bit too much.
Only Kaliningrad of Russia is in the same time zone. Besides it, there are only some Eastern European countries, Turkey, Greece and Israel on the same time. From those countries I've only seen one person here, Saras.
Jay posted 12-04-98 05:45 PM ET
Are you mocking somebody?
One day I started a thread just for Finnish people and found out there are at least 7 of us. Joten s� et ole voinut olla yksin kahta tuntia.
Marian posted 12-04-98 08:01 PM ET
It really is depressing.
All my three caht events failed because I somehow wasn't able to match time zones.
Ciao
Marian
Editor of the Alpha Centauri Zone
http://www.juhu.de/hartel/alpha
Kurn posted 12-04-98 08:10 PM ET
Hmmm, time zones arent that hard to understand. Just use your clock settings to see how much diference there is in diferent parts of the world
DCA posted 12-04-98 11:38 PM ET
Hmpf. I think time zones are a devious invention designed to make me lose my plane!
DCA,
The fact that an opinion is widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey posted 12-05-98 12:45 AM ET
I don't mind the timezones. Mostly because the longest I've been out of this one was 7 days. So I don't like to travel ok. I hate planes, my car's a piece of ****, & train seats are uncomfortable, & they get boring. Maybe it's the fact the Amtrak train is one of the few that comes through my towns train station. I was surprised it didn't crash when I went to New York for a Yanks game a few years back. The only time I've left this time zone was to go to Ohio ( ), actually Illinois. Well, Illinois is close to the singularity void of Ohio...
Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general,
YYYH
DCA posted 12-05-98 01:50 AM ET
Hey, I love to travel. I'm never going to keep a job unless I get at least four months free every year! Traveling is life!
DCA,
Puritanism: the haunting fear that somebody, somewhere, might be having a good time.
osric posted 12-05-98 02:24 AM ET
hmmm... i thought the only reason the wind blew across lake erie was that ohio s***ed. Spent 5 years there and it seemed the most interesting thing to do was to go someplace else.
Spoe posted 12-05-98 05:46 AM ET
Eh, I've been from GMT -7 to GMT +3. Longest out of Eastern was 3 weeks, twice. Once to Wales. Once to East Africa. Also been in all four hemispheres, so I guess you might say I like to travel. Interestingly, jet lag has never really hit me.
Gilgamesch posted 12-05-98 09:27 AM ET
I love to travel, but living in central europe it is really hard to leave our time zone. CET reaches even down to spain. The only place I ever been to with a time change was Britain.
Gilgamesch
DJ RRebel posted 12-05-98 10:06 AM ET
Uh .. just passing through before sleep...
In case it wasn't answered yet, time zones were invented by a Canadian while working on the railroads !!! There were too many discepencies between different towns !!!
Foxtaur posted 12-05-98 03:27 PM ET
Believe it or not, Sir Sandford Fleming is one of my ancestors - my mother's mother's multi-great grandfather.
I suppose that means you can all blame me for time zones, since I have some fraction of Sandford's DNA...

On the other hand, I won't take the blame for the irregular, zig-zag time-zone boundaries which various political regimes invented for their own purposes, instead of the simple 'every 15 degrees of longitude' system.
Marquesa posted 12-05-98 09:35 PM ET
If this was a serious question, then the Greenwich meridian was set up in 1675 and the World divided into time zones from then on.
It was adopted by the rest of the World on the 1st Nov 1884.
There had been some argument prior to this, because the French wanted the prime meridian to pass through Paris.
Pasi posted 12-05-98 10:22 PM ET
I'm a newbie on this forum so hi everyone!
:-)
(Actually I've been listening to you already for a while...)
I just would like to join this 'off-topic'
discussion by asking what is the time difference between Greenwich time (or Finland) and so called Pacific time? There is a chat next week I would like to join (Baldur's Gate)...
Thanks
PS: tervehdys kaikille suomalaisille!
DJ RRebel posted 12-06-98 10:55 AM ET
Welcome Pasi !!!
Actualy, I think the difference between Pacific and Finland is 8 hrs .. but I could be wrong there !!!
Pacific >>> Eastern = 3 hrs
Eastern >>> Greenich= 3 hrs
Greenish >> Finland = 2 hrs
Again .. this is a guesstamate !!!
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey posted 12-06-98 01:11 PM ET
Ok, I'm looking at a Timezone map right now. The difference between Finland & the Pacific area is 10 hours. Therefore if it was 4AM in California according to this map, it would be 2PM in Finalnd. Does that solve it, or did I mis-interprit the map??
Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general,
YYYH
Spoe posted 12-06-98 03:53 PM ET
Eastern is GMT -5
Pasi posted 12-06-98 05:27 PM ET
I thought it might be something between 8-11hrs. I think I'll try the 10hr time difference and hope the best :-)
Thanks, all of you
Pasi
Grosshaus posted 12-07-98 04:21 PM ET
Gosh, this gets a bit confusing! I've never actually understood which way the time difference goes and now I'm just about ready to burst into tears. And please do not try to explain me any of this.
This thread was started out of pure boredom, not of ignorance. Sorry for you who loved to share their knowledge
And I really was here alone for two hours, or at least nobody else wrote anything.
My ex physics teacher, Emma Bernoulli, is a grand... -child or all the Bernoulli dudes. I'm almost famous!!!
CClark posted 12-07-98 04:56 PM ET
One thing that helps is to remember that the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. Therefore, it's always "later" in Europe than it is in North America because the sun rises there first.
When people are eating lunch in London, most EST people are just getting up for breakfast.
That help any?
Marquesa posted 12-07-98 07:22 PM ET
Hey! That's really confusing. What you really mean is that it is always earlier in Australia than it is in Europe.
The dateline runs down the centre of the Pacific, so we have already had breakfast the next day when they are having breakfast in Europe and you are still in bed--yesterday.
Hope this helps.
DJ RRebel posted 12-08-98 06:21 AM ET
LOL ... I still think we should go to metric time !!!
IT would be much more efficient !!!
What kind of a silly subdivition is 24hrs ???
I used to know why there were 24 hours ... now I completely forget !!!
IIRC ...
There were 12 hours to the day, one for each major star/planet/moon, and then they added another 12 hours for night !!!
In fact, the hours were not equal in the beginning IIRC also ... seems that there were always 12 hours of and 12 hours of night, so a summer day hour would be longer than a winter day hour !!!
Pasi posted 12-08-98 01:21 PM ET
There is only one thing I would like to know...
What's the time at the north/south pole?

Pasi
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Author	Topic: Who in the Earth invented time zones!
Grosshaus	posted 12-04-98 04:26 PM ET It's really depressing to live in Finland, 'cos when I have time to SMAC, there's nobody here.
Spoe	posted 12-04-98 05:06 PM ET Uh, in the US time zones were first introduced by the railroads in order to ease scheduling. Surely there must be some other European SMACers within a coupla TZs of you...
CClark	posted 12-04-98 05:14 PM ET I'm not sure your question was serious, but... Timezones where invented by Sir Sandford Fleming, a canadian from Scotland. As Spoe correctly pointed out, they were invented by Fleming while he was working on the railroads in Canada. He made the observation that each town between Halifax and Toronto set their own clocks by the sun. Seeing as how that's about 2000km, there were an awful lot of "timezones". In order for trains to run on schedule, they had to be standardized. As to finding playing partners...dunno. You must be within an hour or so of the UK, so I can't imagine it'll be all that bad!
Jojo	posted 12-04-98 05:16 PM ET Saw a guy posting in here from Russia-- on your Finnish border-- but of course, I don't know if he was posting from St. Petersburg or Vladivostok!
Grosshaus	posted 12-04-98 05:20 PM ET Two hours from the UK, actually. Normally it's quite OK, but just a while back I was here alone for TWO hours. Now that's a bit too much. Only Kaliningrad of Russia is in the same time zone. Besides it, there are only some Eastern European countries, Turkey, Greece and Israel on the same time. From those countries I've only seen one person here, Saras.
Jay	posted 12-04-98 05:45 PM ET Are you mocking somebody? One day I started a thread just for Finnish people and found out there are at least 7 of us. Joten s� et ole voinut olla yksin kahta tuntia.
Marian	posted 12-04-98 08:01 PM ET It really is depressing. All my three caht events failed because I somehow wasn't able to match time zones. Ciao Marian Editor of the Alpha Centauri Zone http://www.juhu.de/hartel/alpha
Kurn	posted 12-04-98 08:10 PM ET Hmmm, time zones arent that hard to understand. Just use your clock settings to see how much diference there is in diferent parts of the world
DCA	posted 12-04-98 11:38 PM ET Hmpf. I think time zones are a devious invention designed to make me lose my plane! DCA, The fact that an opinion is widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey	posted 12-05-98 12:45 AM ET I don't mind the timezones. Mostly because the longest I've been out of this one was 7 days. So I don't like to travel ok. I hate planes, my car's a piece of ****, & train seats are uncomfortable, & they get boring. Maybe it's the fact the Amtrak train is one of the few that comes through my towns train station. I was surprised it didn't crash when I went to New York for a Yanks game a few years back. The only time I've left this time zone was to go to Ohio ( ), actually Illinois. Well, Illinois is close to the singularity void of Ohio... Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general, YYYH
DCA	posted 12-05-98 01:50 AM ET Hey, I love to travel. I'm never going to keep a job unless I get at least four months free every year! Traveling is life! DCA, Puritanism: the haunting fear that somebody, somewhere, might be having a good time.
osric	posted 12-05-98 02:24 AM ET hmmm... i thought the only reason the wind blew across lake erie was that ohio s***ed. Spent 5 years there and it seemed the most interesting thing to do was to go someplace else.
Spoe	posted 12-05-98 05:46 AM ET Eh, I've been from GMT -7 to GMT +3. Longest out of Eastern was 3 weeks, twice. Once to Wales. Once to East Africa. Also been in all four hemispheres, so I guess you might say I like to travel. Interestingly, jet lag has never really hit me.
Gilgamesch	posted 12-05-98 09:27 AM ET I love to travel, but living in central europe it is really hard to leave our time zone. CET reaches even down to spain. The only place I ever been to with a time change was Britain. Gilgamesch
DJ RRebel	posted 12-05-98 10:06 AM ET Uh .. just passing through before sleep... In case it wasn't answered yet, time zones were invented by a Canadian while working on the railroads !!! There were too many discepencies between different towns !!!
Foxtaur	posted 12-05-98 03:27 PM ET Believe it or not, Sir Sandford Fleming is one of my ancestors - my mother's mother's multi-great grandfather. I suppose that means you can all blame me for time zones, since I have some fraction of Sandford's DNA... On the other hand, I won't take the blame for the irregular, zig-zag time-zone boundaries which various political regimes invented for their own purposes, instead of the simple 'every 15 degrees of longitude' system.
Marquesa	posted 12-05-98 09:35 PM ET If this was a serious question, then the Greenwich meridian was set up in 1675 and the World divided into time zones from then on. It was adopted by the rest of the World on the 1st Nov 1884. There had been some argument prior to this, because the French wanted the prime meridian to pass through Paris.
Pasi	posted 12-05-98 10:22 PM ET I'm a newbie on this forum so hi everyone! :-) (Actually I've been listening to you already for a while...) I just would like to join this 'off-topic' discussion by asking what is the time difference between Greenwich time (or Finland) and so called Pacific time? There is a chat next week I would like to join (Baldur's Gate)... Thanks PS: tervehdys kaikille suomalaisille!
DJ RRebel	posted 12-06-98 10:55 AM ET Welcome Pasi !!! Actualy, I think the difference between Pacific and Finland is 8 hrs .. but I could be wrong there !!! Pacific >>> Eastern = 3 hrs Eastern >>> Greenich= 3 hrs Greenish >> Finland = 2 hrs Again .. this is a guesstamate !!!
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey	posted 12-06-98 01:11 PM ET Ok, I'm looking at a Timezone map right now. The difference between Finland & the Pacific area is 10 hours. Therefore if it was 4AM in California according to this map, it would be 2PM in Finalnd. Does that solve it, or did I mis-interprit the map?? Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general, YYYH
Spoe	posted 12-06-98 03:53 PM ET Eastern is GMT -5
Pasi	posted 12-06-98 05:27 PM ET I thought it might be something between 8-11hrs. I think I'll try the 10hr time difference and hope the best :-) Thanks, all of you Pasi
Grosshaus	posted 12-07-98 04:21 PM ET Gosh, this gets a bit confusing! I've never actually understood which way the time difference goes and now I'm just about ready to burst into tears. And please do not try to explain me any of this. This thread was started out of pure boredom, not of ignorance. Sorry for you who loved to share their knowledge And I really was here alone for two hours, or at least nobody else wrote anything. My ex physics teacher, Emma Bernoulli, is a grand... -child or all the Bernoulli dudes. I'm almost famous!!!
CClark	posted 12-07-98 04:56 PM ET One thing that helps is to remember that the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. Therefore, it's always "later" in Europe than it is in North America because the sun rises there first. When people are eating lunch in London, most EST people are just getting up for breakfast. That help any?
Marquesa	posted 12-07-98 07:22 PM ET Hey! That's really confusing. What you really mean is that it is always earlier in Australia than it is in Europe. The dateline runs down the centre of the Pacific, so we have already had breakfast the next day when they are having breakfast in Europe and you are still in bed--yesterday. Hope this helps.
DJ RRebel	posted 12-08-98 06:21 AM ET LOL ... I still think we should go to metric time !!! IT would be much more efficient !!! What kind of a silly subdivition is 24hrs ??? I used to know why there were 24 hours ... now I completely forget !!! IIRC ... There were 12 hours to the day, one for each major star/planet/moon, and then they added another 12 hours for night !!! In fact, the hours were not equal in the beginning IIRC also ... seems that there were always 12 hours of and 12 hours of night, so a summer day hour would be longer than a winter day hour !!!
Pasi	posted 12-08-98 01:21 PM ET There is only one thing I would like to know... What's the time at the north/south pole? Pasi