Same thing here, our great great grand son will laugh at us, they will said we are primitive civilization because 100-200 years from now, today’s scientific principles shall be totally different and some may contradicted to our’s.

It is an anagram of Presbyterians.

I don’t want to appear smug because we here in Sydney are actually second cab off that particular rank, and that New Zealand is first to greet the New Year, (good luck to them). Actually I spent NYE on a beach with some of my family in Adelaide SA, and that it was a further half hour later. I was acutely aware that it was really NYE still, not earlier with my friends who were home, nor later for other friends in the USA, or Britain, or other relatives in another state in Australia.

And then there is daylight saving time as well!

I get peeved that certain world events get pegged to certain dates. The best example is the day Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. By agreement if it is understood that any extra-terrestrial activity be referenced to a ‘Universal’ time, then that is legally GMT, UTS, Zulu. It is co-ordinated, but certain News organisations and their affilliates, particularly in the US, and because they think they created the news, have it date-stamped for their date. OK, I know that other news editors in other countries should not be lazy, but correct these anomalies. By that token, he walked on the moon on the 21st of July, 1969. Though we can share that anniversary at the very same moment, it has different days on which to do so.

(On a different track, the short-hand for the World Trade Center attack – 9/11 – is a variant of this and represents a local, US practice of date format, generally not used elsewhere. I understand that and comprehend its meening, but wish it was more logical.)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking the US on this score, just pointing out the inconsistencies.

Greenwich IS halfway through the day, half the world, with about three quarters (three fourths!) of the world population, are well and truly into that day, call it Monday or whatever. Actually about 80 percent of the population live east of the GMT line, but of course some of them have only just gone to bed in say, Germany, if they were up late after their midnight. Consider China – 1.2b and India another 1 billion or so, there’s one third with just two countries.

If I remember correctly, it gets back to the understanding of the difference between Cardinal and Calendar reckoning. This was thrashed out in the Year 2000, re the actual start of the Century, and for that matter, the Millennium. (I didn’t know it had a double ‘n’, but I did know it had an ‘i’ near the end! Now check ‘Aluminium’.)

Ivan.

Each day does not start at the date line, the date line is just where you convert from one date to the other–but it could be 3pm in the afternoon. Greenwich is opposite the date line, but there is no day that it is halfway thru.