
World map of the difference between solar and clock time - gmac
http://blog.poormansmath.net/the-time-it-takes-to-change-the-time/
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nostromo
This is so cool! But the coloring is a bit frustrating because -1 on the scale
is just as red as -2 or -3 or more.

So, for example, Western China is the region that is most disconnected from
solar time. It's off by more than 3 hours. (Imagine a summer sunset at
midnight, or a winter sunrise at 10am.) But it looks just as red as
Saskatchewan, which is off by only an hour.

~~~
evincarofautumn
Note that while China has one official time zone, in practice many people
(particularly Uighurs in the west) use local time zones with less error.

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macintux
Loosely related: a study looking at how sleep patterns impact productivity, as
measured by looking at wages on eastern and western edges of time zones.
[http://econweb.ucsd.edu/~magibson/pdfs/sleep_productivity.pd...](http://econweb.ucsd.edu/~magibson/pdfs/sleep_productivity.pdf)

~~~
ctdonath
A glorious find, if my tired mind groks the summary (it's a long article).
Objectively confirms the adage "early to bed, early to rise, makes a man
healthy wealthy and wise", no? and establishes another strong argument
_against_ Daylight Saving Time? 12:40am, time for bed.

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iaw
Bill Nye had a clock built at Cornell University to emphasize this difference:
[http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2011/08/bill-
nye-77-harn...](http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2011/08/bill-
nye-77-harnesses-sun-rhodes-hall-clock)

~~~
fanf2
That shows the difference between standard time and local apparent solar time.
Apparent solar time varies through the year according to the equation of time.

This map shows the difference between standard time and local mean solar time,
which is fixed. There is a clock on the Corn Exchange in Bristol with two
minute hands with a fixed angle showing the difference between Bristol and
Greenwich mean time. The clock dates from the period when Railway Time (GMT)
was the practical time in common use, but British legal time was local mean
time.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exchange,_Bristol#Clock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exchange,_Bristol#Clock)

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Falcon9
London sitting pretty at (of course) +0 GMT and right on Solar time as well.

~~~
hackuser
That's not a big deal but it points to seemingly eternal benefits of being the
world's leading power for a time. Americans overlook many of those benefits, I
think.

For example, because the Internet and much of personal computing originally
were developed in the U.S., the whole world accomodates English and the ASCII
character set. If that doesn't seem like a big deal, then imagine if you had
to adjust to German, Arabic, or Japanese.

And there is the the UK cashing in on their former dominance again: Because
their empire included N. America, the world operates on their language (and a
very similar culture).

Or just go to China and see so many people dressing like Westerners, using
western techology, etc. Much of what we assume as 'modern' society is western;
just think of automobiles and their basic design, for example, or the
telephone, TV, etc. Imagine how it feels to see that all your tech was
developed elsewhere (which is an unfortunate accident of history and a
situation that probably won't last much longer).

~~~
idlewords
Yeah, but despite all that we're still called 'Westerners'. The victory is not
yet complete.

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lordnacho
Does anyone here live somewhere with a large difference? In particular Chile
and Argentina look like solar noon is a couple of hours after clock noon.
Sounds like the kind of place for late sleepers.

~~~
jrbancel
The fact that most of Europe is in the same timezone is disturbing. I remember
visiting Budapest (East of the timezone), coming from Bordeaux (West of the
timezone), and noticing how much earlier (1h30) dusk was.

I wonder if it has an impact on the mood of the inhabitants.

~~~
pmjordan
Having lived in all 3 countries, I can tell you that Austrians (roughly
centred on solar time, and Vienna, 1/4 of the country's population in one
city, almost half an hour ahead of solar) are very much early risers compared
to Spaniards. (the eastern part of Spain is almost 1 hour behind solar, most
of the country even more so) Opening times of shops reflect that; it's not
unusual for supermarkets in Spain to open at 9:00, while in Austria 7:30 is
probably the most common. The evening meal is generally also consumed much
later (clock time) in Spain. The UK is somewhere in between, which again fits
with the solar time offset.

Drawing any conclusions beyond that is frought with the peril of confounding
factors…

~~~
jzwinck
Indeed: I once walked into a restaurant in Spain and was told they were not
yet open for dinner. The time was 8 pm.

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wmf
This is the main reason why I think eliminating leap seconds won't be harmful.
Very few people have "correct" solar time today anyway.

~~~
Amorymeltzer
Leap seconds aren't about people but about highly accurate machines and
keeping highly exact measures of time, whatever "time" means.

~~~
devit
Irregularly jumping backwards 1 second is really helpful for that...

~~~
mentat
Physics still wins whether it's helpful or not.

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dividuum
There's a related Freakonomics episode talking about timezones and
productivity: [http://freakonomics.com/2015/07/16/the-economics-of-sleep-
pa...](http://freakonomics.com/2015/07/16/the-economics-of-sleep-part-2-a-new-
freakonomics-radio-episode/)

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blue1
Apparently, time in Spain got shifted in WW2 and never came back:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Spain#Central_European...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Spain#Central_European_Time)

~~~
lucb1e
Same in the Netherlands.

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haberman
Cool map! I suppose that for daylight savings time everything would get one
hour more red.

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zombees
Why do all the islands is the Atlantic skew left of the time zone they should
be in?

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seszett
To be closer to their mainland or neighbour's timezone.

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debacle
This came up last year when I was talking with a friend in Boston. Even though
we're in the same timezone, their sunset is over half an hour earlier than
ours. Interesting to think about.

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amelius
Shouldn't those vertical line-patterns be slanted? I mean, the axis of the
Earth is not perpendicular to the plane in which it rotates around the Sun.

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Retra
The angle of the Earth causes the sun to peak at a lower altitude, it doesn't
cause it to peak at a different time.

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amelius
Is this true in all seasons?

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Retra
Yep. The days are shorter (that is, fewer hours of light) in winter seasons
because the sun is at a lower angle and spends more time below the horizon,
not because there are fewer hours in the day. Your noon will repeat regularly
every 24 hours no matter what season it is.

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other_herbert
Just more fuel for helping California residents feel smug

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Mz
:-)

Perhaps one of the many reasons my life just makes more sense in California
(in spite of the high cost of living and other issues).

:-)

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zarq
What always bothers me in maps like these is how ridiculously detailed the
shorelines are. Who cares that you can see individual islands off the southern
coast of Chile?

~~~
smackfu
You work with the vector map of the world that you got.

