![]() ![]() I have no idea what is going on in Oklahoma in this map, and I didn't bother to change it. Note El Paso becomes an isolated area of what was once America/Denver (Mountain Time), but would probably become America/El_Paso. (I also made Eastern hues of purple, to clearly show they're separate. I attempted to fill in the areas not making any changes with their original zone: If you can contact them via such a method, you can arrange an appointment for a live discussion by asking them when they would be available for such. A lot of people keep in touch with long distance relatives via email, Facebook or text messages, all of which allow you to send the message whenever you feel like it without worrying if the other party is currently available for live interaction. Plus, it's the relatively rare Luddite that you can only contact by phone these days. ![]() In actual practice, that's how most people seem to handle long distance relationships where they keep in touch regularly. ![]() If I wait until after I eat dinner, she will be asleep." ![]() You can remember the correct time to call in relation to your own schedule: "Got to call Grandma as soon as I get home from work. In practice, if you keep in touch on a regular basis, you don't actually need to remember their time zone at all. It also involves knowing a bunch of other details about their life, like their work schedule, if they have the kind of job where it is okay to call them at work if you keep it brief (eg overnight security guard who walks around once an hour and otherwise watches video feeds from cameras), whether they are a morning person or a night person, what non work activities they regularly attend (church, hobbies) and when they attend them, etc. Knowing when to call a relative involves more than knowing their time zone. "It would be neat if there was a lookup table for that kind of thing." "The same time of day on the same day of the week means many different things to different people all over the world," I say. "And where I live," Uncle Steve says, "it signifies a hangover." It used to be pretty universal, but now where I live it signifies a time to go out and get drunk." "I guess I have no idea what 04:25 on Saturday signifies. "And 05:00 is when I get up on a working day," Uncle Steve continues. The technical term for it is 'daylight saving'." Equatorial countries don't, because they get plenty of light all year round. "That deliberate misalignment of the diurnal routine. "I didn't know you did that in Australia," I say. That's about two hours later than I reckoned," I tell him. That means that on a working day, I get up at 05:00, at the earliest." Here in Melbourne, solar noon is about 10:30 Standard Time, so the average school day is timetabled from 07:00 to 14:00, and a typical working day runs from about 07:00 to 15:00. In countries above and below certain latitudes, where seasonal variation in the amount of daylight is significant, it's important for there to be the maximum amount of light when children are going to school in the morning, and coming home from school in the afternoon. "We don't centre our waking/sleeping cycle on solar noon, fool nephew," Uncle Steve explains. I can actually hear him rubbing his eyes. "But do you know what 04:25 on Saturday signifies in Melbourne?" everywhere." I add a dramatic emphasis to the last word. "Of course I do, and so do you! It's 04:25 on Saturday. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" Uncle Steve asks, sounding as if he is still asleep. ![]()
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