Is it really always 5 o'clock somewhere?

Cirrus · September 2023

Or to be more precise, on the hour, when the big hand is pointing right up and digital clocks read XX:00, is there ever a time when it's not 5pm *anywhere*?

I'm thinking about daylight savings adjustments in different countries and the possibility that there are adjacent time zones that might be populated by countries that are all either 4pm and 6pm, with nowhere in either time zone being 5pm.

stickyfiddle · September 2023

It's 17:16 here right now.

India & Nepal are actually interesting because they use GMT+5.5 and GMT+5.75 respectively. But that's extra delineations, not gaps. I'm not aware of any gaps in the timezones, even where it gets weird around the dateline.

Mayyyybe it might happen due to daylight savings at some point? Im not sure

EricTheWeary · September 2023

China doesn't recognize it's own time zones. So, everywhere is on Bejing time and there are gaps in the timezones as you go through China. So, maybe to Chinese people that song makes no sense.

elstoof · September 2023

stickyfiddle said:

It's 17:16 here right now.

India & Nepal are actually interesting because they use GMT+5.5 and GMT+5.75 respectively. But that's extra delineations, not gaps. I'm not aware of any gaps in the timezones, even where it gets weird around the dateline.

Mayyyybe it might happen due to daylight savings at some point? Im not sure

Same with Newfoundland, 30 minutes off the hour

Sporky · September 2023

I don't think it does ever happen. Every offset has too many places for it to be likely that there's ever somewhere not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UTC_offsets

With apologies for the second sentence of my post, which is almost unintelligible.

Cirrus · September 2023

UTC -12 was my best bet but I've checked and the two islands listed don't do daylight savings or summertime clock offsets so I guess I'm dead in the water.

Nitefly · September 2023

Daylight saving / summer time adjustments tend to happen at 2am, don't they?

stickyfiddle · September 2023

EricTheWeary said:

China doesn't recognize it's own time zones. So, everywhere is on Bejing time and there are gaps in the timezones as you go through China. So, maybe to Chinese people that song makes no sense.

Still plenty of places north and south of China though

Cirrus · September 2023

Nitefly said:

Daylight saving / summer time adjustments tend to happen at 2am, don't they?

Yeah, but then they're in effect for several months. So hypothetically if everywhere in UTC+12 was an hour ahead, and some places in UTC+11 were on standard time you'd go from +11 hours to +13 hours with nowhere actually running at +12hrs while the adjustment was in effect. So at 5am in the UK, it'd be 4pm in some places, 6pm in others, but not 5pm anywhere.

But it looks like that doesn't happen, so it's all a crazy dream.

Nitefly · September 2023

Cirrus said:

Nitefly said:

Daylight saving / summer time adjustments tend to happen at 2am, don't they?

Yeah, but then they're in effect for several months. So hypothetically if everywhere in UTC+12 was an hour ahead, and some places in UTC+11 were on standard time you'd go from +11 hours to +13 hours with nowhere actually running at +12hrs while the adjustment was in effect. So at 5am in the UK, it'd be 4pm in some places, 6pm in others, but not 5pm anywhere.

But it looks like that doesn't happen, so it's all a crazy dream.

That made my brain hurt!

stan · September 2023

@cirrus. ; considering that dreams are impermanent, then it can`t be 5 o`clock all the time anywhere. just sayin`...

Dominic · September 2023

What would Jimmy Buffet say ?

Dominic · September 2023

ok, what would he have said ?

notanon · September 2023

Even though this looks like it is for programmers well worth watching for non IT ppl

stickyfiddle · September 2023

notanon said:

Even though this looks like it is for programmers well worth watching for non IT ppl

There's *always* a Tom Scott video

Roland · September 2023

https://www.timeanddate.com/time/map/

merlin · September 2023

Just as long as you don't forget that the Sun never sets on the British Empire, and the there will always be tea at 5 o'clock. It doesn't matter where you are.

sinbaadi · September 2023

As I understand the terms of the original post, the question is whether it is always precisely 5 o'clock somewhere. Which surely for that to be true would need timezones separated by minutes not quarter hours?

ICBM · September 2023

Cirrus said:

Or to be more precise, on the hour, when the big hand is pointing right up and digital clocks read XX:00, is there ever a time when it's not 5pm *anywhere*?

I'm thinking about daylight savings adjustments in different countries and the possibility that there are adjacent time zones that might be populated by countries that are all either 4pm and 6pm, with nowhere in either time zone being 5pm.

Yes. The Chatham Islands are unique in using Chatham Standard Time, which is 45 minutes ahead of New Zealand and is the only place in the world which uses it. Therefore, when it's 5pm in the Chathams, it isn't anywhere else.

Dominic · September 2023

ICBM said:

Cirrus said:

Or to be more precise, on the hour, when the big hand is pointing right up and digital clocks read XX:00, is there ever a time when it's not 5pm *anywhere*?

I'm thinking about daylight savings adjustments in different countries and the possibility that there are adjacent time zones that might be populated by countries that are all either 4pm and 6pm, with nowhere in either time zone being 5pm.

Yes. The Chatham Islands are unique in using Chatham Standard Time, which is 45 minutes ahead of New Zealand and is the only place in the world which uses it. Therefore, when it's 5pm in the Chathams, it isn't anywhere else.

Winner

Cirrus · September 2023

Well, not really. If it's 5pm in the Chathams, it's 5pm somewhere isn't it?

ICBM · September 2023

Cirrus said:

Well, not really. If it's 5pm in the Chathams, it's 5pm somewhere isn't it?

Well, yes - but since its time zone is unique and has an unusual 45-minute offset, if it's 4pm or 6pm there it isn't going to be 5pm anywhere else... which is actually what I meant to say

.

Tannin · September 2023

If it was really always 5 o'clock somewhere, we would need not 24 different one-hour timezones, and not 48 different half-hour timezones, but 1440 different one-minute timezones. (Or a mere 720 of them if we don't care whether it's 5am or 5pm.)

Meanwhile, speaking of time zones, these chaps are good value.

Funkfingers · September 2023

Time is an illusion. Lunchtime, doubly so.

Douglas Adams

Emp_Fab · September 2023

Sporky said:

I don't think it does ever happen. Every offset has too many places for it to be likely that there's ever somewhere not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UTC_offsets

With apologies for the second sentence of my post, which is almost unintelligible.

I like it. It's good mental exercise for people to try to work it out. Kind of like Sudoku in words. You should publish a book.

roberty · September 2023

Sporky said:

I don't think it does ever happen. Every offset has too many places for it to be likely that there's ever somewhere not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UTC_offsets

With apologies for the second sentence of my post, which is almost unintelligible.

Reminds me of this pedal I'm making

PolarityMan · September 2023

Well you could always get increasingly precise about your definition of 5pm until it isn't 5pm anywhere.

Sporky · September 2023

Emp_Fab said:

You should publish a book.

I'm a bit busy with telly, cartoons, snacks, and graphic novels for a book. But maybe I shouldn't be.

PolarityMan · September 2023

Sporky said:

Emp_Fab said:

You should publish a book.

I'm a bit busy with telly, cartoons, snacks, and graphic novels for a book. But maybe I shouldn't be.

You could get a ghost writer, the only downside is the ectoplasm all over your pens.

Sporky · September 2023

I'm already sad that my Tombow brush pens aren't in colour order. Ectoplasm would be an ook too far.

Emp_Fab · September 2023

PolarityMan said:
You could get a ghost writer, the only downside is the ectoplasm all over your pens.

Steady on old bean.. No need to take this into the gutter.

Edit: Oh! P E N S !! Sorry... as you were.

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Is it really always 5 o'clock somewhere?

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