US time zones

I have always wondered how yo cope with time zones.

if you live near the line and I live on the other and I can see your house what time do we have? would really be a one hour difference between me and you?

Time zones are very annoying, but what's even worse is standard and summer times. In Britain during WWII, there were even simultaneous summer and war time, or "double summer time." Aaargh!

It's even worse in the summer,because some parts do not participate in Daylight time at all and you can actually drive throught 3 time zones in about an hour in parts of KY.IN.

yes but if you can see your neighbor who is in a different time zone what do you do? if you are 5 minutes from your neighbor do you obey the different times or do you choose

That's right, and the same has been true in the past of Illinois and other states. Pennsylvania has always had time zone issues, too. During certain years in Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania, times on birth certificates had to be stated in standard time notation, by law, regardless of whether or not daylight savings time was in effect.

That's a good question, Mark. Time zones are completely arbitrary things and their boundaries have changed repeatedly over the years, adding to the problem. I honestly don't know what would happen in the case you describe -- we could be inches away according to time zones, and an hour apart. There's no line drawn in the sand, so how the distinction would be made is beyond me.

It is very confusing if you are on the edge. I grew up in Alabama on the Chattahoochee River which is the state dividing line south between Georgia and Alabama at that point. Georgia is EST and Alabama is CST but the north part of our group of towns was on the west side of the river and in Georgia and on EST so our group of towns in Alabama are on EST rather than CST with the rest of the state. Confusing, you bet! I now live in Panama City, Fl which is very close to the EST/CST dividing line and I am on CST with the majority of Florida on EST.

Think how big country China is, and there is only one time zone...

But doesn't Russia have 11 time zones?

Yes! The time zone situation is weird beyond belief. And telling time at sea is even worse -- ship's time is often different from the time zone the ship, itself, is in.

There is a town that is on the border between OH and IN (both states are Eastern Time). OH participates in DST; IN doesn't. So to answer your question, Mark, yes, in that town, one house is 11 am; the house across the street is noon. Very very frustrating for everyone involved, especially for restaurants!

How does China handle having only one time zone? Dawn comes at 6 a.m. for the eastern part and at 10 a.m. for the western part? Odd.

Imagine what time the sun rises in China. Wouldn't it vary greatly depending on where you live? It appears Russia has 5 time zones right next to China. http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/world_tzones.html

The time zones are not as bad as the really old days when every city had there own local time. Remember, Noon is when the sun is straight over head (relative to you.) The standardization (time zones) was done by the power of the railways.http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/nov18.html

It think Russia has got 12.

Lupine, I think the China's one timezone has something to do with the politics.. Communism - same for all you know? Sure is confusing.

Russia has eleven time zones, but the time picture is greatly complicated there. http://www.mindspring.com/~gwil/tru.html

You're right, just checked it from my book. http://www.worldtimezone.com/time-russia1.htm

We flew from Minneapolis to Fairbanks, Alaska back in 1968.
Left here at 8 AM, arrived there at 2:30 PM but flew for many hours. Still haven't figured out what time it was! LOL
Bernie