With Mecca at 40° 13’ East converted to 0° it will mean that travellers from the main part of the US will cross the new International Date Line into tomorrow every time they go to Alaska or Hawaii.
It shouldn’t inconvenience more than a few million people.
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Eh, the current International date “line” swerves back and forth 20 degrees or so, I’m sure in an alternate universe where this change was actually being seriously implimented, it could be swung west until it gets S of Hawaii.
The only way this could happen is if we made those parts of the world with large Islamic populations more influential. Like by giving them lot’s of money for something they own. Can’t see it happening. Why would the west dump lots of money into the economies of countries that want to kill us?
I thought that for religous purposes the time in Mecca considered (sunrise, high noon, sunset) had to be actual solar time, which varies over the year by up to fifteen minutes. So wouldn’t it be useless as a “mean time”?
Legacy of colonialism or not, the present Prime Meridian does put the International Date Line out in the middle of the Pacific, & I don’t know that you can find many people really inclined to change that.
[QUOTE=foolsguinea]
Legacy of colonialism or not, the present Prime Meridian does put the International Date Line out in the middle of the Pacific, & I don’t know that you can find many people really inclined to change that.
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There’s no necessary connection between the Prime Meridian and the Date Line. They just happen to be 180 degrees apart (except where the Date Line bends), which is a nice coincidence, but there is no reason why they need to be.
[QUOTE=Lumpy]
I thought that for religous purposes the time in Mecca considered (sunrise, high noon, sunset) had to be actual solar time, which varies over the year by up to fifteen minutes. So wouldn’t it be useless as a “mean time”?
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Also, Islamic prayertimes are according to local solar time, so what use would Mecca time be to Muslims elsewhere, anyway?
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig]
There’s no necessary connection between the Prime Meridian and the Date Line. They just happen to be 180 degrees apart (except where the Date Line bends), which is a nice coincidence, but there is no reason why they need to be.
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I hope you’ll admit it’s much neater that way. Actually, it’s pretty bizarre to claim that the Date Line has nothing to do with GMT. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=Magiver]
Just make sure they’re facing east when you do.
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Because doing it facing east is gay? Or is this one of those, “I don’t care where they’re facing, as long as I’m on top because ‘on top’ is less gay,” cases?
And what happened to Phil? Kid becomes famous and it’s, “Good bye, SDMB. I was on ‘Nightline?’”
[QUOTE=foolsguinea]
I hope you’ll admit it’s much neater that way. Actually, it’s pretty bizarre to claim that the Date Line has nothing to do with GMT. :rolleyes:
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I have no idea what you’re rolling your eyes at. There’s no reason why the Date Line has to be at 180 degrees longitude. If the least inhabited part of the world had fallen at 150 degrees East or 150 degrees West, the Date Line could have been drawn there with no inconvenience to anybody.
[QUOTE=WF Tomba]
I don’t think that’s it, but I watched the video and I have to say I loved the part where the scientist holds up a book that says “SCIENCE”.
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I like that guy and I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt regarding “moon has one-sixth the mass of Earth”. It could easily be the result of an science-illiterate translator. We need a doper who speaks Arabic to check for us.
