Time Zones...

[Camino Chris]

I am curious about the various time zones, so want to ask a question, silly as it is...Under each post and comments there is always the actual time of day the post/comment was made. Often times I notice comments are posted at 2:00am, 3:00am, etc. This is "middle of the night" to me and I wonder if these people stay up all night or are they posting from halfway around the world, so the time is showing up in my time zone possibly, but they may have really posted during the day in their zone.

Whew, this is a very wordy question for something that I know has a very simple answer...so what IS the answer?

 

[trecile]

There are Australians, Europeans, and many others posting to the forum. But I wake up in the middle of the night just to post here. JK

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

The time under the post is local time in the most of the European countries in my opinion.
Wish you well, Peter.

 

[trecile]

The time under the post is local time in the most of the European countries in my opinion.
Wish you well, Peter.

Actually, it shows the time for each individual user, if that makes sense. For instance, it's 6:51 am where I live and your post shows a time of 6:45 am

 

[SYates]

Actually the time zone is yours and converts the posting time from local to yours. For example:

If I post at 20:00 but you live in a time zone +6 hours from mine, the posting time would show it as 02:00 as it was 02:00 your time when it was 20:00 my time. Does that make sense? SY

 

[trecile]

To add - the time that is shown is based on what you set up in your preferences.

 

[Camino Chris]

Actually, it shows the time for each individual user, if that makes sense. For instance, it's 6:51 am where I live and your post shows a time of 6:45 am

I posted my original question approx 8:45am Central Standard time US, not 6:45am. So I think the times show up in whatever time zones the person viewing the post lives in (as I see you are in Oregon), which I assume is 2 hours behind me.

 

[Camino Chris]

To add - the time that is shown is based on what you set up in your preferences.

Well if people can choose "whatever", I guess there's no point in me mulling over this as there will never be "one answer fits all" anyway.

 

[Camino Chris]

Actually the time zone is yours and converts the posting time from local to yours. For example:

If I post at 20:00 but you live in a time zone +6 hours from mine, the posting time would show it as 02:00 as it was 02:00 your time when it was 20:00 my time. Does that make sense? SY

Yes it does!

 

[C clearly]

Well if people can choose "whatever", I guess there's no point in me mulling over...

The time is whatever time the post actually went up, based on your computer's clock. You set the time zone on your computer and could in theory use whatever time zone you choose!

If your computer says it was posted 5 minutes ago, then it was posted 5 minutes ago. The "time" is your local time on the viewer's computer.

 

[whariwharangi]

*phew* There is a question that would have kept me awake all night if I didn't know.

 

[Waka]

Me too.

 

[Davey Boyd]

Blimey, that really confused me for a moment, (worse than how many pairs of socks do I take for five months in summer - which is my current quandary)

 

[naplesdon]

The next question will be does the sun come up and go down at different times around the world?

 

[SabsP]

And in which time zone am I when crossing the bridge between Portugal and Spain and both feet in different countries... And is the bridge itself no man's land?
Ahh the suspense....The uncertainty...

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

The next question will be does the sun come up and go down at different times around the world?

Does the sun come up and go down at different times around the world?

 

[Camino Chris]

Hey all of you, I said my question was silly. Now you're poking fun at me...I only like the dry humor when I'm not the one being made fun of! Stop that...right now!

 

[Kanga]

All I know is that there are 10 time zones between me and Santiago. Or between me and @ivar who runs the forum.

 

[nycwalking]

A thread like this, is one reason I love this forum. Umm, I am nycwalking posting from los angeles. what time IS IT?

 

[Carlos Santiago]

A thread like this, is one reason I love this forum. Umm, I am nycwalking posting from los angeles. what time IS IT?

It's 13:18 on 16/02/17.
... but I see your time as "nycwalking, 34 minutes ago". There goes another phantom time.

 

[Kanga]

According to me, @nycwalking, it was 29 minutes ago! Here it is 4:30pm on 16 February.

 

[nycwalking]

Oh, I'm still on 15TH. Oh well!

 

[SabsP]

Reminds me of this brilliant clip from the West Wing.
No comments on politics ( see forum rules ) but the rest is hilarious!!

 

[Kanga]

@SabineP triple like!

 

[Waka]

Now I understand what a time zone is

 

[ChristianSdeM]

Where I grew up in Ireland in the 60s, our local priest decreed that our parish would remain 'on God's time' and masses were at the same time year round - no daylight saving in summer. Every time you made an appointment, you just added 'old time 'or 'new time'. Simple! Although the border regions were not clear....

 

[Camino Chris]

Reminds me of this brilliant clip from the West Wing.
No comments on politics ( see forum rules ) but the rest is hilarious!!

Totally hilarious! Loved the clip! Just look at all the fun you've all had at my expense. You're welcome!

 

[jmcarp]

To continue the off-topic banter, this all reminds me of a ship captain in mid-Pacific Ocean who realized that he would be right at the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line at midnight (2400) on December 31st. He positioned his ship just right so that he was simultaneously in two years, two seasons, two months, and two days all at once. I can only imagine if the captain posted a message on this forum at that moment, how confused we would all be .

BTW, he must have had a very accurate GPS.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Imagine how the first circumnavigators felt like when they arrived back home after three years and were a day off from everyone at home yet their daily logs were correct.

 

[jmcarp]

Imagine how the first circumnavigators felt like when they arrived back home after three years and were a day off from everyone at home yet their daily logs were correct.

Well, if they were confused, just imagine how the character from the movie Interstellar felt when he returned from hyperspace. (You have to see the movie to understand this comment.)

 

[Carlos Santiago]

Don't worry about being confused, guys. I have been in this state since I started following this thread. (But) As the great master Confusion once said, "Follow happy thread and time will not be."

 

[VNwalking]

And regardless of the date and clock time I'm late, rather than 'on time,' to participate in yesterday's banter.
OWT

 

[camino-david]

Interestingly, all the posts on this topic are timed in order, no matter what location is the sender. Starting with Camino Chris (yesterday 12.38am) to Viranani (today 3.43pm). If everyone else reads the same times, I reckon they are the times the posts are received on Arn's computer.
The next question will be about why the sun rises earlier in St Jean and rises later the same day in Santiago (I know the answer but I wouldn't bore you more)

 

[VNwalking]

Well, I posted at 12:13 PM; I suppose this proves that times posted on your thread are yours alone and have nothing to do with the poster (unless of course they're in the same time zone as you are).

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I took at look at the HTML Ivar's server sends to me and did a little analysis.

When a post arrives at Ivar's server it is tagged with a timestamp that is the number of seconds that has passed since midnight of 1/1/1970 GMT/UTC (this is how the UNIX operating system keep track of time.) When a page with a thread is served up to a forum member all posts have their timestamp arrival times converted to the corresponding time and date of the current time zone that the member has indicated is his time zone. If you move your cursor over the time you should see a tiny popup with that date and time. However the date and time that you see printed on the page will be different for recent posts. It may look like "23 minutes ago", "Today at 6:06 AM", "Yesterday at 12:04 PM", "Wednesday at 9:51 PM", etc. These times do not appear in the HTML served up. I believe javascript is used to produce this on the fly by noting the current time as known by your computer/device and the number of seconds timestamp code. If you wait a few minutes you will likely see that a time like 23 minutes ago will change to 26 minutes ago.

As Tom says: I hope this helps.

 

[Camino Chris]

I took at look at the HTML Ivar's server sends to me and did a little analysis.

When a post arrives at Ivar's server it is tagged with a timestamp that is the number of seconds that has passed since midnight of 1/1/1970 GMT/UTC (this is how the UNIX operating system keep track of time.) When a page with a thread is served up to a forum member all posts have their timestamp arrival times converted to the corresponding time and date of the current time zone that the member has indicated is his time zone. If you move your cursor over the time you should see a tiny popup with that date and time. However the date and time that you see printed on the page will be different for recent posts. It may look like "23 minutes ago", "Today at 6:06 AM", "Yesterday at 12:04 PM", "Wednesday at 9:51 PM", etc. These times do not appear in the HTML served up. I believe javascript is used to produce this on the fly by noting the current time as known by your computer/device and the number of seconds timestamp code. If you wait a few minutes you will likely see that a time like 23 minutes ago will change to 26 minutes ago.

As Tom says: I hope this helps.

Wow, you are a real techy guru and I am not at all. Thank you for your research of which I am sure you enjoyed doing and I am truly impressed and envious. Did it help?... well sort of, but I seem to do better with the "less is more" replies when it comes to explaining this foreign language I call technology information...and then I still don't always understand!

 

[trecile]

Interestingly, all the posts on this topic are timed in order, no matter what location is the sender. Starting with Camino Chris (yesterday 12.38am) to Viranani (today 3.43pm). If everyone else reads the same times, I reckon they are the times the posts are received on Arn's computer.
The next question will be about why the sun rises earlier in St Jean and rises later the same day in Santiago (I know the answer but I wouldn't bore you more)

???
And who is Arn?

 

[SabsP]

???
And who is Arn?

@Arn is a well respected forummember and moderator...

 

[C clearly]

Did it help?... well sort of, but I seem to do better with the "less is more" replies

The nice thing about the forum is that you can get a full range of answers, and different people can learn at different levels. Lots of computer explanations go over my head, but little bits sink in each time, and gradually I find that I understand more.

 

[dougfitz]

Well, I posted at 12:13 PM; I suppose this proves that times posted on your thread are yours alone and have nothing to do with the poster (unless of course they're in the same time zone as you are).

More likely posts are time stamped on submission with a UTC time stamp, which can then be translated by your computer into your local time. They have everything to do with the poster, but show the time of the post in the reader's local time.
You may remember the confusion caused when someone promised not to post until the following year when it was already New Year's Day in some parts of the world. Some us wondered why such a rash promise would be made!

 

[naplesdon]

I have a medal my father received from the Seabees when he crossed the international date line on his way to the south Pacific during WWII.

 

[VNwalking]

I took at look at the HTML Ivar's server sends to me and did a little analysis............As Tom says: I hope this helps.

Most of your post is over my head, Rick, but never mind. Thank you anyway.

You may remember the confusion caused when someone promised not to post until the following year when it was already New Year's Day in some parts of the world. Some us wondered why such a rash promise would be made!

Well, I rashly did not consider that all the Aussies on the Forum were already living in next year. (But then again, so were the Kiwis and they seemed to get the joke--but that's another story, and very much another joke ).

(And, yes of course, the poster's time is the basis for the time displayed on my computer but the time displayed on my computer and everybody else's computer are different. Well, it's the same present moment just different labels. And fortunately there's no confusion about now...wherever now is being lived out.)

 

[camino-david]

Sorry, I got Arn confused with Ivar.
Now I am totally confused about where I am, what year I am in and so forth. But I did Google for an answer and who can have a good argument with Google because it won't answer back. Try it!