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From: Bill (no email)
Date: Wed Apr 06 2005 - 17:45:36 EDT
> Thanks to Bill for a really interesting posting about "the
> circumnavigator's paradox".
George
I think I liked this article as it was the one that caused the little bulb
over my head to light up. I had read a half dozen articles on the date
line, from grade school level up, complete with colorful diagrams, but never
really grasped the concept. Just plug and chug based on a set of rules.
My problem, as usual, frame of reference. I kept thinking of it in 20th
century terms, calendar and watch. With this article, the frame of
reference shifted to Sun time. Bingo, unification theory for the terminally
slow. I hop on an aircraft at LAN, head west and circle the globe at 15d
per hour, and I arrive back at LAN. Sun time, no time passed. Digital
watch shows the same time as when I left, but a day later despite the fact
it had been LAN for me the whole flight. Going west, I would see two "Sun
days," but only one would pass on my watch.
Now I don't need to remember any rules, I understand the concept.
Bill
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