Time Zones

Updated May 18, 2009

Official UTC time provided by the US goverment Here, Java Scripting has been disabled to make the site more accessable to some computers. ... [ http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?UTC/s/0/java ] Reference: This public service is cooperatively provided by the two time agencies of the United States: a Department of Commerce agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and its military counterpart, the U. S. Naval Observatory (USNO). Readings from the clocks of these agencies contribute to world time, called Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The time maintained by both agencies should never differ by more than 0.000 0001 seconds from UTC.

Globalization and distance has made it confusing to keep time straight for centuries. That is particularly true in this digital age.

And anachronisms, the 'abbreviations', have changed. The new standard is now called UTC - Coordinated Universal Time. The International Telecommunication Union wanted Coordinated Universal Time to have a single abbreviation for all languages. English speakers and French speakers each wanted the initials of their respective language's terms to be used internationally: "CUT" for "coordinated universal time" and "TUC" for "temps universel coordonné". This resulted in the final compromise of using "UTC".[5] Previously there was GMT - Greenwich Mean Time. There are a few differences in the calculations between the two terms, however, for many reasons the world is now adopting the newer UTC standard.

“Coordinated Universal Time is a reference time for events. It is based on and almost identical to the old Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) along 0 degrees longitude (the line that passes through Greenwich in London, England). We translate the UTC reference time to our local time by adding or subtracting the hours that correspond to our time zone. For example, (UTC — 6) is USA Central Standard Time and (UTC + 1) is Central European Standard Time.” - April Holladay in USAToday.com in Wonderquest - "Time and time again; catching a wave"

We now all communicate in relation to that UTC. For instance, you might be in a time zone that is UTC-4(hours); or one that is UTC+8(hours). In areas that have adopted seasonally changing 'daylight savings time', those one hour differences change when the switch is made back and forth to/from daylight savings time.

At any one time you might look at MyWorldClock.com [ http://www.myworldclock.com/ ] for links to the various times in international cities, and countries.

I've also found that a world map with time zone changes is invaluable since it shows relative relationships, and times in each location. Just hover your mouse over a location on the world map and that local time will be shown. To do this you will need Adobe Flash Player. This world map is from ClockLink > World Clock [ http://www.clocklink.com/world_clock.php ] ...

TIP: It's always useful information for your readers, in your first communication or post, to state where you're from and the UTC time. EXAMPLE: Here in Vancouver, Canada @ UTC-7 it is a beautiful spring day (during Summer's Daylight Saving Time).

PS: The time in London, United Kingdom is not always '0' as many might assume, but is UTC+1 during BST – British Summer Time (Daylight Saving Time.)

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