Results: I thought it was time I did a survey about time. But time can be linked to distance to measure speed. Gravity also has an impact. They are more related than you might think. Just ask Einstein.

Our planet Earth, its shape, rotation and how locations and time are calculated on it provide some facts that I hope you will find as interesting as I do. For example, the half way point between the North Pole and the Equator is the 45th Parallel North. Portland OR in the US and Montreal Que in Canada are places of note on this parallel. Did you know this?

The half way point between the South Pole and the Equator is the 45th Parallel South. Almost 97% of this line passes over water. There are no major cities on this parallel as it passes through New Zealand and the southern tip of South America. Did you know this?

The line at zero degrees longitude that runs from the north pole through the London suburb of Greenwich is called "Greenwich Mean Time" or GMT. It is also called the zero meridian. This line passes through the UK, France, Spain, Algeria and 4 other African countries before heading south to the pole. East of this line, time is GMT plus and west of this is GMT minus. 10AM where I live in Canada is 5PM where my sister lives in Scotland. Would you still make a "Happy New Year" phone call?

If you go east or west of the zero meridian you eventually reach the 180th or antimeridian. The antimeridian passes mostly across the Pacific Ocean but its use is as the basis for the International Date Line. In theory, if you step over the Date Line and back you gain or lose a day. In reality it snakes around territories of Russia, the US and New Zealand and only ships experience this phenomenon. When it is 5pm on Sunday in my town in Canada it is 11AM on Monday in Sydney Australia. Makes sense?

Winter in Canada is summer time in Australia. Having Christmas dinner in Australia in the middle of summer would be confusing enough. Looking north to see the sun rise and watching it move from right to left during the course of the day would be strange to a visitor from North America. Agree?

The idea of GMT was to standardize time. Since then however, politicians have introduced Daylight Savings Time, 1/2 hour time zones, some change clocks spring and fall and some don't, clocks change at different times in different countries as well. Airlines, news broadcasts, businesses all have to make some sense of this. Have you been able to?