The Diomede Islands are two islands in the Arctic Ocean, between Alaska and Siberia. Despite the distance being 4 kilometres, there is a time difference of 21 hours between them. Why?
I’m asking because it’s quite difficult for me to grasp the concept of time differences when the physical distances are so short. I know of the International Date Line, but I’m not sure what it entails. If any nerds would care to enlighten me, I’d appreciate it!
(This question also applies to the Kiribati Island and Howland Island; the time difference is ~26 hours, yet the physical distance is only ~2160 km?)
In short, we defined our time measurment system that way.
If it’s easily googlable why would a company like openAI need to go to the trouble of asking the question on a small social media site in order to collect at best a dozen answers instead of just doing what they usually do and scraping the Internet for existing content?
Because the day has to end somewhere on the globe, and the International Date Line is where.
Here’s a great Map Men video that talks about time zones, and mentions the Diomede Islands and Kiribati as well:
