Thank, you Robert! It never occurred to me that eve and evening could be something different - and perhaps I have also the handicap that Christmas Eve in Denmark is where all the fun stuff happens, exchanging gifts, dancing around the Christmas tree etc. and there is nothing special about Christmas Day (the day after, as I understand it). While in the US the presents are received on Christmas Day. I think also that it would be strange to start a new period like Ramadan having the first day different than the rest. But if we can get a clearer web link or a notification from Hammad Hassan where we don't have to second guess anything - that would be nice. Of course it would be even nicer if the international community would recognize that there should be an "ombudsman" (or office) of timezone issues, to which each country must inform about their plans for time changes, or else ... Of course, I'm dreaming, that will never happen, and I guess it's just like human rights etc. the countries that will respond (and report time changes some time before they happen) are the ones that are already doing it correctly, and in an organized manner. Regards, - Jesper -----Original Message----- From: Robert Elz [mailto:kre@munnari.OZ.AU] # The eve of a day is not the same as the evening of the day, it means the # day before the day concerned (hence Christmas Eve is Dec 24 ...)
Jesper Norgaard Welen <jnorgard@prodigy.net.mx> writes:
it would be even nicer if the international community would recognize that there should be an "ombudsman" (or office) of timezone issues, to which each country must inform about their plans for time changes, or else ...
If memory serves there was vague talk of proposing that to the U.N., but nothing ever came of it. The U.N. is kinda busy doing more-important things I guess. Somehow this reminds me of the following story: Brian Biggs, "Bush Proposes Universal Time Zone", BBspot (2003-05-20) <http://www.bbspot.com/News/2003/05/universal_time_zone.html>. Two sample quotes: At the United Nations today President George W. Bush announced a proposal to unify all the world's time zones into a single Universal Time Zone (UTZ), formerly known as the Eastern Time Zone. ... Britain immediately supported the US plan. "If it means sleeping in broad daylight then we'll stick with our allies," said Tony Blair, "Of course there's never broad daylight in the UK, so it's not much of an issue."
in the US the presents are received on Christmas Day.
That's the most popular tradition here, popularized by Henry Livingston, Jr.'s famous poem "A Visit from St. Nicolas" (a poem often incorrectly attributed to Clement Clark Moore). However, lots of people here exchange presents on Christmas Eve. I grew up in a family that did that. I expect it mainly depends on how close one's family is to its European roots. I don't know of any UTC offset change that has ever occurred on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, though December 23 has seen them (Cancun and Merida in 1981, according to our database).
participants (2)
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Jesper Norgaard Welen -
Paul Eggert