Interesting facts you learn

[Brains]

I thought it meant "If you are in England which are the most westerly and most easterly States of America?"

Is the date line the same as the 0 degrees east or west?

Living here in Greenwich in the eastern Hemisphere we are .09 of a second (just under a mile) from the 0 degree line.
There are 360 degrees in a circle (as the ancient Sumerians thought there were 360 days in a year, not 365.26)
Therefore the date line is 12 hours/180 degrees from Greenwich in either direction.
Very conveniently this happens to be the Baring Strait between Alaska and Russia
Therefore from a geographical (not political) point of view the Political state of Alaska is in both eastern and western hemispheres

There is a fascinating short book called Longitude by Deva Sobell it explains all this in simple English and it make a great story of double dealing and intrigue.

 

[vernon]

By the way. if anyone wants a free copy let me know as I have a spare paperback of it.

Dibs. I'll pass it on after reading it.

 

[upsidedown]

Edinburgh is West of Manchester, sounds wrong but apparently true (according to a bloke at work who knows about such things).

 

[Speicher]

I could always reposition my physical location to have a date with you, Speicher

Bearing in mind how much further south I am, I am prepared to allow some latitude on that!
Our meeting could encompass cakes, and cycling.

 

[Piemaster]

Exactly. The East Riding Militia will be along any moment to demand your guts for their garters.

You called?

Easy to tell if you are in Lincolonshire

 

[661-Pete]

The official International Date Line doesn't follow the exact 180° longitude line along its entire length: it deviates to the right or left in some places so as to avoid splitting autonomous states. Otherwise, islands like Taveuni in Fiji for example, which exactly straddles the 180° E/W line, would have to be split into two 'date' zones - a fate worse than merely being in two time zones, I imagine!

Regarding the East/West debate: I knew full well that the answer was going to be 'Alaska' in both cases, because it's a well-known trick question which I've heard aired often enough before! I suppose it depends on how pedantically you define 'East' and 'West'. There's no exact definition of what's East or West: you could argue that Bristol is (obviously) west of London, but equally it could be said to be 'east' of London - if you take the long way around the world! Indeed I'm pretty sure that an inhabitant of Taveuni, setting out to travel from, say, the 'left hand' end of the island to the 'right-hand' end, will tell his mates he's going 'east' - even though he'll cross from a location East of Greenwich to a location West...

 

[taxing]

Right, you remember that time he went on the missing with depression and couldn't be tracked down? Well the day before the story of his disappearance hit, me and a colleague were flying to San Francisco via LA. My colleague said he'd seen Steven Fry at Heathrow and then he pointed him out to me a few minutes later. He's very tall. Anyway, when we landed at LA, they wouldn't let us off until first class had engorged it's passengers. But there was only one in there! The stewardess sympathised with us and complained herself that the person who was in first class firstly couldn't be woken up and then faffed and faffed and had to be talked into disembarking causing a lot of delay and inconvenience (we were rushing to catch a connecting flight). It took almost an hour when the person deigned to leave the plane. And that person turned out to be.....a complete stranger. No, it was Steven Fry!

How odd. The story that he always tells is that he caught a ferry to Belgium. I suppose that makes a better story than "I wouldn't get off a plane for an hour." If I saw him in an airport I'd have to go and say hello, wouldn't be able to help myself.

 

[ComedyPilot]

I find it strange that a 'celebrity' can chuck his dolls out of the pram and refuse to leave a plane.

What would happen if you or I tried that?

Once again, one rule for them, one rule for the rest of us?

And before anyone plays the 'he had mental health issues' card - any other person doing that would have been forcibly removed and assessed in a hospital.

I'm sure he's a really nice bloke, but come on................?

 

[TVC]

The official International Date Line doesn't follow the exact 180° longitude line along its entire length: it deviates to the right or left in some places so as to avoid splitting autonomous states. Otherwise, islands like Taveuni in Fiji for example, which exactly straddles the 180° E/W line, would have to be split into two 'date' zones - a fate worse than merely being in two time zones, I imagine!

Which is where I got married, and why I got married there, it's as far from Leicester as you can get whilst keeping your feet dry.

 

[Brains]

With the benefit of hindsight it probably would have been a far better idea to put the international date line down the Eastern side of the Atlantic.
However this would have meant the centre of world time would have been Wellington NZ, and the day in Iceland and the USA would have been 'tomorrow'

When you look at a world map with the day/night marked on it, possibly the logical place to make the 'centre of the world' would be Singapore. It's roughly equidistant to all the major land masses and on the equator

 

[marinyork]

Don't see it would matter. There are after all no 'god-given' coordinates. Where the date line is makes a lot of sense to me.

As for the question, as Pete says it all comes down to what you define east and west to be. Imho the answer given is too vague because it doesn't refer to the coordinate system or whether you are comparing it to things on the globe. Longitude could just as easily be have been defined as 0 ≤ φ < 360°.

 

[Arch]

When you look at a world map with the day/night marked on it, possibly the logical place to make the 'centre of the world' would be Singapore. It's roughly equidistant to all the major land masses and on the equator

Possibly, but depending on the projection of the map. I saw a joke one once, it was very odd, you looked it and everything was familiar, but utterly wrong. It was Australian, and Australia was bang in the middle, and upside down....

 

[661-Pete]

Which is where I got married, and why I got married there, it's as far from Leicester as you can get whilst keeping your feet dry.

Must have been a great trip! What's it like there? Wiki says it's mostly a shield volcano.

Surprising how few land masses are actually crossed by the 180th meridian. Only parts of Russia, Fiji and Antarctica, so it seems: it misses all the other Pacific islands. More information here. There appears to be a monument marking the line on Taveuni.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Yup, it is the most westerly, as is obvious, but look where it stretches out to. It terminates at a point only a few miles from Russian territory and is so big (easily the biggest of the states) that is goes round so far, it ends up in the east!

But Alaska doesn't cross over the International time line, does it?? therefore, it ISN'T in the east!
Anyway, it still isn't the first state you reach if you hit the U.S from the west!


P.S. Stephen Fry is a twat anyway.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Edinburgh is West of Manchester, sounds wrong but apparently true (according to a bloke at work who knows about such things).

Yep, the UK isn't straight as people imagine. Edinburgh is paralell with Cardiff, Glasgow is paralell with Swansea and Ardnamurchan Point is west of Lands End by 18 miles. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
And NO, I didn't just look that up, I knew it already.

Both the most westerly and northerly points are in Scotland - Ardnamurchan point and Dunnet Head (NOT John O' Groats! which is merely the most northerly town, and boy what a DUMP it is!) respectively, and the most easterly and southerly points are in England - Lowestoft (ish) and Lizard Point respectively.

Lands End is nothing but the most westerly point in England - big deal (and and like it's northern cousin, boy what DUMP it is!).

Wales has to tide itself with the 'Smallest City' (St Davids) title instead seeing it's so geographically impotent (it's not north east south west, anything!)

Now, if anyone neeeds me, you'll find me in the lighthouse at Muckle Flugga, but bring a good bottle of whisky or two if you are coming, it's very quiet up here you know.