25 March 2011

Nepal's unusual time zone

[Unable to embed video]

It is five hours and 45 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. This 3-minute BBC video explains why. And notes that the year there is 2067...

Addendum: The source code at the BBC is incorrect. I've sent them an email, but until they fix it, those wondering why Nepal's official time zone is 15 minutes off the hour will need to navigate to the relevant video at this link (rotate the globe).

Second addendum: The video embed is still incorrect and they haven't responded to my email.  For the TL;DR crowd who don't have time to access the link, Nepal's time zone was set according to the longitude of a mountain in the center of the country, so it is actually 15 minutes off that of adjacent India.

2 comments:

  1. I had to chuckle when I tried to increase the volume on the video player on the BBC site.
    This one goes to eleven.

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  2. Several years ago I flew from Agra, India, to Katmandu, Nepal.

    As I was checking in to the hotel I noticed the hotel clock was 15 minutes fast.

    I mentioned this to the desk clerk, and he said, "Did you just come from India?" When I said yes, he said, "We hate the Indians so much we won't share a time zone with them."

    !!

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