Europe spans four primary time zones and generally switches to summer time at the same time; All member states of the European Union observe summer time at the same time of the year.
The Central European Time (UTC+01:00) is the official time for the majority of the member states of the European Union and candidate countries. The 2nd most used, by number of states, is Eastern European Time:
Other states using time different from CET are: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, parts of Spain, parts of France and Iceland (candidate). Most of these states use Western European Time, although this time zone is legally defined as Greenwich Mean Time in the UK.
The time zones actually in use in Europe differ significantly from their "pure" theoretical variants as used for example under the nautical time system. Theoretically the world is divided into 24 time zones of 15 degrees. However, due to geographical and cultural factors it is not practical to divide the world so evenly and actual time zones may differ significantly from their theoretical borders. In Europe's case, the widespread use of the Central European Time Zone causes a major distortion in some areas from the theoretical time or the solar time. CET is theoretically centred around 15°E. However, Spain lying almost entirely in the Western hemisphere, and France with some regions to the west should theoretically use UTC, as they did before the Second World War. The general result is a solar noon which is much later than clock noon. This results in later sunrises and sunsets than should theoretically happen. The Benelux countries should also theoretically use GMT.
A time zone is a region on Earth that has a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. It is convenient for areas in close commercial or other communication to keep the same time, so time zones tend to follow the boundaries of countries and their subdivisions.
Most of the 40 time zones on land are offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) by a whole number of hours (UTC−12 to UTC+14), but a few are offset by 30 or 45 minutes. Some higher latitude countries use daylight saving time for part of the year, typically by changing clocks by an hour. Many land time zones are skewed toward the west of the corresponding nautical time zones. This also creates a permanent daylight saving time effect.
Before the invention of clocks, people marked the time of day with apparent solar time (or "true" solar time) – for example, the time on a sundial – which was typically different for every settlement.
When well-regulated mechanical clocks became widespread in the early 19th century,[citation needed] each city began to use some local mean solar time. Apparent and mean solar time can differ by up to around 15 minutes (as described by the equation of time) due to the non-circular shape of the Earth's orbit around the sun. Mean solar time has days of equal length, and the difference between the two averages to zero after a year.
Rory McIlroy, MBE (born 4 May 1989) is a Northern Irish professional golfer from Holywood in County Down. He is formerly the World Number One. On 19 June 2011 he won the U.S. Open, setting a record score of 16-under-par on his way to an eight-shot victory. He has been cited as the most exciting young prospect in golf and having the potential to become one of the highest earners in sports in terms of endorsements.
McIlroy has represented Europe, Great Britain & Ireland, and Ireland as both an amateur and a professional. He had a successful amateur career, topping the World Amateur Golf Ranking for one week as a 17-year-old in 2007. Later that year he turned professional and soon established himself on the European Tour. He had his first win on the European Tour in 2009, and on the PGA Tour in 2010. He represented Europe in the 2010 Ryder Cup.
McIlroy was born in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland. He is the only child of Gerry and Rosie (née McDonald) McIlroy; he attended St. Patrick's Primary School and then Sullivan Upper School.
Alastair James Hay "Al" Murray (born 10 May 1968), is a British comedian best known for his stand-up persona, The Pub Landlord, a stereotypical xenophobic public house licensee. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In 2007 he was voted the 16th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups and again in the updated 2010 list as the 25th greatest stand-up comic.
Murray was born in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, the son of Lieutenant Colonel Ingram Bernard Hay Murray (through whom he is a great-great-great-great-great-grandson of John Murray, 3rd Duke of Atholl) and Juliet Anne Thackeray Ritchie (through whom he is a great-great-great-grandson of William Makepeace Thackeray). His grandfather was diplomat Sir Ralph Murray. Murray attended Bedford School and is a graduate of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he studied modern history. There he performed in the comedy group, the Oxford Revue in a show directed by Stewart Lee.
Murray married Amber, in 2000. The couple, who have two daughters, Scarlett and Willow, separated in 2008.
Time zones
It doesn't matter where you go or how you wiggle and squirm
We're in a maze, baby
All alone
What doesn't kill you has a momma's way of
Helping ya learn
Blast off!
Five, four, three, baby 'bout to
Push it through
It's a payoff
You can tell cause
Don't tow it away
We'll all be back tomorrow
After today
We'll all come back tomorrow.
Pit stop
We're in the middle, everybody's learnin' to breathe
Leavin' like an
Earthquake
Leaves you shakin' but at least we're not
Shakin' alone
Angel bright, life and death
Up the road gonna salt my bread
Angels fly around my head
All gatherin' at the foot of my bed
Don't believe the lies they said
Keep it simple around
Hot steam
We're in the middle and baby that's a
Beautiful thing
Don't kill the
Mockingbird, who's really just
Learning to sing
Don't tow it away
The Autonomous Commie Republic, which is part of the Russian
Federation, is situated in the far northwest of Europe, and spreads up to
the Arctic part of the Ural Mountains. It's crossed by 9 northern
parallels. Ten fair-sized European states could be placed on its
territory. Besides indigenous residents (that is, the Commie people), there
are also Russians, Ukranians, Nenetzes, Tchubashis, and Tartars.
And now, let's go back into history a little bit. (CLICK)
A boil lying on skins behind our backs was turning the knobs of a
small transistor radio.
("...making efforts to use radios as vehicles of the
psychological warfare. A subversive...")
And the tent was suddenly filled with an announcer's voice speaking Commie.
(Jane Jane Jane...)
Then, with music from Moscow, followed by English and French speech.
("The recording was made at the Moscow Theatre of Musical Miniatures.")
Now, back to modern times.
YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE. AT THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL
TIME BUREAU, COMMENCING AT TWENTY-THREE (23) HOURS, FIFTY-NINE (59)
MINUTES, SIXTY (60) SECONDS UTC, AN EXTRA SECOND WILL BE INSERTED INTO
NBS TIME SCALE. THIS ADJUSTMENT IS REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN
INTERNATIONALLY
COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME AS BROADCAST FROM THESE STATIONS, IN
CLOSE
AGGREEMENT WITH UT1, OR ASTRONOMICAL TIME.
("WA6ODB... with... a question...")
"and, uh ..."
"Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?"
"and about power ..."
"d'you kn--"
"we got so much power now ..."
"Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?"
"we got so much power now, that's ridiculous."
"d'you kn-- do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?"
"power, and all that, that's power, we got so much power, that's
ridiculous."
"We have--"
"power, power, power, power, power, power now, it's ridiculous. We
got so much power now ..."
"Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?"
"It's not even funny."
"D'you--"
"That's ridiculous."
"Do you know how many--"
"It'
s not even funny."
"D'you kn--"
"That's ridiculous."
"Do you know how many--"
"That's, that's ridiculous."
"Do you know how many time--"
"That's ridiculous. It's not even funny."
"D'you--"
"It's not even funny."
"D--"
"It's not even funny."
"Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?"
"It's not even funny.
How many time zones?"
"Yeah. We have, we have four in this country, right?"
(Hello?)
"How many time zones?"
"Yeah."
(Hello? Yes.)
"1, 2, 3 ..."
"Four in this country, right?"
"Uh, yessir."
"Mm hm."
"Uh, four ... 1, 2, 3 ... yessir."
"Right."
"1, 2, 3 ... yessir."
"Mm hm."
("...radio station, Radio Moscow")
"Uh, four ... time zones?"
"Yeah. We have four in this country, right?"
"Uh, nosir."
"We have, we have--"
"Uh, yessir."
"Mm hm."
"And, uh ..."
"Do you know how many time zones they have?"
"Uh, yessir. Uh, four ... uh, nosir. I never really studied that up."
"Eleven."
"Eleven. It's not even funny."
"Eleven."
"Eleven. That's, that's ridiculous."
"Eleven."
"Eleven. Well, that's what we can do. We can go anywhere, because
we live here, we--"
"Yeah, but--"
"--anywhere else."
"But, not only, not only the right of free travel, I'm saying... eleven."
"Eleven. 1, 2, 3 ... yessir."
"Mm hm. Eleven."
"Eleve
"That's how big they are."
"Yeah. Yeah. Eleven."
(What happened to my call?)
"That's how big they are."
"Yeah. Yeah. I, I can believe that, I'm a firm believer in that."
"Alright."
"1, 2, 3 ... uh, four ... yessir. 1, 2 ... yessir. Yessir."
"Mm hm."
(...Radio Moscow, 215 2101)
"The Soviet Union's the whole half side of the world."
"Yeah."
"And we're just a little, one little tenth of the globe."
"Yeah."
"They, uh, when you talk about fightin', we're a country that, uh,
we're a firm beli
ever on pride, and it's called help thy neighbor,
do not kill, do not, you know, steal, cheat, lie from everybody.
That's why we have to have computers, because man, nobody is perfect.
You know."
"Mm hm."
"It's not even funny."
"D'you--"
"and about p
ower, man, nobody is perfect. You know."
"So what is your point?"
"Nobody is perfect. You know."
"So what is your point, Glen?"
"There's, there's, there's two things you don't talk about, one's
politics, the other one's religion.
"D'you--"
"The reason
you don't talk about 'em is because they combine in
each other. You know what I'm saying?"
"Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union?"
"You know what I'm saying?"
"Don't you kid yourself. Thanks, Glen, for the uh... well, just thanks for
the, the good thoughts."
THIS CONCLUDES OUR TRANSMISSION TO OCEANIA. HOWEVER, LISTENERS IN
EAST ASIA MAY CONTINUE LISTENING ON THE FOLLOWING SHORTWAVE
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