At work, we have a team of laid-back software engineers working in Adelaide (for various historical reasons). They have to stay late at work so that they can conference-call their UK counterparts every day at 8am (GMT). Our guys get in early, the Aussies stay late.
Amazing. We can send a signal all the way round the world to allow a conversation to happen - a video link shows us Adelaide in real-time, glimmering in the glow of an Australian autumn evening. Meanwhile here, the sun shimmers through the morning fog, the blossomed trees shiver in the cool air and the day is just beginning.
I know this is because the world is round and it can't be daytime on both sides at once. It's obvious really, but if you stop and think about it, it's actually kind of cool to see it in action. Right now at 23:49, Emmie (my friend in Toronto) is probably enjoying a Friday afternoon snack or is busy training at the gym. Meanwhile, over in Brisbane, my other far-flung friends, The Saunders, are just waking up and wondering what Saturday might hold. What's more, at every point in Earth's history, somewhere it is sunset, and somewhere else it's sunrise.
My boss's boss sees it as a pain: especially when the Australians disappeared to the pub for a Friday night bevvy instead of chatting to the bleary-eyed Englishmen at the other end of the conference call. While he calmly reiterated to us that it wasn't 'the way things are done' I sat thinking about how cool it is that we live on a spherical planet, suspended in space by gravity and... um... magic.
I've been thinking for a while that I ought to get a telescope. Apparently, even with a simple one you can make out the features of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn and great detail on the surface of the Moon. Alright, you have to fight cloudy nights and terrible light pollution, but it would be worth it maybe, for those rare glimpses of the stars.
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