Original Post
(UTC/GMT) Time Conversion
If you've ever been stumped by that weird GMT time you see in all the event threads (Like I have been), this tutorial will help put that behind you.
Let’s say some guy is getting ready for a tournament in Toribash. It's his favorite server, and he thinks he has a chance of taking the prize. Then he reads the time of the event... 0:30 UTC/GMT...
He may think, "What does that mean? Why can't they just put the time I'm supposed to be there?!"
To answer his question - They do. This UTC/GMT time IS the time you are supposed to be there. The only problem is... you have to convert it to your local time.
I'm going to give you an overview of the whole UTC/GMT time standard. What it is and how it became to be. It's for you if you want to understand why you have to waste your precious time converting times. Since you are wasting your time converting, why not waste some time reading about what you are wasting time over? You may learn something, and you could use it in the long run. Not bad for a waste of time.
But if you're in a hurry or already know this stuff and just want to convert the time already, just scroll down until you see...
__________________________________________________ _______________
I researched this stuff for a few hours so I didn't make any of this up. I backed my info up with more than one source, for the critics -_-. Anyway, if you want to read, go for it, if not, scroll to the line... 3...2...1...GO!
Ok. So you decided to learn something? Good for you. Lemme explain some of the details about GMT/UTC and time zones.
Many years ago, many people relied on sun-dials to tell the time of day. When the dial pointed directly at the sun, the shadow would be cast on 12:00 PM. Many of these sun-dials were very complex, and could be used in different seasons. But, the clocks were in different positions- The tilt of the earth, its rotation, etc, all had effects, and a clock in one city could be totally different than one in another. Later on, pendulum clocks were created, later replaced with quartz clocks. Again, community's times varied depending on the position of the sun. Many cities had a large clock that told the time - their own city's time.
This became a problem during the late 1800's, when the U.S. and Canada were utilizing transcontinental railroads - you know ... "Dude, it was 12:52 two minutes ago... now it’s 12:48?" Actually, the time changed by approximately one minute for every 12 miles traveled east or west.
To fix this, a Canadian man named Sandford Fleming developed a system of standard time in the late 1870's. In 1884, delegates from 27 nations met in Washington D.C., for the Meridian Conference. They agreed on a system that is basically what is in use today.
His plan involved time zones. Each consecutive zone would have a different time - normally a one hour difference. This difference would be subtracted or added from the time of the Prime Meridian, depending on which zone it was.
The next step was to find the best spot for this Prime Meridian (that imaginary line of longitude that separates the hemispheres. Like the opposite of the Equator). Putting a Prime Meridian would establish a single world meridian to replace the numerous ones that many countries told time by, it would establish a universal day for all countries to adopt, and a lot of other good stuff. The place chosen was at zero degrees longitude- running through Greenwich, England. This standardized the time for the whole world. It took time to get the time zones created, since many people wanted theirs changed for this or that- China, one of the biggest countries in the world, decided to adopt 1 single time zone.
After it was said and done, we have the GMT time (often called World time). Greenwich Mean Time. Each time zone would have different times, but all times could be synced to the GMT time. If a person lived in a time zone that was six hours ahead of GMT, then all they would have to do is take the time of the event in GMT and add 6 hours to it. Now, there are things like daylight savings time that interfere with it, but you won't need to know that for this tutorial.
It's very important to know this... GMT and UTC are not the same thing. In 1972 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) REPLACED GMT as the standard for time. It's more complicated, and uses things called "second leaps" and the "Atomic time” for its time calculations. UTC IS ALSO MORE ACCURATE THAN GMT. IT'S WHAT WE USE TODAY. DON'T FAIL A TEST OR SOMETHING THINKING THAT GMT AND UTC ARE THE SAME O_0. So why do people still say GMT? That's because the differences of time in UTC and GMT are very minute. Though GMT is less accurate than UTC, and we don't even use it today, UTC is often referred to as GMT (Which really shouldn't be, but I dunno)
That was a history lesson of GMT, the thing that HAS BEEN REPLACED by UTC, but is still used when talking about time for some reason. Now you know why we have the whole UTC/GMT time thing
__________________________________________________ _______________
Ok, now to convert! This may be shocking, but I'm not going to teach you how to convert manually. There are daylight saving times which change for many countries of the world. If you want to learn how, I'm sure the information above will make it much easier for you to learn how to manually do it.
What I am going to do, is give you a link to a website on how to convert GMT/UTC time to your local time, whatever the time of the year may be.
First thing is, get the information about your event. Let’s say your event will be on the 10th of next month. Time of the event = 0:30 (UTC/GMT)
First thing you will do is click this link ... http://www.worldtimeserver.com/convert_time_in_UTC.aspx
You'll see a webpage with a globe and a map at the bottom. To the left are some boxes for you to fill your information. - Right below "What time will this be taking place in (UTC/GMT)?"
In the first box you should see "12 (12 Noon)” This is the UTC/GMT time. It's what time the event will be taking place in UTC/GMT. Ok, since our event takes place at 0:30 UTC/GMT, we'll click the arrow on that first box and click 0. Ok, you should see a box to the right of that one. Click the arrow and then click 30. There you go, 0:30 UTC/GMT!
Under it, you see another box. This is the date box. Set the date so that it is the tenth day of the next month, whatever it may be. Then click submit.
On this next page you'll see two globes and two maps. The first globe and map is only a map for comparison - It shows the time of the event in UTC/GMT time.
What you will want to focus on is the bottom maps. The globe will show the earth with a white-outlined box. The map at the right is a map of what the box on the globe surrounds. When you select a country along with a city or state, the white box will be surrounding the area in which you selected. Focus on the right map when you try to find an area, but read on before you jump in and try it. (p.s. The site really isn't confusing and I’m sorry if I'm confusing you, but this is a tutorial and I'm trying to guide you step by step)
Above the lower globe and map, you'll see a long box. What you will do here is click on it and find the country you live in. Many countries are in one time zone, such as China. But many other ones are in multiple ones. That is what the globe and map is for. Since I live in Mississippi, U.S., and there are four time zones in the United States, I'm going to have to get specific with my location. This site is designed for this, so I'll click the box and find "United States - Mississippi" The globe will show the United States with a white box surrounding Mississippi, and the right map will show Mississippi highlighted in yellow. Some countries may not be this easy... like Russia.
Now, I know Russia is a big place. In the Russian selection, there are many cities to choose from. If, for whatever reason, you don't know what city is close to you, it doesn't matter. All you have to do is know your location on a map. Find Russia in the drop down menu, and keep clicking cities until your current position shows up as yellow in the map beside the globe. That goes for all the other countries as well, but most countries have only one time zone, so many of you don't have to worry about that.
Found your country and position? Good. Now look to the left and you'll see all the information you'll need. Time and Date. That is the time it will be on the tenth of next month at 0:30 UTC/GMT
Ok, that's about it. I know this isn't the best tutorial, but I know some people are curious about what UTC/GMT time is, and how to convert it to their local time. I hope this helps you in some way. God Bless
Let’s say some guy is getting ready for a tournament in Toribash. It's his favorite server, and he thinks he has a chance of taking the prize. Then he reads the time of the event... 0:30 UTC/GMT...
He may think, "What does that mean? Why can't they just put the time I'm supposed to be there?!"
To answer his question - They do. This UTC/GMT time IS the time you are supposed to be there. The only problem is... you have to convert it to your local time.
I'm going to give you an overview of the whole UTC/GMT time standard. What it is and how it became to be. It's for you if you want to understand why you have to waste your precious time converting times. Since you are wasting your time converting, why not waste some time reading about what you are wasting time over? You may learn something, and you could use it in the long run. Not bad for a waste of time.
But if you're in a hurry or already know this stuff and just want to convert the time already, just scroll down until you see...
__________________________________________________ _______________
I researched this stuff for a few hours so I didn't make any of this up. I backed my info up with more than one source, for the critics -_-. Anyway, if you want to read, go for it, if not, scroll to the line... 3...2...1...GO!
Ok. So you decided to learn something? Good for you. Lemme explain some of the details about GMT/UTC and time zones.
Many years ago, many people relied on sun-dials to tell the time of day. When the dial pointed directly at the sun, the shadow would be cast on 12:00 PM. Many of these sun-dials were very complex, and could be used in different seasons. But, the clocks were in different positions- The tilt of the earth, its rotation, etc, all had effects, and a clock in one city could be totally different than one in another. Later on, pendulum clocks were created, later replaced with quartz clocks. Again, community's times varied depending on the position of the sun. Many cities had a large clock that told the time - their own city's time.
This became a problem during the late 1800's, when the U.S. and Canada were utilizing transcontinental railroads - you know ... "Dude, it was 12:52 two minutes ago... now it’s 12:48?" Actually, the time changed by approximately one minute for every 12 miles traveled east or west.
To fix this, a Canadian man named Sandford Fleming developed a system of standard time in the late 1870's. In 1884, delegates from 27 nations met in Washington D.C., for the Meridian Conference. They agreed on a system that is basically what is in use today.
His plan involved time zones. Each consecutive zone would have a different time - normally a one hour difference. This difference would be subtracted or added from the time of the Prime Meridian, depending on which zone it was.
The next step was to find the best spot for this Prime Meridian (that imaginary line of longitude that separates the hemispheres. Like the opposite of the Equator). Putting a Prime Meridian would establish a single world meridian to replace the numerous ones that many countries told time by, it would establish a universal day for all countries to adopt, and a lot of other good stuff. The place chosen was at zero degrees longitude- running through Greenwich, England. This standardized the time for the whole world. It took time to get the time zones created, since many people wanted theirs changed for this or that- China, one of the biggest countries in the world, decided to adopt 1 single time zone.
After it was said and done, we have the GMT time (often called World time). Greenwich Mean Time. Each time zone would have different times, but all times could be synced to the GMT time. If a person lived in a time zone that was six hours ahead of GMT, then all they would have to do is take the time of the event in GMT and add 6 hours to it. Now, there are things like daylight savings time that interfere with it, but you won't need to know that for this tutorial.
It's very important to know this... GMT and UTC are not the same thing. In 1972 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) REPLACED GMT as the standard for time. It's more complicated, and uses things called "second leaps" and the "Atomic time” for its time calculations. UTC IS ALSO MORE ACCURATE THAN GMT. IT'S WHAT WE USE TODAY. DON'T FAIL A TEST OR SOMETHING THINKING THAT GMT AND UTC ARE THE SAME O_0. So why do people still say GMT? That's because the differences of time in UTC and GMT are very minute. Though GMT is less accurate than UTC, and we don't even use it today, UTC is often referred to as GMT (Which really shouldn't be, but I dunno)
That was a history lesson of GMT, the thing that HAS BEEN REPLACED by UTC, but is still used when talking about time for some reason. Now you know why we have the whole UTC/GMT time thing
__________________________________________________ _______________
Ok, now to convert! This may be shocking, but I'm not going to teach you how to convert manually. There are daylight saving times which change for many countries of the world. If you want to learn how, I'm sure the information above will make it much easier for you to learn how to manually do it.
What I am going to do, is give you a link to a website on how to convert GMT/UTC time to your local time, whatever the time of the year may be.
First thing is, get the information about your event. Let’s say your event will be on the 10th of next month. Time of the event = 0:30 (UTC/GMT)
First thing you will do is click this link ... http://www.worldtimeserver.com/convert_time_in_UTC.aspx
You'll see a webpage with a globe and a map at the bottom. To the left are some boxes for you to fill your information. - Right below "What time will this be taking place in (UTC/GMT)?"
In the first box you should see "12 (12 Noon)” This is the UTC/GMT time. It's what time the event will be taking place in UTC/GMT. Ok, since our event takes place at 0:30 UTC/GMT, we'll click the arrow on that first box and click 0. Ok, you should see a box to the right of that one. Click the arrow and then click 30. There you go, 0:30 UTC/GMT!
Under it, you see another box. This is the date box. Set the date so that it is the tenth day of the next month, whatever it may be. Then click submit.
On this next page you'll see two globes and two maps. The first globe and map is only a map for comparison - It shows the time of the event in UTC/GMT time.
What you will want to focus on is the bottom maps. The globe will show the earth with a white-outlined box. The map at the right is a map of what the box on the globe surrounds. When you select a country along with a city or state, the white box will be surrounding the area in which you selected. Focus on the right map when you try to find an area, but read on before you jump in and try it. (p.s. The site really isn't confusing and I’m sorry if I'm confusing you, but this is a tutorial and I'm trying to guide you step by step)
Above the lower globe and map, you'll see a long box. What you will do here is click on it and find the country you live in. Many countries are in one time zone, such as China. But many other ones are in multiple ones. That is what the globe and map is for. Since I live in Mississippi, U.S., and there are four time zones in the United States, I'm going to have to get specific with my location. This site is designed for this, so I'll click the box and find "United States - Mississippi" The globe will show the United States with a white box surrounding Mississippi, and the right map will show Mississippi highlighted in yellow. Some countries may not be this easy... like Russia.
Now, I know Russia is a big place. In the Russian selection, there are many cities to choose from. If, for whatever reason, you don't know what city is close to you, it doesn't matter. All you have to do is know your location on a map. Find Russia in the drop down menu, and keep clicking cities until your current position shows up as yellow in the map beside the globe. That goes for all the other countries as well, but most countries have only one time zone, so many of you don't have to worry about that.
Found your country and position? Good. Now look to the left and you'll see all the information you'll need. Time and Date. That is the time it will be on the tenth of next month at 0:30 UTC/GMT
Ok, that's about it. I know this isn't the best tutorial, but I know some people are curious about what UTC/GMT time is, and how to convert it to their local time. I hope this helps you in some way. God Bless
This is beautiful. Too bad It made me realize that I have to wake up far earlier than I expected for a tournament.
+rep
+rep
»You just wasted 5 seconds of your life. Congratulations!«
[m] - 2/29/2008 - Never Forget
[m] - 2/29/2008 - Never Forget
Nice tutorial, although I believe there is another tutorial on this?
EDIT: Yeah, there is one. It isn't exactly the same thing, however, it is closely related to the topic.
http://forum.toribash.com/showthread.php?t=20472
EDIT: Yeah, there is one. It isn't exactly the same thing, however, it is closely related to the topic.
http://forum.toribash.com/showthread.php?t=20472
Tripstone says: heh
Tripstone says: clanless sucks
masterjepo says: Evolution isn't any better
masterjepo says: Cave man
Tripstone says: clanless sucks
masterjepo says: Evolution isn't any better
masterjepo says: Cave man
