|
From September 1994 to October 1996 I was in Taiwan doing missionary
work. There were several times a year where I had an opportunity
to call my family. Being on the other side of the world, there
was a large time difference. The time difference was 12 hours,
but when the Eastern Time Zone was in Daylight Savings Time, it
was 30 hours. Or maybe it was 11 hours. I could never get it straight.
If I'd had a computer, a very useful tool would have been ActiveEarth
by Logos, Inc. Active Earth is an enhanced clock utility that
has a very attractive interface. The windows opens and a map of
the world appears. The first thing that you notice is the map
is shaded for the parts of the world that are in physical darkness
(night time). If you had nothing else to do, you could sit at
your computer and "watch" the sun rise and set in the
country of your choice. Since there was 12 hours difference between
Toronto and Taiwan, if I called at noon in Taiwan it would have
been midnight in Toronto. A quick look at the map would have shown
that is was the wrong time to call.
At the bottom of the windows, there is another display that can
change 6 different ways. There are 12 major cities that the program
highlights and you can compare time differences, view sunrise
and sunset information for a specific city, and you can view the
data and time using various calendar formats.
Now that I'm back in Canada, the program isn't really necessary
to have. I don't really have any family or friends that live far
away and I don't travel. Other than for interest sake, or maybe
to know what time it is where some of my visitors are, I really
don't need it.
| 
