Living 10 degrees north of the Equator certainly changes the way you understand the world.  There are two seasons: rainy and summer. Days are roughly 12 hours long all year round.  And there is no summer or winter time change: there’s really no reason to change it.

Venezuela went through a major time change in 2007: they decided to become a 30 minute country.  It joined Newfoundland, India, Iran and parts of Australia as a place where business people need to do mental gymnastics to organize a teleconference with foreign colleagues.  I am aware of this every time I watch Central American TV networks.  “The show is on at 8:00 Columbia time, 8:30 Venezuela.”

I was always suspicious of Newfoundland, and its TV and Radio shows that started 30 minutes after everyone else. How can you trust a place which is 30 minutes late for everything?

The objective all 30 minute countries / regions will give when asked, is some story about assuring the optimal number of daylight hours for their citizens.  I am now convinced it’s a brand signal to differentiate in an empty but repetitive way.  They do it so television announcers will mention the 30 minute country or region’s name at least 20 times a day, in an effort to promote tourism to their quirky, time-delayed land.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about NRC Time, the world’s finest telephone recorded time clock.