[LEAPSECS] Tripping over the International Date Line

[Zefram]

Rob Seaman wrote:

>I don't recall the precise terms of the wager (and never read the  

>original French).


As I recall (from an English translation) the wager was mooted merely as
"eighty days" but then formalised as returning to the club at his usual
time of day on a specified calendar date.


>                                          One could argue that it  

>took Fogg 81 days shortened days.  Then, it would have been  

>preferable to travel westward and be able to take 80 longer days.   


I think that's a perverse meaning of "day".  In the absence of DST or
other changes (the story predates DST), "day" in a civil context and
without any qualifier must be taken to mean civil days at any fixed
location.  Which location doesn't make any difference, of course, when
using the day only as a unit of duration.  You'd have a hard time arguing
in court to measure solar days at a moving location.

-zefram