Time Zones

Stonechat writes that Dublin Mean Time was 23 minutes behind GMT up to 1916.

This helped no end with betting frauds. Before the 3 o'clock Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown punters in London who already knew the result, because the race had happened 23 minutes ago, would phone in bets to Paddy Power's in Dublin and make a killing. Discreetly mind, since no one wanted the lid blown on this lucrative little earner.

It was only when Patrick Pearse threatened to ring Paddy Power's from inside the GPO and tell them what was going on that the Brits decided to bomb the bejaysus out of the place.

Speaking of time zones, Nepal is the only country in the world whose time zone does not follow the hour model: it's fifteen minutes ahead of India, and an hour and forty-five minutes behind Tibet.

Sadly this has nothing to do with an ingenious Himalayan betting scheme. They're just awkward bastards, that's all.