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What is midnight ?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 4:27 pm
by smithy
Some of you may use 23:59 or 00:01 for midnight.
Others use 00:00 for midnight.
How do meterologists, military organisations etc justify the 1st option ?

Re: Military Time

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 4:29 pm
by Dogwatcher
Tackling the big topics today Smithy!

Re: Military Time

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 4:31 pm
by the big bang
i have no milatry or anything else of the like background, but i would have thought midnight was just 00:00.

23:59 is not midnight, it's 11:59pm

00:01 is not midnight, it's 12:01am.

Re: Military Time

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 4:32 pm
by smithy
Dogwatcher wrote:Tackling the big topics today Smithy!


:lol: :lol:

It;s been a quite day, or is that quiet ???? 8)

I'm curious because I use 00:01 at work, being ex military, but I can't explain it correctly to other workmates who find this a source of amusement.

Re: What is midnight ?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 4:35 pm
by mighty_tiger_79
i think you want to go shopping at the coles stores that open from midnight and wanna know exactly what time they should open

Re: Military Time

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:16 pm
by A Mum
the_big_bang wrote:i have no milatry or anything else of the like background, but i would have thought midnight was just 00:00.

23:59 is not midnight, it's 11:59pm

00:01 is not midnight, it's 12:01am.


I agree with this O:)

Re: What is midnight ?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 6:19 pm
by Dog_ger
Isn't it the opposite to "High Noon"...?

Re: What is midnight ?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 6:45 pm
by Jimmy_041
Time to go home coz Im usually pissed by then.....

Re: Military Time

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 7:12 pm
by JAS
smithy wrote:
Dogwatcher wrote:Tackling the big topics today Smithy!


:lol: :lol:

It;s been a quite day, or is that quiet ???? 8)

I'm curious because I use 00:01 at work, being ex military, but I can't explain it correctly to other workmates who find this a source of amusement.


Yeh I do to...in the RAF nothing was ever given a time of 00:00 it was always 00:01 or occasionally 23:59. I vaguely remember being told in training that 00:00 marks the point between two days and therefore cannot be annotated a date as it is neither the previous day or the next day. No idea if that was a correct reason or had just become a tradition. Maybe it dates back to WWI or WWII to ensure no confusion over mission timings or something.

Then again the military doesn't recognise DST...almost every office has two clocks...one in Zulu time (GMT) and one in real world time.

Regards
JAS

Re: What is midnight ?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 8:41 pm
by bayman
smithy when you work it out let me know what is midday ? ;)

Re: What is midnight ?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:03 pm
by Footy Chick
We tend to use 00.01 for insurance policies being that it starts in the first minute of that day.

Was having this discussion with someone at work the other day actually as they questioned why we use 12.01am.

Re: Military Time

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 10:14 pm
by smithy
JAS wrote:
smithy wrote:
Dogwatcher wrote:Tackling the big topics today Smithy!


:lol: :lol:

It;s been a quite day, or is that quiet ???? 8)

I'm curious because I use 00:01 at work, being ex military, but I can't explain it correctly to other workmates who find this a source of amusement.


Yeh I do to...in the RAF nothing was ever given a time of 00:00 it was always 00:01 or occasionally 23:59. I vaguely remember being told in training that 00:00 marks the point between two days and therefore cannot be annotated a date as it is neither the previous day or the next day. No idea if that was a correct reason or had just become a tradition. Maybe it dates back to WWI or WWII to ensure no confusion over mission timings or something.


Regards
JAS


Thanks JAS, I'm pretty certain now that is the correct reason.

Re: What is midnight ?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 10:17 pm
by smithy
bayman wrote:smithy when you work it out let me know what is midday ? ;)

Midday is the time for waking up on weekends. Image

Re: Military Time

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 10:17 pm
by Dirko
smithy wrote:Thanks JAS, I'm pretty certain now that is the correct reason.


Used to be the reason why we used it at the Airport for flights arriving at midnight. The Arrival time would be down for 2359, but if it departed at midnight usually it'd be down for 0001......

Re: Military Time

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 10:48 pm
by godoubleblues
smithy wrote:
JAS wrote:
smithy wrote:
Dogwatcher wrote:Tackling the big topics today Smithy!


:lol: :lol:

It;s been a quite day, or is that quiet ???? 8)

I'm curious because I use 00:01 at work, being ex military, but I can't explain it correctly to other workmates who find this a source of amusement.


Yeh I do to...in the RAF nothing was ever given a time of 00:00 it was always 00:01 or occasionally 23:59. I vaguely remember being told in training that 00:00 marks the point between two days and therefore cannot be annotated a date as it is neither the previous day or the next day. No idea if that was a correct reason or had just become a tradition. Maybe it dates back to WWI or WWII to ensure no confusion over mission timings or something.


Regards
JAS


Thanks JAS, I'm pretty certain now that is the correct reason.


ex military as well and that sounds about right to me as well

Re: What is midnight ?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 11:06 pm
by A Mum
That actually does make perfect sense when you think about it O:)
Soooo....
On new years we shouldn't start the countdown till 12am and 50seconds then. :D

Re: What is midnight ?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 11:10 pm
by GWW
A Mum wrote:Soooo....
On new years we shouldn't start the countdown till 12am and 50seconds then O:)


Sounds like the debate as to when the year 2000 started :)

I think its still fair enough to countdown at 11:59 and 50 seconds because at a fraction past 12:00, its into the new day/year.

Re: What is midnight ?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 11:11 pm
by A Mum
:lol: Yeah I was thinking that after I posted :D

Re: What is midnight ?

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 11:14 pm
by JAS
A Mum wrote::lol: Yeah I was thinking that after I posted :D


Probably only really matters if you plan on celebrating New Year by invading another country....or state :lol: ;)

Regards
JAS

Re: What is midnight ?

PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:04 am
by Lunchcutter
I thought midnight = zero hundred hours