Paul T Cottey's blog

As we get toward the end of a busy year, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Feliz Navidad

Gezur Krislinjden

Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand

Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo

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I got to thinking that all time zones are not created equally in that some are much more densely populated than others.  So, when Santa gets around to pulling his all-nighter, he has more work to do in some timezones than in others.  I figured someone had thought this through before, outside the North Pole, that is, but if someone has, he is staying silent about it.  So, absent access to Santa’s logistics people, who are probably pretty busy this time of year, I figured I would do a little mashup and illustrate it, if not explain it.

Here is a view of world population density by timezone:

As you can see, the amount of work to be done in some time zones is markedly more than in others.  (Look at Z, A, and B covering Europe versus O covering mostly Atlanta Ocean, for example.)  Obviously this is based just on raw population and not on religious belief or number of believers in Santa Claus or anything else, but I figure those can be left either as a useful exercise to the reader or as a part of some sort of government or United Nations grant!

Timezone map from http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com

World population from http://www.nationsonline.org

Thanks!

This was on my mind today, so I figured I would write it up.

How to pull (and recover from) an all-nighter:

1. Hydrate, don’t caffeinate.  Water, water, water.  It will keep you moving and surprisingly alert and doesn’t have any of the let-down that caffein does.

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Thanks to my friend Scott for forwarding this one!

A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon. As she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird’s chest.

After a moment or two, the vet shook his head sadly and said, “I’m sorry, your duck, Cuddles, has passed away.”

The distressed woman wailed, “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am sure. The duck is dead,” replied the vet.

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Having had the iPhone for a couple months now, I figured it would be interesting (at least to me) to see which applications had managed to make it to the front-page and to the bar at the bottom.  Here they are:

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