Quoting Simon Hobson (linux@???):

> Ah, I stand corrected, according to
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTC%2B14:00 it was because parts of the
> colony were on different sides of the IDL and that meant that they
> only had 4 working days in common - Monday on one island would be
> Sunday on another, and similarly with Friday/Saturday (in the reverse
> direction).

I've recently been to one of those places: Fanning Island, part of the
Republic of Kiribati (part of the Line Islands).

This was part of an ocean cruise from the Port of San Francisco to
Honolulu, Fanning Island, Western Samoa, Fija, Vanuatu, New Caledonia,
and Sydney -- and one amusement is that my wife's birthday didn't exist
on the ship, because we skipped that day in crossing the International
Date Line.

-- 
Cheers,             Grossman's Law:  "In time of crisis, people do not rise to
Rick Moen           the occasion.  They fall to the level of their training."
rick@???          http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/lexicon.html#grossman
McQ! (4x80)