The Diomedian Antimeridian

[dchalker]

Oh, sorry, I guess I didn't make clear the linear clock doesn't do time zones.

If there are no time zones, then there is no international date line, and there is no reason to display a map on your clock because the time is the same everywhere.

Nope, we'd still need the International Date Line, where the clock resets to 00:00:00 and the calendar advances to the next day. Time zones just wouldn't apply to the UTC time. I'm talking about a dual clock design capable of displaying both UTC universal global time (a linear solar progress bar for the day, essentially). Local time can still be displayed radially.

[PeteD]

Especially since South America actually had a single native civilization that is far better known than any other cultures on the continent (although I don't know offhand if they explored widely enough to be aware of the extent of the continent they lived on, or have a name for it as distinct from other landmasses),

Probably not, but their name for their own empire, Tawantinsuyu, sounds pretty cool, I think.

while North America has a whole bunch of native tribes without an obvious way of picking a "most important" one.

If I had to pick one, it would be the Aztecs, although Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān is a bit of a mouthful. The Maya were around for longer, but they consisted of a number of independent cities without a "sense of common identity or political unity".

[PeteD]

It's questionable if passing through the Diomede Islands is something that's actually worth doing, though, given how close the islands are to each other.

Yeah, the choice depends on design objectives. From a pure cartography standpoint, it may make them harder to see unless the map is large,

As Milo's already mentioned:

the Diomede Islands are unlikely to even be visible on a world map scale, unlike St. Lawrence Island.

Irrespective of the Diomede Islands, putting the interruption at 168° 58' 37" W might be a good idea for a political map, not because of the International Date Line, but because this is the national border between the USA and Russia (although the border does swing to the west below the Bering Strait).

[Milo]

Probably not, but their name for their own empire, Tawantinsuyo, sounds pretty cool, I think.

If you don't know what it means, yeah, but it bugs me a little that it literally just translates as "the four states". Like, what would happen if they expanded and annexed a fifth state? What would they call themselves then?

Irrespective of the Diomede Islands, putting the interruption at 168° 58' 37" W might be a good idea for a political map, not because of the International Date Line, but because this is the national border between the USA and Russia (although the border does swing to the west below the Bering Strait).

People rarely care about the exact border between territorial waters, though. (Unless they're sailors.)

People are more likely to care about the border between landmasses they can actually see, such as the Aleutian Islands. Unfortunately, while some of the westernmost Aleutian Islands do belong to Russia, the border lies considerably further west than the Bering Strait. Fortunately, the Aleutian Islands aren't particularly big or populated, so people don't care about them that much - but at least the "populated" half of that can also be said for mainland Chukchi. Overall the Aleutian Islands are the biggest problem for conventional map aspects - no matter where you interrupt them, you're still going to interrupt something that looks like it should be a continuous arc. Even Tobias had to sacrifice Umnak!

[PeteD]

If you don't know what it means, yeah, but it bugs me a little that it literally just translates as "the four states". Like, what would happen if they expanded and annexed a fifth state? What would they call themselves then?

Pisqantinsuyu?

The four suyus corresponded to four directions from Cusco, where they converged. As the Inca Empire expanded, new territory was added to the existing four suyus rather than creating additional suyus. The north–south elongation of the empire meant that there ended up being two very large suyus and two much smaller ones, but the Incas didn't seem to mind.

[quadibloc]

Would you also give Korea Manchuria? It makes little sense to me to give them any part of Siberia without also giving them Manchuria, since that leads to a disconnected territory. If I wanted to give Sakhalin to someone that isn't Russia, Japan would make more sense.

Well, Sakhalin was part of Japan, under the name Karafuto. But they used Korean slave laborers there, so that's why Korea gets it instead. It may be, though, that other Asian countries need more land, so Siberia might be divided up with the Phillipines getting a chunk, Singapore getting a chunk, and so on.

As for Manchuria, the Manchurians get it. And they will be helped with expanding the use of the Jurchen language instead of Mandarin Chinese.

Some permanent calendars eliminate time zones and put everyone on the same UTC, which would really screw up the utility of radial clocks and make a linear clock more suitable.

I tend to see that as a very impractical idea. But since today's round clocks with two hands are 12-hour clocks, not 24-hour clocks, and they don't have maps on them, I don't see they would be affected by this.

Again, the only reason Big Diomede and Little Diomede use different time zones is because one belongs to Russia and the other belongs to the United States. If we dissolve national boundaries, then I think the native inhabitants (or ex-inhabitants, since the USSR evicted the natives of Big Diomede due to Cold War politics) of both islands, belonging to a shared Iñupiaq culture rather than the majority cultures of their controlling nations, would find it far more convenient to use the same time zone.

As Big Diomede island is located so as to have a very inhospitable climate, it is possible that the original inhabitants of that island will not be interested in returning to their patrimony from where they are now. But it would be theirs if they wanted it.
But if they preferred to carve a chunk of prime agricultural land out of European Russia for a national homeland, I would at least consider fulfilling that request.
Russia could get to keep some of Siberia too - enough so Russia, including the Russians in Siberia, could survive, but not enough for Siberia's land and resources to enable Russia to be a major world power.

[PeteD]

Russia could get to keep some of Siberia too - enough so Russia, including the Russians in Siberia, could survive, but not enough for Siberia's land and resources to enable Russia to be a major world power.

If I were dictator of the world, I'd go for a global phase-out of fossil fuels to stop Siberia's land and resources making Russia a great power. This might have other benefits too.

Taking Siberia away from Russia would just set the stage for a Russian war of reconquest.

[quadibloc]

If I were dictator of the world, I'd go for a global phase-out of fossil fuels to stop Siberia's land and resources making Russia a great power. This might have other benefits too.

Taking Siberia away from Russia would just set the stage for a Russian war of reconquest.

Oh, indeed, fossil fuels must be phased out. It is not as if doing without fossil fuels would deny us plentiful supplies of energy; while waiting for fusion power, we have atomic fission. And if resources for batteries for electric cars are a problem, we can use cars that burn carbon-neutral methyl alcohol, a biofuel that can be produced without competing with food.
But as dictator of the world, I would ensure that Russia had no ability to ever make any kind of war ever again. The moment it tried, the United States, or any other free country, could deal with Russia even as the United States dealt with Iraq. No nuclear weapons, no heavy industry, no army, navy, or air force. It wouldn't need any, since its neighbor China would be turned into a non-nuclear democracy aligned with the United States.
Americans would need to operate and control the power plants supplying Russia and China with electricity.

[PeteD]

It wouldn't need any, since its neighbor China would be turned into a non-nuclear democracy aligned with the United States.

If they're a democracy, then they can choose what countries they want to align with. While most democracies are aligned with the US, the world's two largest democracies (excluding the US itself), India and Indonesia, are not, so it's far from inevitable that a democratic China would choose to align with the US.

Americans would need to operate and control the power plants supplying Russia and China with electricity.

If the goal is to prevent them from building new nuclear weapons after you've confiscated their arsenal, then I think that shutting down any enrichment facilities capable of producing weapons-grade nuclear material would be both more effective and more palatable.

[Milo]

Well, Sakhalin was part of Japan, under the name Karafuto. But they used Korean slave laborers there, so that's why Korea gets it instead.

Yeah, but are there a lot of Koreans there today, slaves or otherwise?

...Looking it up, yes, there are currently more Koreans than Japanese on Sakhalin... but only because the Soviet Union kicked out all the Japanese after conquering it while allowing the Koreans to stay.

If we started punishing people for the sins of their ancestors, the planet would be left an uninhabited wasteland. (Well, or if you're feeling more optimistic, an untouched nature reserve...)

Case in point:

As for Manchuria, the Manchurians get it. And they will be helped with expanding the use of the Jurchen language instead of Mandarin Chinese.

I'm not feeling especially sympathetic to the Manchus/Jurchens, with how the Qing Dynasty brutally oppressed the non-Manchu cultures of China.

But again, that's not the fault of today's Manchus... but those also don't actually make up the majority of the historical region of Manchuria. Nowadays, around 90% of the inhabitants of Manchuria are actually Han Chinese (which is not just something the Han did for revenge after regaining control... even under the Qing Dynasty, the Manchus themselves started resettling Han to work as farmers). Manchus do still mostly live in Manchuria, but only by a relatively small margin (two-thirds inside, one-thirds outside).

Going back to Sakhalin, if I were really trying for restoring historical populations instead of protecting modern ones, I would probably split off both Hokkaido and Karafuto/Sakhalin and give them back to the Ainu.

As Big Diomede island is located so as to have a very inhospitable climate, it is possible that the original inhabitants of that island will not be interested in returning to their patrimony from where they are now.

I think that "very inhospitable climate" describes pretty much the entirety of Eskimo lands.

But as dictator of the world, I would ensure that Russia had no ability to ever make any kind of war ever again. The moment it tried, the United States, or any other free country, could deal with Russia even as the United States dealt with Iraq. No nuclear weapons, no heavy industry, no army, navy, or air force.

Yeah, because that worked so well for Germany in the aftermath of World War I.

Hitting people with too-heavy punishments ("no heavy industry", really?) just makes them resentful, and more likely to act up again later on.

It wouldn't need any, since its neighbor China would be turned into a non-nuclear democracy aligned with the United States.

You're going to treat Russians as inherently evil but are okay with the Chinese? The modern People's Republic of China hasn't invaded Ukraine, but it certainly doesn't have a great human rights track record against its own citizens, including violently maintaining control over annexed territories belonging to different ethnicities.

If you can replace the Chinese government with a more benevolent one that's still ethnically Chinese, then you can do that with Russia, too. Unless you believe that Russians are all genetically-inferior subhumans who need to be rounded into concentration camps and gassed.

Also, the United States are not the gold standard for civilized behavior. If I were dictator of the world, there's definitely some things that need to be improved about them.