In article <h150il$tu6$1@news.albasani.net>, Hiram@fake.com says...

nospam@notreal.com wrote:

And there 26 letters in the English alphabet not 24, and only one is not 
shown - J, which in theory I guess is supposed to be local time.

Yep - you are right, should be 26.  I'd heard of Zulu time, but not the 
others.

http://www.cmsfx.com/resources/graphix/0000/time-zones.jpg

This reference appears, at least on their map, to split the time zone 
into two halves which I find hard to believe.  

I agree - +12 and -12 are the same time - but different days I guess?

I wouldn't think one time zone could have two possible dates. I would 
think it could get real confusing.  How could 9:00 AM 6/14 be the same 
point in time as 9:00 AM 6/15 just because you put a different letter 
with it?

It does make you wonder if every reference on en.wikipedia.org is 
accurate. The domain cmsfx.com, the domain of the above URL, appears to 
be set up for trading in foreign currencies and if it has anything to do 
with time, I would think it is secondary at best.  

It might be that the military does use that sort of system, I cannot say 
for sure, but I never heard it used while I was in, and as an air 
traffic controller until 8/3/81, I can say the FAA air traffic system 
always used only Z time to avoid any confusion with time zones.  

I don't see how say 9:00 AM Q is any better than saying 9:00 AM EST - or 
is that 9:00 EDST?  Chances are it is only EST so EDST is one more thing 
you have do change in your head.  It adds confusion, not eliminates it.

A crazy system for sure in my book.