There has been mention on this list of 24-hour time instead of AM-PM.
Today CBC-Radio Canada screened a video about Sandford Fleming, chief
engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway (and I don't mean engineer
driver). He was concerned about trying to produce train timetables when
every city had its own time, based on local noon at 12:00. He proposed 24
standard time zones around the world. Washington picked up the idea within
a year and convened an internatioinal conference that decided that xone 0
should be based on the Greenwich meridian
Fleming once turned up at a London station at 7:30 AM when in fact the
train was scheduled for 7:30 PM. That led him to propose 24-hour time. It
is used throughout the world, on published Canadian railway and air
timetables and in the Province of Quebec. Otherwise, English-speaking
Canada and USA cling to AM-PM.
