#AlexOLoughlin – Because the world is round……

Scott was born here in the United States on the 23rd at night, and I was born in Australia on the 24th in the morning, so we’re actually born a couple of hours apart!

– Alex O’Loughlin, TV Week, 4 June 2011

They look scared that we will confuse them….

This will most probably confuse a lot of you. In the end we will most probably confuse ourselves, but because we are all for having fun and solving (but sometimes creating) questions, we will attempt to do this in any case……..

Since the first time I read the quote we have on top of the page here, a question has always been on my mind (okay, small unimportant things amuse me. 🙂 ).

If you count actual hours alive on this earth, who of Scott or Alex is the oldest? 😕

This sounds funny.

We all know that if you use the date of birth, Scott will always be a day older than Alex. And of course any normal person celebrate their birthday on the actual date it is recorded. But when we look at when their parents and hometown friends celebrate, a lot of hours overlap.

Hypothetically, if Alex’s dad from Sydney or his mom from Canberra, were to phone him at midnight on the 24th August to congratulate him, it will only be 04h00 on the 23rd August for him in Hawaii (because Hawaii is 20 hours behind Sydney & Canberra in time).

It will then be 07h00 on the 23rd August in Los Angeles, where Scott’s dad lives and where Scott was born (17 hours behind Sydney & Canberra). This means that when the day of Alex’s birth started in Australia, it was only 7am on the day of Scott’s birth in LA. So if Alex says that he was born in the morning it can be any time from midnight to midday (00h00 to 12h00) in Australia and that means from 07h00 to 19h00 in LA.

What time does night-time begin? Maybe 6pm – that only gives Scott the chance to be about an hour older than Alex. Fact is, they could actually have been born at the same hour and still differ in dates of birth – all because the world is round!

I know this sounds confusing, so let us create a scenario where Alex’s mom will call him at the exact time of his birth from Australia and Scott’s dad will call him at the exact time of his birth. Who will get a call first?

My guess is that if Alex was really born in the morning as he says and Scott was really born at night, Alex would most probably get the birthday call first, making him the “older” one 😀

This chart shows the comparison in times between East Australia, L A and Hawaii

Let us illustrate with some hypothetical times of birth and a call from a parent at the actual time of birth:

• If we say Alex was born at 08h00 on 24 August in Australia, his call in Hawaii from his mom, would come through at 12 noon on 23 August in Hawaii. If Scott was born 21h00 in LA, his call would come through at 18h00 on the 23 August in Hawaii. This means that Alex will then be 6 hours “older” than Scott in hours on this earth (remember this is just some chosen time and not based in fact)
• If we say Alex was born at 11h00 on 24 August in Australia, and Scott was born at 18h00 on 23 August in LA, their phones will ring at the exact same time at 15h00 on the 23 August in Hawaii. Making them the exact same age in hours on this earth 😀 (remember this is just some chosen time and not based in fact)

Who is calling me?

We are boys, we measure everything……

Taking all this into account, it looks like the possibility that Alex might actually have been born a little bit earlier than Scott is the biggest. Making him the “older” of the two, although never on paper because of the birth dates as recorded………..

Are you confused now? 😛

Would be an interesting question to ask them. – Who is older in ‘hours on this earth’?

More modestly, O’Loughlin reckons their chemistry was written in the stars. “Scott and I were actually born just a few hours apart,” he reveals. “So I think there has to be something in our horoscopes.”

(And because it is already 24 August in Australia)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!!

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