The international date line is based on a rational, ... The IDL then jogs back west to skirt around the United States’ Aleutian Islands, keeping Russia and Alaska on opposite sides.

The international date line swings more than 1,500 miles east for Kiribati. ... It then swings far west to lasso in the Aleutian Islands, so they can to be on the same day as the rest of Alaska.

The islands extend so far west that the international date line makes a big loop to keep Alaska from sprawling across today and tomorrow at the same time. [ Aleutian seabirds are showing the ...