In the 1800s, catching your train on time was no easy feat. Every town had its own "local time," based on the position of the sun in the sky. There were 23 local times in Indiana. 38 in Michigan.

“Took me until my early twenties to learn how to read an analog clock, and it is still very difficult,” says Lifehacker reader Albert Peters, commenting on our post about basic life skills. Others ...